Wilhelm von Urach - the German king of Lithuania or the eternal candidate?

After the First World War, or as it is called in Europe - The Great War, the Baltic States gained their independence from the Russian Empire and established (or, in Lithuania's case reestablished) their very own republics based on ethnic ground. This period is called the Interwar, the period of cultural and economical thrive that cannot be remembered without the occupation of Vilnius, that was shading the Lithuanian sun at the time. Because of this annexation, the capital of Lithuania (as it is now called the ´´Temporary Capital´´) became Kaunas.

So, back in 1917, when Lithuania was still an unacknowledged country somewhere in the former lands of the dying Russian Empire, the imminent threat of a new occupation -  by the Germans, Bolsheviks and, later, Polish led to a resolution made by the Lithuanian Council that the new State of Lithuania would be best off with constitutional monarchy. Of course, the true power would belong to the nation and the king should be Catholic. They were offered the candidature of of the count of Wurtemberg, who had some family ties with the noble Radvila family.

Lithuania started secret negotiations with Wilhelm in 1918. On July 11 the same year, the Council proclaimed Lithuania as a Constitutional Monarchy and during the vote for Wilhelm´s arrival to the throne 8 out of 13 votes ´yes´, however Wilhelm didn't make it to Lithuania on time, since Germany didn't recognize Lithuanian Independence and the Lithuanian people expressed a serious discontent with the idea, poor Wilhelm didn't dare to actually step on the Lithuanian soil. However, Germany was forced to change its mind on October of that same year and recognize the Lithuanian Independence since it lost the war and had the revolution that wiped off the monarchy.

Having other serious issues to tackle the Council left the decision about the Constitutional Monarchy to the Great Parliament (Didysis Seimas), that was only convened on 14 of April, 1920. This Parliament worked for 29 consecutive months and still, didn't  have time to make a decision about the Wilhelm issue.  So, this way, the unofficial second king of Lithuania Mindaugas the II lasted only 113 days... well, because he died in March 1928 in Rapallo, Italy.


References:

1. Tarpukario Lietuva. 2007, Sviesa.
2. http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id124.html