Wilhelm Karl , Duke of Urach Prince Wilhelm of Urach , Count of Württemberg , 2nd Duke of Urach ( " Wilhelm Karl Florestan Gero Crescentius " ; German " Fürst Wilhelm von Urach , Graf von Württemberg , 2 . Herzog von Urach " ; 30 May 1864 – 24 March 1928 ) was a German prince who was elected King of Lithuania with the regnal name Mindaugas II on 11 July 1918 . He never assumed the crown however , as German authorities declared the election invalid and the invitation was withdrawn in November 1918 . From 17 July 1869 until his death he was head of the morganatic Urach branch of the House of Württemberg . Early life . Born as HSH Prince Wilhelm Karl Florestan Gero Crescentius of Urach , Count of Württemberg , he was the elder son of Wilhelm , 1st Duke of Urach ( the head of a morganatic branch of the Royal House of the then - Kingdom of Württemberg ) , and his second wife , Princess Florestine of Monaco , occasional acting Regent of Monaco ( daughter of Prince Florestan I of Monaco ) . At the age of four Wilhelm succeeded his father as Duke of Urach . He was born and spent much of his childhood in Monaco , where his mother Florestine often managed the government while her nephew , Prince Albert I of Monaco , was out of the country on extended oceanographic excursions . Wilhelm was culturally francophone . Candidate for various thrones . Through his mother , Wilhelm was the legitimate heir eventual to the throne of Monaco . Wilhelm ' s cousin Prince Albert I of Monaco had only one son Louis who was unmarried and had no legitimate children . The French Republic , however , was reluctant to see a German prince ruling Monaco . Under French pressure Monaco passed a law in 1911 recognising Louis ' s illegitimate daughter , Charlotte , as heir ; she was adopted in 1918 by her grandfather Prince Albert I . Wilhelm was relegated to third in line to Monaco ' s throne , behind Louis and Charlotte . Further , in July 1918 France and Monaco signed a treaty requiring that all future princes of Monaco must be French or Monegasque citizens , and must be approved by the French government . After the accession of Prince Louis II in 1922 , Wilhelm renounced his rights of succession to the throne of Monaco in favour of distant French cousins , the counts of Chabrillan , in 1924 . In 1913 Wilhelm was one of several princes considered for the throne of Albania ; he was supported by Catholic groups in the north . In 1914 Prince William of Wied was selected instead . In 1917 , as a newly retired general Wilhelm sounded out the possibility of being made Duke of Lorraine after the war was over . In 1918 he accepted the short - lived invitation to reign as Mindaugas II of Lithuania . His claims were published in a 2001 essay by his grandson - in - law , Sergei von Cube . Military career . Typical of his family , Wilhelm entered the army in 1883 and was a professional general by the outbreak of World War I in 1914 , commanding the 26th Infantry Division . Until November 1914 they were part of the German assault on France and then Belgium , where Wilhelm ' s sister - in - law was queen . In December 1914 the division fought in the battle to cross the Bzura river in Poland . From June to September 1915 the division moved from north of Warsaw to positions close to the Neman River , an advance of hundreds of miles in the campaign in which Poland was taken . In October – November 1915 it took part in the assault on Serbia , moving from west of Belgrade to Kraljevo in less than a month . At Ypres in Belgium from December 1915 to July 1916 , the division was largely destroyed in the Somme battles from August to November 1916 , holding the " Schwaben Redoubt " ( Swabia is part of Württemberg ) . Wilhelm retired as divisional general on 5 January 1917 . In 1917 – 18 he was " Kommandierender General " of 64th Corps ( Generalkommando 64 ) on the western front ; one of his aides de camp was Erwin Rommel . King of Lithuania . On 4 June 1918 the Council of Lithuania voted to invite Wilhelm to become the king of a newly independent Lithuania . Wilhelm agreed and was elected on 11 July 1918 , taking the name Mindaugas II . His election can be explained by several factors : According to Wilhelm ' s agreement with the Council of Lithuania he had to live in Lithuania and speak its language . From the beginning Wilhelm ' s reign was controversial . The four socialists of the twenty members of the Council of Lithuania left in protest . The German government did not recognize Wilhelm ' s selection as king , though the influential Mattias Erzberger supported the claim , being also a Catholic and from Württemberg . Wilhelm never had the chance to visit Lithuania , remaining instead at Lichtenstein Castle his home south of Stuttgart ; however he started to learn the Lithuanian language . Within a few months of his election , it became clear that Germany would lose World War I , and on 2 November 1918 , the Council of Lithuania reversed its decision . In the tiny chapel of Lichtenstein Castle is a framed letter from Pope Benedict XV welcoming Wilhelm ' s selection as the future king of Lithuania . In 2009 Wilhelm ' s grandson Inigo was interviewed on television in Vilnius , and said : " . . . if he was honoured with a proposal to assume the throne of Lithuania , he would not refuse it . " The German anti - war novelist Arnold Zweig set his 1937 novel " Einsetzung eines Königs " ( The Crowning of a King ) around the election of Mindaugas in 1918 . Marriage and children . Wilhelm was married twice . In 1892 , he married Duchess Amalie in Bavaria ( 1865 – 1912 ) , daughter of Karl - Theodor , Duke in Bavaria , a niece of Empress Elisabeth of Austria , and a direct descendant of the Lithuanian princess Louise Caroline Radvila of Biržai . Nine children were born of this marriage : Though Wilhelm ' s first wife had died in 1912 , two of her ancestors had been elected to rule the Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century ; August III the Saxon and Stanisław Leszczyński . In 1924 , Wilhelm married Princess Wiltrud of Bavaria ( 1884 – 1975 ) , daughter of King Ludwig III of Bavaria . This marriage was childless . Prince Eberhard ' s son Inigo made a sentimental journey to Lithuania in November 2009 , which was covered by the local media . Bypassed for the throne of Württemberg . In 1921 the former king Wilhelm II of Württemberg died , without leaving a male heir . While the 2nd duke of Urach was technically the senior male descendant from the Württemberg royal family , it had already been decided that the succession would pass to his cousin Duke Albrecht because of the morganatic marriage of the parents of the first duke of Urach .