 After the death of his uncle Ernst on 29 December 1941, Georg succeeded to the headship of the house of Saxe-Meiningen and assumed the title of Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and style "Georg III".Georg died in the Russian prisoner of war camp near Cherepovets ("Tscherepowetz" in German) in Northern Russia.His heir was his second and only surviving son Prince Frederick Alfred who renounced the succession, being a monk in 1953, allowing it to pass to his uncle Bernhard.