German explorer and naturalist. Prince Friedrich Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg (later the Duke, or Herzog, and usually known as Paul) was the nephew of King Frederick I of Württemberg. Born in Carlsruhe near Stuttgart, rather than enjoying the comfortable life ensured as a member of this powerful royal family, Prince Paul spent years exploring the world, North America in particular, collecting cultural and scientific data.
Trained in the military, he shunned an army career to pursue his interests on a chain of expeditions. The first was to North America's Mississippi and Missouri valleys in 1822, where he made the acquaintance of General William Clark of the pioneering Lewis and Clark Expedition to the Pacific Coast two decades earlier, and Clark's cohort Toussaint Charbonneau. He also became acquainted with Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of the latter with the native American woman, Sacagawea. Jean Baptiste, then just a teenager, accompanied the prince on his return to Germany and on travels in Europe and North Africa over the next five years. In 1929 the pair headed back across the Atlantic and went their separate ways, the prince venturing into Mexico and the American West, a tour of three years, after which he spent considerable efforts classifying and arranging his collected specimens. In the following years he explored Egypt's upper Nile region but was lured back to America in 1849, this time ranging from Texas and Mexico to New Orleans, up the Mississippi and into the eastern area in 1852. At this point he set his sights on Australia, but the journey could not be undertaken so instead he travelled to South America in the year 1853.
He returned to Germany in 1856 before setting off once more for the United States in 1857 and going on to explore parts of the Middle East and Australia. A few months after his return from Australia in 1860 the well-travelled prince died, aged 63. Von Württemberg's travels were celebrated by contemporary newspapers in his home country, but from his own expedition journals Prince Paul published only one account, relating to his first trip in 1822-1824, including thoughtful ethnological observations on the indigenous peoples. Many of his unpublished drawings and texts along with some of his private collections were destroyed in the Second World War. His collections included botanical, geological and zoological material, among which were no fewer than 8,000 bird skins.
The prince was married for eight years to Maria Sophia Dorothea Prinzessin von Thurn and Taxis; the couple divorced in 1835. They had one child, Maximilian Herzog von Württemberg, born in 1828. Prince Paul also fathered two illegitimate daughters.
