Prince Waldemar of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm Waldemar von Preußen) (Berlin, 2 August 1817 – Münster, 17 February 1849) was the son of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg. He was a Major general in the Prussian Army and a traveller.
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Biography
Waldemar was born in Berlin, the son of Prince William, the youngest brother of King Frederick William III.
Of his 4 brothers, only Prince Adalbert survived his childhood. His youngest sister Marie was Queen of Bavaria.
As a young man, Waldemar entered the Prussian army and raised through the ranks to become a Colonel in 1844.
His urge to see distant lands led him to the Mediterranean, to South America and in 1844 to India, where he traveled to the Himalayas via Calcutta and Hindustan. His journey came to an end with the First Anglo-Sikh War. He witnessed the first day of the Battle of Ferozeshah (21/22 December 1845), but when his companion, childhood friend and German physician and botanist Werner Hoffmeister was fatally hit by a bullet, British commander Hugh Gough urged Prince Waldemar to return home.
Back in Germany he became commander of the 13th Cavalry Brigade in Münster on 9 March 1848. But weakened by the hardships of the journey and the Indian climate, he died there on 17 February 1849.
