Ferdinand I of the Kingdom of the Two-Sicilies. Part II.

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Austria, Congress of Vienna, France, Joachim Murat, King Ferdinand IV-III of Naples and Sicily, King Ferdinand of the Two-Sicilies, Napoleon Bonaparte, Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia-Piedmont

King Ferdinand IV-III of Naples and Sicily returned to Naples soon after the wars with France and ordered a few hundred who had collaborated with the French executed. This stopped only when the French successes forced him to agree to a treaty which included amnesty for members of the French party.

When war broke out between France and Austria in 1805, Ferdinand signed a treaty of neutrality with the former, but a few days later he allied himself with Austria and allowed an Anglo-Russian force to land at Naples.

The French victory at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, enabled Napoleon to dispatch an army to southern Italy. Ferdinand fled to Palermo (January 23, 1806), followed soon after by his wife and son, and on February 14, 1806 the French again entered Naples.

Napoleon declared that the Bourbon dynasty had forfeited the crown, and proclaimed his brother Joseph King of Naples and Sicily. But Ferdinand continued to reign over Sicily (becoming the first King of Sicily in centuries to actually reside there) under British protection.

Parliamentary institutions of a feudal type had long existed in the island, and Lord William Bentinck, the British minister, insisted on a reform of the constitution on English and French lines. The king indeed practically abdicated his power, appointing his son Francis as regent, and the queen, at Bentinck’s insistence, was exiled to Austria, where she died in 1814.

Restoration

The Restoration of Naples and Sicily were part of the workings of the Congress of Vienna.

The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was an international diplomatic conference to reconstitute the European political order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon I. It was a meeting of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich, and held in Vienna from November 1814 to June 1815

The Congress restored the Papal States to Pope Pius VII. King Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia was restored to Piedmont, its mainland possession, and also gained control of the Republic of Genoa. In Southern Italy, Napoleon’s brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, was originally allowed to retain the Kingdom of Naples, but his support for Napoleon in the Hundred Days led to the restoration of the Bourbon Ferdinand IV to the throne.

November 16, 1797: Accession of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia

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Alexander I of Russia, Congress of Vienna, Franz of Austria, Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia, House of Hohenzollern, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Morganatic Marriage, Napoleonic Wars

Friedrich Wilhelm III. (August 3, 1770 – June 7, 1840) was King of Prussia from November 16, 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until August 6, 1806, when the Empire was dissolved.

Friedrich Wilhelm was born in Potsdam in 1770 as the son of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt was the daughter of Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken. She was born in Prenzlau. Her sister Louise who married Duke (later Grand-Duke) Charles Augustus of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Her brother was Ludwig X, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1806 Ludwig X was elevated to the title of a Grand Duke Ludwig I of Hesse and joined the Confederation of the Rhine, leading to the dissolution of the Empire. At the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, Ludwig had to give up his Westphalian territories, but was compensated with the district of Rheinhessen, with his capital Mainz on the left bank of the Rhine. Because of this addition, he amended his title to Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.

Friedrich Wilhelm was considered to be a shy and reserved boy, which became noticeable in his particularly reticent conversations, distinguished by the lack of personal pronouns. This manner of speech subsequently came to be considered entirely appropriate for military officers. He was neglected by his father during his childhood and suffered from an inferiority complex his entire life.

As a child, Friedrich Wilhelm’s father (under the influence of his mistress, Wilhelmine Enke, Countess of Lichtenau) had him handed over to tutors, as was quite normal for the period. He spent part of the time living at Paretz, the estate of the old soldier Count Hans von Blumenthal who was the governor of his brother Prince Heinrich. They thus grew up partly with the Count’s son, who accompanied them on their Grand Tour in the 1780s.

Friedrich Wilhelm was happy at Paretz, and for this reason, in 1795, he bought it from his boyhood friend and turned it into an important royal country retreat. He was a melancholy boy, but he grew up pious and honest. His tutors included the dramatist Johann Engel.

As a soldier, he received the usual training of a Prussian prince, obtained his lieutenancy in 1784, became a lieutenant colonel in 1786, a colonel in 1790, and took part in the campaigns against France of 1792–1794.

On December 24, 1793, Friedrich Wilhelm married his cousin Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the fourth daughter and sixth child of Duke Charles of Mecklenburg and his wife Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Louise’s father, Charles, was a brother of Queen Charlotte of Great Britain, wife of King George III, and her mother Frederike was a granddaughter of Ludwig VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her maternal grandmother, Landgravine Marie Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, and her paternal first-cousin Princess Augusta Sophia of the United Kingdom served as sponsors at her baptism; her second given name came from Princess Augusta Sophia. Louise bore Friedrich Wilhelm ten children.

In the Kronprinzenpalais (Crown Prince’s Palace) in Berlin, Friedrich Wilhelm lived a civil life with a problem-free marriage, which did not change even when he became King of Prussia in 1797. His wife Louise was particularly loved by the Prussian people, which boosted the popularity of the whole House of Hohenzollern, including the King himself.

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia

Reign

Friedrich Wilhelm succeeded to the throne on November 16, 1797. He also became, in personal union, the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel (1797–1806 and again 1813–1840). At once, the new King showed that he was earnest of his good intentions by cutting down the royal establishment’s expenses, dismissing his father’s ministers, and reforming the most oppressive abuses of the late reign.

He had the Hohenzollern determination to retain personal power but not the Hohenzollern genius for using it. Too distrustful to delegate responsibility to his ministers, he greatly reduced the effectiveness of his reign since he was forced to assume the roles he did not delegate. This is the main factor of his inconsistent rule.

Disgusted with his father’s court (in both political intrigues and sexual affairs), Friedrich Wilhelm’s first and most successful early endeavor was to restore his dynasty’s moral legitimacy. The eagerness to restore dignity to his family went so far that it nearly caused sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow to cancel the expensive and lavish Prinzessinnengruppe project, which was commissioned by the previous monarch Friedrich Wilhelm II.

At first, Friedrich Wilhelm and his advisors attempted to pursue a neutrality policy in the Napoleonic Wars. Although they succeeded in keeping out of the Third Coalition in 1805, eventually, Friedrich Wilhelm was swayed by the queen’s attitude, who led Prussia’s pro-war party and entered into the war in October 1806.

