Youth and education
Claus von Amsberg, son of Claus-Felix von Amsberg and Gösta von dem Bussche-Haddenhausen, was born on 6 September 1926 on the estate of his mother's family in Dötzingen (Hitzacker).
From 1928 to 1947 his father ran a plantation in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). Prince Claus attended primary school in Bad Doberan in Mecklenburg from 1933 to 1936 before transferring to a boarding school in Lushoto (Tanganyika). From 1938 to 1943 he received his secondary education at the Baltenschule, a boarding school at Misdroy in Pomerania. From January to August 1943 he attended secondary school at Bad Doberan, and from August 1943 to January 1944 he served as a naval auxiliary near Kiel. In January 1944 the Prince was called up for a two-month period of service in the Labour Corps in Königsberg/Neumark. He then returned to secondary school and was awarded his (wartime) school-leaving certificate in July 1944.