1992 Prussian Prince Louis Ferdinand Signed Presentation Photo Royalty Germany For Sale

For your consideration is an exceptionally well-documented original 1992 black-and-white presentation photograph of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (1907–1994) with his grandson and designated dynastic successor, Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia (born 1976), photographed on the occasion of Louis Ferdinand’s 85th birthday on 9 November 1992. Measuring approximately 4.0 by 5.75 inches, the photograph has been positively matched to the identical image preserved in the ullstein bild / Getty Images archive, where it is specifically captioned “Louis Ferdinand – mit Enkelsohn Prinz Georg Friedrich (l)” and credited to CK-Press / ullstein bild. The archival caption identifies Louis Ferdinand at right and the sixteen-year-old Georg Friedrich at left and confirms the precise date and occasion. Louis Ferdinand has boldly signed the photograph across his white shirt in blue ink.

The image possesses exceptional dynastic resonance. Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, became head of the House of Hohenzollern in 1951 and remained the senior representative of the former German Imperial and Prussian Royal House until his death in 1994. Beside him is his grandson Georg Friedrich Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen, born in 1976, the son of Prince Louis Ferdinand Jr. and Princess Donata. Following the premature death of Georg Friedrich’s father in 1977, the young prince became the principal dynastic successor to his grandfather and was deliberately prepared for that future role. Thus, the photograph is not merely a family portrait: it records the elderly head of the Hohenzollern dynasty together with the teenage grandson who would succeed him as head of the house less than two years later. The ullstein archive itself identifies Georg Friedrich as the son of Louis Ferdinand’s deceased son, reinforcing the succession context embedded in the photograph.

Of particular importance is the survival of the original printed presentation card from Prince Louis Ferdinand’s secretariat, which reads: “IM AUFTRAGE SEINER KAISERLICHEN HOHEIT DES PRINZEN LOUIS FERDINAND VON PREUSSEN ÜBERREICHT — DAS SEKRETARIAT,” translating as “Presented on behalf of His Imperial Highness Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia — The Secretariat.” This accompanying card establishes that the photograph was formally distributed through Louis Ferdinand’s own household rather than being an independently assembled later autograph piece. Combined with the exact archival identification of the image, the secretariat presentation slip provides unusually strong institutional provenance and ties the signed photograph directly to the senior representative of the former German Imperial family.

The photograph remains in good original condition, retaining a strong tonal range and clear facial detail, with light age-appropriate handling and minor surface wear visible under close examination. Louis Ferdinand’s blue autograph remains bold and visually prominent. A further dark manuscript marking is present across Georg Friedrich’s dark shirt but is insufficiently distinct in the present photographs to attribute conclusively and is therefore not relied upon in the cataloguing. An unusually significant and precisely identifiable Hohenzollern dynastic succession portrait, combining an exact archival photograph by CK-Press / ullstein bild, the autograph of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s grandson and longtime head of the House of Hohenzollern, the youthful likeness of his future successor Georg Friedrich, and the original official presentation card from Prince Louis Ferdinand’s secretariat.