On October 14, 1806, at the Battle of Jena-Auerstädt, the French effectively decimated the Prussian army’s effectiveness and functionality; led by Friedrich Wilhelm II, the Prussian army collapsed entirely soon after. Napoleon occupied Berlin in late October. The royal family fled to Memel, East Prussia, where they fell on the mercy of Emperor Alexander I of Russia.

Alexander, too, suffered defeat at the hands of the French, and at Tilsit on the Niemen France made peace with Russia and Prussia. Napoleon dealt with Prussia very harshly, despite the pregnant Queen’s interview with the French emperor, which was believed to soften the defeat. Instead, Napoleon took much less mercy on the Prussians than what was expected. Prussia lost many of its Polish territories and all territory west of the Elbe and had to finance a large indemnity and pay French troops to occupy key strong points within the Kingdom.

Although the ineffectual King himself seemed resigned to Prussia’s fate, various reforming ministers, such as Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein, Prince Karl August von Hardenberg, Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst, and Count August von Gneisenau, set about reforming Prussia’s administration and military, with the encouragement of Queen Louise.

On July 19, 1810, while visiting her father in Strelitz Queen Louisevdied in her husband’s arms from an unidentified illness. The queen’s subjects attributed the French occupation as the cause of her early death. “Our saint is in heaven”, exclaimed Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. Louise’s untimely death left her husband alone during a period of great difficulty, as the Napoleonic Wars and need for reform continued. Louise was buried in the garden of Charlottenburg Palace, where a mausoleum, containing a fine recumbent statue by Christian Daniel Rauch, was built over her grave

In 1813, following Napoleon’s defeat in Russia, Friedrich Wilhelm turned against France and signed an alliance with Russia at Kalisz. However, he had to flee Berlin, still under French occupation. Prussian troops played a crucial part in the victories of the allies in 1813 and 1814, and the King himself traveled with the main army of Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg, along with Emperor Alexander of Russia and Emperor Franz of Austria.

At the Congress of Vienna, Friedrich Wilhelm’s ministers succeeded in securing significant territorial increases for Prussia. However, they failed to obtain the annexation of all of Saxony, as they had wished. Following the war, Friedrich Wilhelm turned towards political reaction, abandoning the promises he had made in 1813 to provide Prussia with a constitution.

Prussian Union of churches

Frederick William was determined to unify the Protestant churches to homogenize their liturgy, organization, and architecture. The long-term goal was to have fully centralized royal control of all the Protestant churches in the Prussian Union of churches. The merging of the Lutheran and Calvinist (Reformed) confessions to form the United Church of Prussia was highly controversial.

The crown’s aggressive efforts to restructure religion were unprecedented in Prussian history. In a series of proclamations over several years, the Church of the Prussian Union was formed, bringing together the majority group of Lutherans and the minority group of Reformed Protestants. The main effect was that the government of Prussia had full control over church affairs, with the king himself recognized as the leading bishop.

In 1824 Friedrich Wilhelm III remarried (morganatically) Countess Auguste von Harrach, Princess of Liegnitz. They had no children.

At the time of their marriage, the Harrach family was still not recognized as equal for dynastic purposes. Later, in 1841, they were officially recognized as a mediatized family (a former ruling family within the Holy Roman Empire), with the style of Illustrious Highness, which allowed them to have equal status for marriage purposes to those reigning royal families. Thus, in 1824 when the marriage occurred, it was treated as morganatic, so she was not named Queen, but was given the title Princess von Liegnitz (modern-day Legnica) and Countess von Hohenzollern. Friedrich Wilhelm III reportedly stated that he did not wish to have another queen after Queen Louise.

In 1838 the king distributed large parts of his farmland at Erdmannsdorf Estate to 422 Protestant refugees from the Austrian Zillertal, who built Tyrolean style farmhouses in the Silesian village.

Death

Friedrich Wilhelm III died on June 7, 1840 in Berlin, from a fever, survived by his second wife. His eldest son, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, succeeded him.

Friedrich Wilhelm III is buried at the Mausoleum in Schlosspark Charlottenburg, Berlin

August 3, 1770: Birth of King Friedrich-Wilhelm III of Prussia

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Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Congress of Vienna, Countess Auguste von Harrach, Frederica-Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia, House of Hohenzollern, Kingdom of Prussia, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Napoleonic Wars, Princess of Liegnitz, Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Friedrich-Wilhelm III (August 3, 1770 – June 7, 1840) was King of Prussia from 1797 to 1840.

Friedrich-Wilhelm was born in Potsdam in 1770 as the son of Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia and Frederica-Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, the daughter of Landgrave Ludwig IX of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Caroline of Zweibrücken. Frederica-Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt was born in Prenzlau. She was the sister of Grand Duchess Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, as well as Grand Duke Ludwig I of Hesse and by Rhine.

Friedrich-Wilhelm III, King of Prussia

Friedrich-Wilhelm was considered to be a shy and reserved boy, which became noticeable in his particularly reticent conversations distinguished by the lack of personal pronouns. This manner of speech subsequently came to be considered entirely appropriate for military officers. He was neglected by his father during his childhood and suffered from an inferiority complex his entire life.

On December 24, 1793, Friedrich-Wilhelm married Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the fourth daughter and sixth child of Duke Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his wife Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her father Charles was a brother of Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom and her mother Frederike was a granddaughter of Landgrave Ludwig VIII, of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her maternal grandmother, Landgravine Marie Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, and her paternal first-cousin Princess Augusta-Sophia of the United Kingdom served as sponsors at her baptism; her second given name came from Princess Augusta-Sophia.

Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

The wedding took place in the Kronprinzenpalais (Crown Prince’s Palace) in Berlin, Friedrich-Wilhelm and Luise lived a civil life with a problem-free marriage, which did not change even when he became King of Prussia in 1797. His wife Luise was particularly loved by the Prussian people, which boosted the popularity of the whole House of Hohenzollern, including the King himself. Friedrich-Wilhelm and Luise had ten children.

Friedrich-Wilhelm succeeded to the throne on November 16, 1797. He also became, in personal union, the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel (1797–1806 and again 1813–1840). At once, the new King showed that he was earnest of his good intentions by cutting down the expenses of the royal establishment, dismissing his father’s ministers, and reforming the most oppressive abuses of the late reign.

Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia (Father)

Frederica-Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt (Mothrr)

King Friedrich-Wilhelm III had the Hohenzollern determination to retain personal power but not the Hohenzollern genius for using it. Too distrustful to delegate responsibility to his ministers, he greatly reduced the effectiveness of his reign since he was forced to assume the roles he did not delegate. This is a main factor of his inconsistent rule.

