Princess Cecilie of Prussia

Cecilie was born on 5 September 1917 at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam, which had only been completed weeks prior to her birth, during World War I and the reign of paternal grandfather, Wilhelm II, as German Emperor and King of Prussia. One year after her birth, on 9 November 1918, her grandfather and other German monarchs abdicated and the German Empire was abolished.

After the war, Cecilienhof was confiscated by the state and the family moved to Oels in Lower Silesia, which was their private property. Cecilienhof was returned to Cecilie's family in 1926. In 1934, she was confirmed alongside her elder sister, Alexandrine, who had Down syndrome. She was educated at a women's seminary in Heiligengrabe and later worked at the Prussian Privy State Archives. During World War II, Cecilie worked at a pharmacy in Potsdam and trained as a nurse with the German Red Cross.

As the Red Army descended on Potsdam at the end of the war, Cecilie was sent to live with Hessian relatives at Schloss Wolfsgarten. There, she met American Captain Clyde Kenneth Harris, a member of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Unit who was investigating the Darmstadt Madonna for her cousin, Ludwig, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine.^[1] When Harris returned to the United States to be demobilized, their courtship continued by airmail.^[2] Before marrying, she received several other marriage proposals. Prince Vsevolod of Russia proposed to her twice, but she declined both times.^[3]