Klaus Felix von Amsberg (German: Klaus Felix Friedrich Leopold Gabriel Archim Julius August von Amsberg; 1 September 1890 – 19 December 1953) was a member of the German Niederer Adel (lower nobility) and father of Prince Claus of the Netherlands, who was the father of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, thus making him the paternal grandfather of the current Dutch monarch.

Early life

He was born at Rehna, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Empire (now Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany), the first child of Wilhelm von Amsberg (1856–1929), by his marriage to Elise von Vieregg (1866–1951), member of an old aristocratic family.

In World War I he fought as a German officer in the Imperial German Army at the side of General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa.

Claus was from 1917 the steward of an estate after a failed venture in Africa as a planter.

In 1928 he moved with his family to the Tanganyika Territory (now Tanzania), where he remained during the outbreak of World War II as the manager of an Anglo-German tea and sisal plantation. He returned to Germany in 1947.

Marriage

Claus married on 4 September 1924 at Hitzacker to Baroness Gösta von dem Bussche-Haddenhausen (26 January 1902 – 13 June 1996), daughter of Baron Georg von dem Bussche-Haddenhausen (1869–1923) and Baroness Gabriele von dem Bussche-Ippenburg (1877–1973).

Together they had six daughters and one son:^[1]

• Sigrid von Amsberg (26 June 1925 – 1 April 2018), married in 1952 to Ascan-Bernd Jencquel (17 August 1913 – 4 November 2003), had issue.
• Claus von Amsberg (6 September 1926 – 6 October 2002), married in 1966 to Beatrix of the Netherlands (b. 31 January 1938), had issue.
• Rixa von Amsberg (18 November 1927 – 6 January 2010), married to Peter Ahrens (27 April 1920 – 11 March 2011), no issue.
• Margit von Amsberg (16 October 1930 – 1988), married in 1964 to Ernst Grubitz (14 April 1931 – 5 June 2009), had issue.
• Barbara von Amsberg (b. 16 October 1930), married in 1963 to Günther Haarhaus (22 October 1921 – 9 February 2007), had issue.
• Theda von Amsberg (b. 30 June 1939), married in 1966 to Baron Karl von Friesen (b. 1933), had issue.
• Christina von Amsberg (b. 20 January 1945), married in 1971 to Baron Hans Hubertus von der Recke (b. 1942), had issue.

He died, aged 63, in Jasebeck, West Germany, of a heart attack.

Ancestry

Notes and sources

• thePeerage.com - Claus von Amsberg
• Die Ahnen Claus Georg von Amsberg, Limburg a.d.Lahn, 1966, Euler, F. W., Reference: 2
• Het huwelijk van H.K.H.Prinses Beatrix, Zaltbommel, 1966, Banning, Mr. Dr. Drs. J. P. D. van, Reference: 65

References