Disgusted with the moral debauchery of his father’s court (in both political intrigues and sexual affairs), Friedrich-Wilhelm III’s first, and most successful early endeavor was to restore the moral legitimacy to his dynasty.

Friedrich-Wilhelm III ruled Prussia during the difficult times of the Napoleonic Wars. Steering a careful course between France and her enemies, after a major military defeat in 1806, he was humiliated by Napoleon, and Prussia was stripped of recent gains and forced to pay huge financial penalties. The king reluctantly joined the coalition against Napoleon in the Befreiungskriege.

Following Napoleon’s defeat, he took part in the Congress of Vienna, which assembled to settle the political questions arising from the new, post-Napoleonic order in Europe. His major interests were internal, the reform of Prussia’s Protestant churches. He was determined to unify the Protestant churches, to homogenize their liturgy, their organization, and even their architecture.

The long-term goal was to have fully centralized royal control of all the Protestant churches in the Prussian Union of Churches. The king was said to be extremely shy and indecisive. His wife Queen Luise (1776–1810) was his most important political advisor. She led a very powerful group that included Baron vom Stein, Prince von Hardenberg, von Scharnhorst, and Count Gneisenau. They set about reforming Prussia’s administration, churches, finance and military.

In 1824 Friedrich-Wilhelm III remarried (morganatically) Countess Auguste von Harrach, Princess of Liegnitz. They had no children. At the time of their marriage the Harrach family was still not recognised as equal, although, later in 1841, they were officially recognised as a mediatised family (former ruling family within the Holy Roman Empire), with the style of Illustrious Highness which allowed them having equal status for marriage purposes to those reigning and royal families.

Due to that, in 1824 when the marriage occurred, it was treated as morganatic, so she was not named Queen, but was given the titles Princess von Liegnitz (modern-day Legnica) and Countess von Hohenzollern. Friedrich-Wilhelm reportedly stated, that he did not wish to have another queen after Queen Luise.

Countess Auguste von Harrach, Princess of Liegnitz

In 1838 the king distributed large parts of his farmland at Erdmannsdorf Estate to 422 Protestant refugees from the Austrian Zillertal, who built Tyrolean style farmhouses in the Silesian village.

Death

Friedrich-Wilhelm III died on June 7, 1840 in Berlin, from a fever, survived by his second wife. His eldest son succeeded him as King Friedrich-Wilhelm IV. King Friedrich-Wilhelm III is buried at the Mausoleum in Schlosspark Charlottenburg, Berlin.

Intermarriage between the Schwerin and Strelitz lines of the House of Mecklenburg. Part IV.

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Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, Congress of Vienna, Frederick Francis IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Frederick William III of Prussia, German Empire, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Intermarriage, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

In 1695, the Mecklenburg-Güstrow branch of the House of Mecklenburg became extinct with the death of Duke Gustaf-Adolph of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

After more than five years of dispute over succession to the House of Mecklenburg, the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was established in 1701 in the territory of the former duchy of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. With the death of Duke Gustaf-Adolph in 1695, Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Schwerin claimed heirship, a move which his uncle, Prince Adolf-Friedrich strongly opposed. Adolf-Friedrich, was the husband of Marie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, the daughter of Duke Gustaf-Adolph, strengthening his claim to the territory. The emissaries of the Lower Saxon Circle finally negotiated a compromise on March 8, 1701.

Adolf-Friedrich II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

The agreement they reached created the final, definitive division of Mecklenburg and was sealed with the 1701 Treaty of Hamburg. Section 2 of the treaty established Mecklenburg-Strelitz as a duchy in its own right and assigned it to Adolf-Friedrich (Duke Adolf-Friedrich II) together with the Principality of Ratzeburg on the western border of Mecklenburg south of Lübeck, the Herrschaft Stargard in the southeast of Mecklenburg, with the cities of Neubrandenburg, Friedland, Woldegk, Strelitz, Burg Stargard, Fürstenberg/Havel and Wesenberg, and the commandries of Mirow and Nemerow.

At the same time the principle of primogeniture was reasserted, and the right to summon the joint Landtag was reserved to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The 1701 provisions were maintained with minor changes until the end of the monarchy. Both parties continued to call themselves Dukes of Mecklenburg; Adolf-Friedrich II took his residence at Strelitz. Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Adolf-Friedrich II (October 19, 1658 – May 12, 1708), was born in Grabow as the posthumous son of Duke Adolf-Friedrich I of Mecklenburg and his second wife, Maria Katharina of Brunswick-Dannenberg (1616–1665).

In 1684 Adolf-Friedrich II married firstly to his cousin Princess Maria of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1659 – 1701), daughter of Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. They had five children:
* Adolf-Friedrich III, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1686 – 1752).
* Duchess Magdalena Amalia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1689 – 1689).
* Duchess Maria of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born and died August 1690).
* Duchess Eleonore Wilhelmina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born and died, July 1691)
* Duchess Gustave Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1694 – 1748) she married Christian Ludwig II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

On June 20, 1702, Adolf-Friedrich II married secondly to Princess Johanna of Saxe-Gotha (1680 – 1704), a daughter of Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, and Magdalena-Sybille of Saxe-Weissenfels. There were no children from this marriage.

On June 11, 1705 at Neustrelitz, Adolf-Friedrich II married thirdly to Princess Christiane Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, a daughter of Christian-Wilhelm I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Countess Antonie-Sybille of Barby-Mühlingen (1641–1684).

They had two children:
* Duchess Sophia Christina Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1706 – 1708).
* Duke Charles I Ludwig Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1708 – 1752), Prince of Mirow.

Through his granddaughter Charlotte, Adolf-Friedrich II is the ancestor of every British monarch beginning with George IV, who ascended the throne of the United Kingdom in 1820.

The Strelitz duchy remained one of the most backward regions of the Empire. Nevertheless, its princesses achieved prominent marriages: Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, sister of Duke Adolf-Friedrich IV, married King George III of Great Britain in 1761, thus becoming queen consort of Great Britain.

Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Great Britain

Her niece Princess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, daughter of Duke Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, married Friedrich-Wilhelm III of Prussia in 1793 and became queen consort of Prussia in 1797. Her other niece, Louise’s sister, Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz married in 1815 Prince Ernst-Agust, Duke of Cumberland, who, in 1837, became King of Hanover, making her queen consort of Hanover.

