[1] His parents divorced in 1920 and his mother remarried less than two years later;[1] custody of the young prince was awarded to Alexander's father.

Alexander attended the 1932 wedding of the Swedish prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten with Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in the former duchy of Coburg; it was the first time that a member of the German imperial family had entered the duchy since it became a republic, or specifically a part of Bavaria in November 1919 after the ruling duke, Carl Eduard, had ended his reign on 14 November 1918.

Prince August had secret hopes that Chancellor Adolf Hitler "would one day hoist him or his son Alexander up to the vacant throne of the Kaiser".

[7] Unlike many other German princes, who became the targets of Hitler's mistrust and were removed from their commands in the military, Alexander was the only Hohenzollern allowed to remain at his post.

[5][9] As the marriage had not been dynastically approved,[1] none of his relatives attended the ceremony, but fellow officers served as witnesses.