Albert II of Mecklenburg

Albert II of Mecklenburg (c. 1318 – 18 February 1379), born in Schwerin, was a son of Henry II the Lion and Anna of Saxe-Wittenberg, succeeding his father as Lord of Mecklenburg in 1329. In 1336 he married Euphemia, granddaughter of King Haakon V of Norway, through whom he gained estates in Sweden.

In 1348 Emperor Charles IV raised Mecklenburg to a duchy, making Albert and his younger brother John its first dukes. When Swedish nobles turned on his brother-in-law, King Magnus IV, Albert put forward his own son Albert as their candidate, meaning to rule through him; the younger Albert deposed Magnus.

He also married his eldest son Henry to the eldest daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark and offered their infant son as heir to Denmark in vain. The Swedes called him the Fox of Mecklenburg for his scheming and avarice, and he died in 1379.