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia

Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Mecklenburg-Strelitz adopted the constitution of the sister duchy in September 1755. In 1806 it was spared the infliction of a French occupation through the good offices of the king of Bavaria. In 1808 its duke, Charles (d. 1816), joined the Confederation of the Rhine, but in 1813 he withdrew from it. The Congress of Vienna recognized both Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Mecklenburg-Schwerin as Grand Duchies and members of the German Confederation. In 1871 Both Grand Duchies became part of the German Empire.

Following the 1918 suicide of Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, (this occurred prior to the abolition of the monarchy) Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin took up the regency of Strelitz. This happened because the heir presumptive Duke Charles-Michael was serving in the Russian Army at the time and had indicated that he wished to renounce his succession rights. Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV abdicated the grand ducal throne on November 14, 1918 following the German Empire’s defeat in World War I; the regency ended at the same time.

After his abdication, he was initially not allowed to live in Mecklenburg and had to move to Denmark. A year later, he was permitted to return. He recovered some of his former properties and occupied some of his former homes. Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV died on November 17, 1945 in Flensburg after being arrested by No6 RAF Security section on November 9, 1945. He was succeeded as head of the grand ducal house by his son Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz V.

In May 1931 against the will of his father, Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz of Mecklenburg-Schwerin joined the SS and by 1936 he had been promoted to the rank of Hauptsturmführer (Captain).

He was posted to Denmark during World War II where he worked at the German embassy as a personal aide to Werner Best. He spent the summer months of 1944 serving with the Waffen-SS tank corps.

In May 1943, a family council was called by the Grand Ducal family and Friedrich Franz was passed over as heir in favour of his younger brother Duke Christian-Ludwig (III), who would instead inherit the family property.

On July 5, 1954 in Glücksburg, Christian-Ludwig married in a civil wedding Princess Barbara of Prussia, daughter of Prince Sigismund of Prussia and Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg. They married in a religious ceremony on 11 July 1954. They had two daughters. Friedrich Franz, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

With the extinction of Schwerin branch, with the death of Christian-Ludwig (III), Mecklenburg-Strelitz is now the only surviving branch of the Grand Ducal house in the male line. The current head of this house is Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg. His grandfather was Count Georg of Carlow, the morganatic son of Duke George Alexander of Mecklenburg (1859–1909).

Duke Georg (II) was adopted in 1928 by his uncle Duke Charles-Michael of Mecklenburg, the head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He then assumed the title and style of “His Serene Highness The Duke of Mecklenburg”, which was confirmed by the head of the Imperial House of Russia, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich on July 18, 1929 and recognized on December 23, by Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He succeeded his uncle as head of the house on December 6, 1934 and was granted the style of Highness on 18 December 18, 1950.

In addition to Duke Borwin, the current members of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz are his wife Duchess Alice (née Wagner; born 1959); their children Duchess Olga (born 1988), the Dukes Alexander (born 1991) and Michael (born 1994); and his sisters, the Duchesses Elisabeth -Christine (born 1947), Marie Catherine (born 1949) and Irene (born 1952).

The lines of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow did briefly intermarry. Once the establishment of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz the only intermarriages of the Strelitz line had was with the Mecklenburg-Güstrow line was in the beginning in 1684 when Adolf-Friedrich II married Princess Maria of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1659 – January 1701), daughter of Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

The singular marriage between the Schwerin line and the Strelitz line was when Duchess Gustave-Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1694 – 1748), daughter of Adolf-Friedrich II and Princess Maria of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1659 – 1701), daughter of Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow – married Christian-Ludwig II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

After that there was no intermarriage between the Schwerin and Strelitz lines.

May 21, 1801: Birth of Princess Sophie of Sweden. Part II.

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Charles-Friedrich of Baden, Congress of Vienna, Grand Duchy of Baden, Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, Landgrave Ludwig VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt, Leopold of Baden, Louis I of Baden, Louise-Caroline Geyer von Geyersberg, Margrave Charles-Friedrich of Baden, Maximilian of Bavaria

From the Emperor’s Desk: Today’s blog entry on Princess Sophie of Sweden will focus on her husband, Grand Duke Leopold of Baden.

Princess Sophie of Sweden

Leopold (August 29, 1790 – April 24, 1852) succeeded in 1830 as the Grand Duke of Baden, reigning until his death in 1852.

Leopold I, Grand Duke of Baden

Although a younger child, Leopold was the first son of Margrave Charles-Friedrich of Baden by his second, morganatic wife, Louise-Caroline Geyer von Geyersberg. Since Louise-Carline was not of equal birth with the Margrave, the marriage was deemed morganatic and the resulting children were perceived as incapable of inheriting their father’s dynastic status or the sovereign rights of the Zähringen House of Baden. Louise-Caroline and her children were given the titles of baron and baroness, in 1796 Count or Countess von Hochberg.

Baden gained territory during the Napoleonic Wars. As a result, Margrave Carl-Friedrich was elevated to the title of Prince-Elector within the Holy Roman Empire. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Carl-Friedrich took the title Grand Duke of Baden.

Hochberg heir

Since the descendants of Charles-Friedrich’s first marriage to Caroline-Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of Landgrave Ludwig VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt and Countess Charlotte of Hanau, were at first plentiful, no one expected the Hochberg children of his second wife to be anything except a family of counts with blood ties to the grand ducal family, but lacking dynastic rights.

Charles-Friedrich, Margrave, Elector and later Grand Duke of Baden

Count Leopold von Hochberg was born in Karlsruhe, and with no prospects of advancement in Baden, followed a career as an officer in the French army.

The situation of both the Grand Duchy and the Hochberg children became objects of international interest as it became apparent that the Baden male line descended from Charles-Friedrich first wife was likely to die out. One by one, the males of the House of Baden expired without leaving male descendants. By 1817, there were only two males left, the reigning Grand Duke Charles I, a grandson of Charles-Friedrich, and his childless uncle Prince Ludwig. Both of Charles’s sons died in infancy. Baden’s dynasty seemed to face extinction, casting the country’s future in doubt.

Unbeknownst to those outside of the court at Baden, upon the November 24, 1787 wedding of then-Margrave Charles-Friedrich to Louise-Caroline Geyer von Geyersberg, he and the three sons of his first marriage signed a declaration which reserved decision on the title and any succession rights of sons to be born of the marriage.

