Furst Leopold IV 1905-1918

Chief of the 3rd Bn. IR55

There were huge court arguments over the succession in this house. Alexander, the last of the senior line, was hopelessly insane and had been declared incapable of ruling. The Biesterfeld line assumed sovereign status on the extinction of the Detmold line in 1905. Prince Alexander died on the 13th of January 1905. Count Leopold remained as regent, and on the 25th of October the court of arbitration issued its award, declaring any marriages in question were equal and Leopold (b. 1871) thus became prince of Lippe.

LEOPOLD IV Julius Bernhard Adalbert Otto Karl Gustav Fst zur Lippe, Edler Herr u.Gf zu Biesterfeld, Gf zu Schwalenberg u.Sternberg, Hereditary Burggrave of Utrecht, etc (Oberkassel 30 May 1871-Detmold 30 Dec 1949); m.1st Rotenburg 16 Aug 1901 Bertha Pss of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (Burgsteinfurt 25 Oct 1874- Detmold 19 Feb 1919); m.2d Büdingen 26 Apr 1922 Anna Pss zu Ysenburg u.Büdingen in Büdingen (Büdingen 10 Feb 1886-Detmold 8 Feb 1980); he was succeeded by his youngest son, Armin.

3rd Bn IR55 no way to tell from normal Prussian except the cockade. Bowman in volume 1 pg. 183 shows an example of a Lippe specific star burst helmet and tells where in Belgium he had found it. Hilsenbeck volume 1 page 31 also shows an example of such a helmet attributed to the ordnance officer. While controversey exists on these the consensus is police or fire helmet -- not military.