Charles-Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Baden

Although Louise-Caroline’s children were not initially legally recognised as of dynastic rank, on February 20, 1796 their father clarified in writing (subsequently co-signed by his elder sons) that the couple’s sons were eligible to succeed to the margravial throne in order of male primogeniture after extinction of the male issue of his first marriage. The Margrave further declared that his marriage to their mother must “in no way be seen as morganatic, but rather as a true equal marriage”.

On September 10, 1806, after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire and the assumption of full sovereignty, Charles-Friedrich confirmed the dynastic status of the sons of his second marriage. This act was, yet again, signed by his three eldest sons, but was not promulgated.

Louise-Caroline, Baroness Geyer of Geyersberg

On October 4, 1817, as neither Grand Duke Charles nor the other sons from his grandfather’s first marriage had surviving male descendants, Charles proceeded to confirm the succession rights of his hither-to morganatic half-uncles, elevating each to the title Prince and Margrave of Baden, and the style of Highness.

Grand Duke Charles asked the princely congress in Aachen on November 20, 1818, just weeks before his death, to confirm the succession rights of these sons of his step-grandmother, still known as Countess Louise von Hochberg.

However, this proclamation of Baden’s succession evoked international challenges. The Congress of Vienna had, in 1815, recognised the claims of Bavaria and Austria to parts of Baden which it allocated to Charles-Friedrich in the Upper Palatinate and the Breisgau, anticipating that upon his imminent demise those lands would cease to be part of the Grand Duchy.

Charles, Grand Duke of Baden

Moreover, the Wittelsbach King of Bavaria, Maximilian I Joseph, was married to Grand Duke Charles’s eldest sister, Caroline of Baden. The female most closely related to the last male of a German dynasty often inherited in such circumstances, in accordance with Semi-Salic succession law.

As a result, Maximilian had a strong claim to Baden under the customary rules of inheritance, as well as his claims under a post–Congress of Vienna treaty of April 16, 1816. Nonetheless, in 1818 Charles granted a constitution to the nation, the liberality of which made it popular with the people of Baden and which included a clause securing the succession rights of the offspring of Louise-Caroline Geyer von Geyersberg.

Another dispute was resolved by Baden’s agreement to cede a portion of the county of Wertheim, already enclaved within Bavaria, to that kingdom.

To further improve the status of Prince Leopold, his half-brother the new Grand Duke Ludwig I arranged for him to marry his great-niece, Sophie of Sweden, daughter of former King Gustaf IV Adolph of Sweden by Grand Duke Charles’s sister, Fredrica. Since Sophie was a granddaughter of Leopold’s oldest half-brother, Hereditary Prince Charles-Ludwig, this marriage united the descendants of his father’s (Grand Duke Charles-Friedrich) two wives. Sophie’s undoubted royal blood would help to offset the stigma of Leopold’s morganatic birth.

Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Baden

Finally, on July 10, 1819, a few months after Charles’s death, the Great Powers of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia joined with Bavaria and Baden in the 1819 Treaty of Frankfurt which recognized the succession rights of the former Hochberg morganatic line.

When Ludwig I died on March 30, 1830, he was the last male of the House of Baden not descended from the morganatic marriage of Charles-Friedrich and Louise-Caroline Geyer von Geyersberg. Leopold von Hochberg now succeeded as the fourth Grand Duke of Baden.

Titles of the Dutch Sovereign

Tags

Beatrix, Congress of Vienna, House of Orange-Nassau, Juliana, Kings and Queens of the Netherlands., Prince of Orange, Wilhelmina, Willem I, Willem II, Willem III, Willem-Alexander, William the Silent

Willem I, the Silent, Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, Stadholder of the Netherlands.

I must admit that one of my interests in royalty is an interest in titles from their history to their correct usage. Although there is some uniformity across the different monarchies, each country also has its unique history and rules/laws. Today I’ll be examining the history and usage of titles with the monarchy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Willem I, King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Limburg, Prince of Orange-Nassau.

The style of the Dutch sovereign has changed many times since the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands due to formations and dissolutions of personal unions, as well as due to marriages of female sovereigns and cognatic successions.

History

Before I begin discussing the titles of the Dutch monarchy I’d like to give a brief history of their royal house, The House of Orange-Nassau.

The House of Orange-Nassau is a branch of the European House of Nassau, and it has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands and Europe especially since William the Silent organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) led to an independent Dutch state.

Willem II, King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Limburg, Prince of Orange-Nassau.

The dynasty was established as a result of the marriage of Heinrich III of Nassau-Breda from the German Holy Roman Empire and Claudia of Châlon-Orange from French Burgundy in 1515. Their son René inherited in 1530 the independent and sovereign Principality of Orange from his mother’s brother, Philibert of Châlon. As the first Nassau to be the Prince of Orange, René could have used “Orange-Nassau” as his new family name. However, his uncle, in his will, had stipulated that René should continue the use of the name Châlon-Orange. History knows him therefore as René of Châlon. After the death of René in 1544, his cousin William of Nassau-Dillenburg inherited all of his lands. This “William I of Orange”, in English better known as Willem I the Silent, became the founder of the House of Orange-Nassau.

Willem III, King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Limburg, Prince of Orange-Nassau.

Stadholder

In the Low Countries, stadtholder was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The stadtholder was the replacement of the duke or earl of a province during the Burgundian and Habsburg period (1384 – 1581).

The title was used for the official tasked with maintaining peace and provincial order in the early Dutch Republic and, at times, became de facto Head of State of the Dutch Republic during the 16th to 18th centuries, which was an effectively hereditary role. For the last half century of its existence, it became an officially hereditary role and thus a monarchy (though not a monarchial title) under Prince Willem IV. His son, Prince Willem V, was the last stadtholder of the republic. The Dutch monarchy is only distantly related to the first stadtholder of the young Republic, Prince Willem I “The Silent” of Orange, the leader of the successful Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Empire, his line having died out with Willem III in 1702. (who was also King William III of England, Scotland and Ireland).

The title stadtholder is roughly comparable to England’s historic title Lord Lieutenant.

Kingdom of The Netherlands

Prince Willem-Frederick of Nassau-Orange, son of the last stadtholder of the Netherlands, Willem V, returned to the Netherlands in 1813 and proclaimed himself Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands. Two years later, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna added the southern Netherlands to the north to create a strong country on the northern border of France. Willem-Frederick raised this United Netherlands to the status of a kingdom and proclaimed himself as King Willem I on March 16, 1815. In addition, Willem became hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg in exchange for his German possessions.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands as a state was not politically united with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, they were in a personal union together under Willem I. As a member of the House of Orange-Nassau Willem I who already inherited a vast number of titles and lands inherited from his ancestors. On April 19, 1839, the Duchy of Limburg joined the union. Willem I, Willem II and Willem III all ruled as kings, grand dukes and dukes.

In 1866, however, the Duchy of Limburg ceased to exist as a separate polity and instead became integrated into the Kingdom of the Netherlands as a province. Willem III kept the ducal title and passed it on to his successor, Wilhelmina, but she did not succeed him to the throne of Luxembourg, as the country’s succession laws provided for strict observance of Salic Law at the time. Thus, the reference to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg disappeared from the title of the Dutch monarch.

Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Duchess of Limburg, Duchess of Limburg, Princess of Orange-Nassau.

The male line of the House of Orange-Nassau ended with the death of Willem III on November 23, 1890. His only surviving child and successor, Wilhelmina, married Duke Heinrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on February 7, 1901 and, as customary, assumed the feminine form of her husband’s title. The title of Duchess of Mecklenburg was thus added to her full title. The government did not want the House of Orange-Nassau to become extinct on Wilhelmina’s death, and so in 1908 she issued a royal decree conferring the title of Prince or Princess of Orange-Nassau to her descendants. Her only child, Juliana, was therefore born not only Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin but also Princess of Orange-Nassau, like previous members of the royal family.

When Juliana married Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld in 1936, Wilhelmina decreed that her daughter and heir presumptive would assume the title of Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, as customary, but that it would come after her birth title of Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. On September 4, 1948, Wilhelmina abdicated in favor of Juliana, which brought the title of Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld into the full style of the Dutch monarch. At the same time, the title of Duchess of Limburg was dropped, Wilhelmina being the last person to hold it.

Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld

Like Wilhelmina, Juliana had no sons. She abdicated in favor of Beatrix, the eldest of her four daughters, on April 30, 1980. Beatrix is not a male-line descendant of Duke Heinrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and thus was not a Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She was the first Dutch monarch in 79 years not to bear the title. Through her father, she is a Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld.

On April 30, 2013, she abdicated in favour of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander, who thus became the first male on the throne in 123 years. He is not a male-line descendant of Prince Bernhard and thus not a Prince of Lippe-Biesterfeld. He bears the honorific Jonkheer van Amsberg as the son of Claus van Amsberg.

Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld

Willem-Alexander is the first Dutch king since Willem III, who died in 1890. Willem-Alexander had earlier indicated that when he became king, he would take the name Willem IV, but it was announced in January 2013 that his regnal name would be Willem-Alexander. Personally, I’m torn by this decision. One the one hand I like the use of Roman numerals to designate one monarch from those of the same name. However, I also love the usage double names which was prominent during the 18th and 19th centuries especially within the German monarchies.

However, I think it may cause some confusion in the future. What will another King Willem of the Netherlands call himself, assuming he just uses his first name only? Will he be Willem IV or possibly Willem V? I rather doubt he’d call himself Willem V but a Willem IV after a Willem-Alexander does seem odd.

Willem-Alexander, Kingdom of The Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg

Full Styles

“We, William III, by the Grace of God, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, etc., etc., etc.

“We, Beatrix, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, etc., etc., etc.”

Shortened versions of the styles, used in preambles:

* 1815–1890: By the Grace of God, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, etc., etc., etc.

* 1890–2013: By the Grace of God, Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, etc., etc., etc.

* 2013–present: By the Grace of God, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, etc., etc., etc.

Titles that have appeared in shortened styles, preceded by “His Majesty” or “Her Majesty” and the monarch’s name:[5]

* 1815–1890: King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, etc.

* 1890–1901: Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, etc.

* 1901–1948: Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Duchess of Mecklenburg, etc.

* 1948–1980: Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Duchess of Mecklenburg, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, etc.

* 1980–2013: Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, etc.

* 2013–present: King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, etc.

This date in History: August 6, 1806. Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.

Tags

Austrian Empire, Carlos III of Spain, Congress of Vienna, Emperorvof the French, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, Holy Roman Empire, Joseph II, Leopold II, Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte

Although I’m in the middle of a series of posts examining the origins of the Holy Roman Empire, I’d like to discuss the dissolution of the Empire on the 213th Anniversary of the ending of the Empire.

The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire occurred de facto on August 6, 1806, when Emperor Franz II abdicated his Imperial title and released all imperial states and officials from their oaths and obligations to the empire. Although the abdication was considered legal, the dissolution of the imperial bonds was not and several states refused to recognise the end of the empire at the time.

Although today is the date the empire was dissolved, in many ways it was a mere formality as the empire had been deteriorating since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 that ended the Thirty Years War. The treaty gave the numerous states within the empire autonomy, ending the empire in all but name. The Swiss Confederation, which had already established quasi-independence in 1499, as well as the Northern Netherlands, also left the Empire at this juncture. The Habsburg Emperors then began to focus on consolidating their own estates in Austria and elsewhere.

By the reign of Louis XIV of France in the mid 17th and early 18th centuries, France began to surpass the Holy Roman Empire as the dominant power in Europe. Also, the Habsburgs were chiefly dependent on their hereditary lands to counter the recent rise of Prussia; some of whose territories lay inside the Empire. Throughout the 18th century, the Habsburgs were embroiled in various European conflicts, such as the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Polish Succession, and the War of the Austrian Succession. The German dualism between Austria and Prussia dominated the empire’s history in the 18th century as the two states vied for supremecy over the German lands.

From 1792 onwards, revolutionary France was at war with various parts of the Empire intermittently. 1792 was also the year Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II died and was succeeded by his son as Emperor Franz II, the last Holy Roman Emperor.

Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor and Emperor of Austria.

Franz II (February 12, 1768 – March 2, 1835) born in Florence, the capital of Tuscany, where his father reigned as Grand Duke at the time. His parents were Emperor Leopold II (1747–1792) and his wife Maria Luisa of Spain (1745–1792), (daughter of King Carlos III of Spain, Naples and Sicily and Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony, a daughter of the newly elected Polish king Augustus III and his (ironically) Austrian wife Maria Josepha of Austria.) Though Franz had a happy childhood surrounded by his many siblings, his family knew He was likely to be a future Emperor (his uncle Emperor Joseph II had no surviving issue from either of his two marriages), and so in 1784 the young Archduke Franz was sent to the Imperial Court in Vienna to educate and prepare him for his future role.

As Emperor and the leader of the large multi-ethnic Habsburg Empire, Franz II felt threatened by Napoleon’s social and political reforms, which were being exported throughout Europe with the expansion of the first French Empire. Franz had a fraught relationship with France. His aunt Marie Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI and Queen consort of France, was guillotined by the revolutionaries in 1793, at the beginning of his reign. Franz, on the whole, was indifferent to her fate (she was not close to his father, Leopold II and although Franz had met her, he had been too young at the time to have any memory of his aunt). Georges Danton attempted to negotiate with the Emperor for Marie Antoinette’s release, but Franz was unwilling to make any concessions in return.

Napoleon, Emperor of the French.

In 1804, with the growing ambitions of Napoleon, who had himself proclaimed Emperor of France that year, Franz, knowing the end of the Holy Roman Empire was drawing nigh, established the Austrian Empire and became Franz I, the first Emperor of Austria, ruling from 1804 to 1835. This act made him the only Doppelkaiser (double emperor) in history.For the two years between 1804 and 1806, Franz used the title and style by the Grace of God elected Roman Emperor, ever Augustus, hereditary Emperor of Austria and he was called the Emperor of both the Holy Roman Empire and Austria. He was also Apostolic King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia as Franz I.

With Napoleon’s victory over Austria at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805, the French Emperor “transformed himself from the guarantor of the Reich to the arbiter of its fate.” The subsequent Peace of Pressburg (December 26) created deliberate ambiguities in the imperial constitution. Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg were to have full sovereignty while remaining a part of the Germanic Confederation, a novel name for the Empire.

With the the signing of the Peace of Pressburg Emperor Franz II recognized the kingly titles assumed by the Electors of Bavaria and Württemberg, which foreshadowed the end of the Holy Roman Empire. At this point, he believed his position as Holy Roman Emperor to be untenable, so on August 6, 1806, he abdicated the throne, declaring the empire to be already dissolved in the same declaration. This was a political move to impair the legitimacy of the new entity, the Confederation of the Rhine, which had been created by Napoleon.

After the defeat of Napoleon the major European powers convened the Congress of Vienna. The objective of the Congress was to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The goal was not simply to restore old boundaries but to resize the main powers so they could balance each other and remain at peace. The last Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, in his role as Emperor of Austria served as the first president of the German Confederation following its confirmation by the Congress in 1815.

Confederation of the Rhine

Creation of The United Kingdom of the Netherlands

Tags

Congress of Vienna, French Revolution, House of Orange-Nassau, Kingdom of Belgium, Kingdom of the Belgians, Prince of Orange, Willem I of the Netherlands, Willem-Frederik

On this date in History, March 16, 1815, the creation of The United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The name of the state was the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories that had historically belonged to the former Dutch Republic, Austrian Netherlands, and Prince-Bishopric of Liège. The polity became a constitutional monarchy, ruled by Willem I of the House of Orange-Nassau. Until 1806, Willem was formally known as Willem VI, Prince of Orange-Nassau, and between 1806 and 1813 he was also known as Willem-Fredrik Prince of Orange.

Kingdom of the United Netherlands.

Prior to the French Revolution (1792-1802), the Low Countries were a patchwork of different polities created by the Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648). The Dutch Republic in the north was independent, while the Southern Netherlands was split between the House of Habsburg as the Austrian Netherlands and Prince-Bishopric of Liège. The former was part of Habsburg Austria and both were member states of the Holy Roman Empire. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, the War of the First Coalition broke out in 1792 and France was invaded by Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire. After two years of fighting, the Austrian Netherlands and Liège were captured by the French in 1794 and annexed into France. The Dutch Republic collapsed in 1795 and became a French client state.

Creation of the United Netherlands

In 1813, the Netherlands was liberated from French rule by Prussian and Russian troops during the Napoleonic Wars. It was taken for granted that any new regime would have to be headed by Prince Willem-Frederick of Orange-Nassau, the son of the last Dutch stadhouder. A provisional government was formed, most of whose members had helped drive out the House of Orange 18 years earlier. However, they realised that it would be better in the long term to offer leadership of the new government to Willem-Frederik themselves rather than have him imposed by the allies. Accordingly, Willem-Frederik was installed as the “sovereign prince” of a new Principality of the United Netherlands. The future of the Southern Netherlands, however, was less clear. In June 1814, the Great Powers secretly agreed to the Eight Articles of London which allocated the region to the Dutch as Willem had advocated.

That August, Willem-Frederik was made Governor-General of the Southern Netherlands and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège–comprising almost all of what is now modern Belgium. For all intents and purposes, Willem-Frederik had completed his family’s three-century dream of uniting the Low Countries under a single rule.

Discussions on the future of the region were still ongoing at the Congress of Vienna when Napoleon attempted to return to power in the “Hundred Days.” Willem-Frederik used the occasion to declare himself king on March 16, 1815 as Willem I.

King Willem I of the United Netherlands

In exchange for the Southern Netherlands, Willem agreed to cede the Principality of Orange-Nassau and parts of the Liège to Prussia on May 13, 1815. In exchange, Willem also gained control over the Duchy of Luxembourg, which was elevated to a grand duchy and placed in personal and political union with the Netherlands, though it remained part of the German Confederation. This ceding of the Principality of Orange-Nassau to Prussia is why the Prussian claimant to the thrones of Prussia and Imperial Germany claim the title “Prince of Orange.”

Constitution and government

Though the United Netherlands was a constitutional monarchy, the king retained significant control as head of state and head of government. Beneath the king was a bicameral legislature known as the States General with a Senate and House of Representatives. From the start, the administrative system proved controversial. Representation in the 110-seat House of Representatives, for example, was divided equally between south and north, although the former had a larger population. This was resented in the south, which believed that the government was dominated by northerners.

Differences between Southern and Northern Netherlands were never totally effaced. The two were divided by the issue of religion because the south was strongly Roman Catholic and the north largely Dutch Reformed. The Catholic Church in Belgium resented the state’s encroachment on its traditional privileges, especially in education. In French-speaking parts of the south, attempts to enforce the use of Dutch language were particularly resented among the elite. Many Belgians believed that the United Netherlands’ constitution discriminated against them. Though they represented 62 percent of the population, they were only allocated 50 percent of the seats in the House and less in the Senate while the state extracted money from the richer south to subsidise the north. By the mid-1820s, a union of opposition had formed in Belgium, uniting liberals and Catholic conservatives against Dutch rule.

The Belgian Revolution broke out on August 25, 1830, inspired by the recent July Revolution in France. A military intervention in September failed to defeat the rebels in Brussels, radicalising the movement. Belgium was declared an independent state on 4 October 1830. A constitutional monarchy was established under Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Elected King of The Belgians, Leopold was initially married to Princess Charlotte of Wales (daughter of George IV) until her death in childbirth in 1817. Leopold I of the Belgians was the Maternal Uncle to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Paternal Uncle her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Leopold I, King of the Belgians.

Willem I refused to accept the secession of Belgium. In August 1831, he launched the Ten Days’ Campaign, a major military offensive into Belgium. Though initially successful, the French intervened to support the Belgians and the invasion had to be abandoned. After a period of tension, a settlement was agreed at the Treaty of London in 1839. The Dutch recognised Belgian independence, in exchange for territorial concessions. The frontier between the two countries was finally fixed by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1843. Luxembourg became an autonomous state in personal union with the Dutch, though ceding some territory to Belgium.

Mecklenburg-Strelitz raised to a Grand Duchy by the Congress of Vienna June 28, 1815.

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Carl II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, Congress of Vienna, Germany, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Holy Roman Empire, Napleon

On this date in History: June 28, 1815. Today in 1815 the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz is raised to a Grand Duchy by the Congress of Vienna. Duke Carl II, pictured, therefore becomes the first Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Carl II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Carl II (October 10, 1741 – November 6, 1816) was ruler of the state of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from 1794 until his death. Originally ruling as duke, he was raised to the rank of grand duke in 1815.

Duke Carl Ludwig Friedrich of Mecklenburg was born in Mirow the second son of Duke Carl Ludwig Friedrich of Mecklenburg, and his wife Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen. On December 11, 1752 his uncle Adolph-Friedrich III died and as a result Carl’s older brother succeeded him becoming Adolph-Friedrich IV. With his brother’s ascension Carl was taken with the rest of the family from Mirow to the capital Strelitz.

Following the childless death of his older brother Adolph-Friedrich IV on June 2, 1794, Carl succeeded him as the ruling Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen Consort of Great Britain.

Carl’s sister, Charlotte, married King George III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the Elector of Hanover, on September 8, 1761. Carl II made frequent visits to his sister in Great Britain and he ultimately entered the service of his brother-in-law the Elector of Hanover with a chief military appointment at Hanover following service in Spain. Prior to succeeding to the throne of Mecklenburg-Strelitz he served as Governor of Hanover from 1776 to 1786.

Marriages and children

After unsuccessful attempts to marry a Princess of Denmark and a Princess of Saxe-Gotha, Carl II married as his first wife Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt, a daughter of Prince Georg-Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt on September 18, 1768 in Darmstadt. They had ten children together. Two of the daughters became German queens consort.

Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1769–1818) married Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
Duchess Caroline Auguste of Mecklenburg (1771–1773)
Duke Georg-Carl of Mecklenburg (1772–1773)
Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg (1773–1839) married Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
Duke Friedrich-Georg of Mecklenburg (1774–1774)
Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg (1776–1810) married Friedrich-Wilhelm III of Prussia
Duchess Frederica of Mecklenburg (1778–1841) married (1) Prince Ludwig-Carl of Prussia (2) Friedrich-Wilhelm, Prince of Solms-Braunfels (3) Ernst-August I of Hanover
Georg, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1779–1860)
Duke Friedrich-Karl of Mecklenburg (1781–1783)
Duchess Auguste Albertine of Mecklenburg (1782–1782)

After Friederike’s death in 1782, Carl II married her sister Princess Charlotte of Hesse-Darmstadt on September 28 1784 in Darmstadt. Charlotte died on December 12, 1785 shortly after giving birth to their son Duke Carl of Mecklenburg (1785–1837).

In the summer of 1816 Carl II went on a tour of Rebberg, Schwalbach and Hildburghausen. Shortly after returning he was taken ill with inflammation of the lungs. He died in Neustrelitz after suffering a fit of apoplexy. He was succeeded by his eldest son Georg.

Survival of Monarchies: Prussia part III

Tags

Baden, Bavaria, Confederation of the Rhine, Congress of Vienna, German Confederation, Germany, Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon, Prussia

After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire the question of German unity became inevitable. But how to unify such a patchwork quilt of nation states? Prior to the end of the empire some states within its boundaries were elevated in rank. Bavaria, Saxony, and Württemberg became Kingdoms under the influence of Napoleon. Baden became a Grand Duchy and after the Napoleonic wars, Hanover also became a kingdom. The real question was would it be Prussia or Austria to gain the upper hand and unit Germany under their authority?

From 1806 until 1813 the German States formed the Confederation of the Rhine without the inclusion of Austria and Prussia. The Confederation was to be run by common constitutional bodies, but the individual states wanted unlimited sovereignty. This loose confederation suffered some of the same problems the old Holy Roman Empire suffered from and that is there was not a strong central government.

The Holy Roman Emperor had at its head an Emperor. The Confederation, since it was not considered an empire was ruled by Karl Theodor von Dalberg, the former Arch Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire and he carried the of a Prince-Primate of the confederation. This made him President of the College of Kings and presided over the Diet of the Confederation, designed to be a parliament-like body though it never actually assembled. The President of the Council of the Princes was held the Prince oef Nassau-e. At its heart the Confederation was a conservative minded military alliance. As mentioned, this body was under the influence of Napoleon who elevated many of the states to Kingdom status. During its short existence the members of the confederation found themselves more subordinated to Napoleon than they had been to the Habsburgs.

The Confederation of the Rhine collapsed in 1813, with the aftermath of Napoleon’s failed campaign against the Russian Empire. Many of its members changed sides after the Battle of Leipzig, when it became apparent Napoleon would lose the War of the Sixth Coalition. In 1814 the major European powers gathered in Vienna for the Congress of Vienna which redrew the map of Europe after the defeat of Napoleon. German unity did not come at this juncture but instead we saw the creation of the German Confederation with both Austria and Prussia included. The Habsburg Emperor of Austria was its nominal head, holding the title of President of the Confederation.

This Confederation, which was basically the old Holy Roman Empire in all but name, lasted until 1866 when Prussia began to consolidate its power among the German states and began the path of unification without Austria. Prior to that, in 1848, there was an attempt to create a more liberal unified German Empire. That is what we will look at in depth next week.