The Naming of a King: Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

Tags

Frederick II, King Willem IIII of the Nethlands, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands., Kings and Queens of Sweden, Kings and Queens of the Netherlands., Princess of Orange, Prussia, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Regal Number, Royal numbering, Wilhelm II of Germany, Willem IV of the Netherlands

Last week in my post about the titles and styles of the Dutch Sovereign I asked a question concerning the name and future numbering of a King Willem of the Netherlands. This is a follow up to that blog entry.

Willem-Alexander, King of the Nertherlands

Here was my question: 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 also wondered why King Willem-Alexander didn’t call himself Willem IV of the Netherlands? After doing some research and discussing the topic with some Dutch monarchists I found some answers.

King Willem-Alexander was born on April 27, 1967 the eldest son of future Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and her diplomat husband, Claus van Amsberg. He was christened with the names Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; and became Prince of Orange as heir apparent upon his mother’s accession as queen on April 30, 1980.

Although he publicly went by the double name Willem-Alexander, he is called Alexander within the family. The King himself stated that his name has always been Willem-Alexander and that it would feel wrong for him to be called just Willem prior to being king, or Willem IV after coming to the throne. In earlier interviews he did acknowledge that there were options to what he could be called once he mounted the throne but he never publicly stated what his name would be as king.

His Majesty the King of the Nertherlands

Simply his options were:

Willem-Alexander
Willem IV Alexander
Willem IV
Alexander
Claus
George
Ferdinand

These were different combinations of his given names. Theoretically he could have chosen a completely different name altogether. I don’t think he had to stick with options stemming from his list of given names. However, he opted for Willem -Alexander since that has been his legal first name since birth.

Double names, such as Willem-Alexander, do have a rich tradition among European Royalty, reaching its peak of popular usage in the 18th and 19th centuries. Prussia is a prime example of how double names were handled when numbering single and double names that were closely related.

For example, the first Prussian king, Friedrich I, was succeeded by Friedrich Wilhelm I, then came Friedrich II, Friedrich Wilhelm II, III and IV, and then (after Wilhelm I) there was Friedrich III. In other words, the names Friedrich and Friedrich Wilhelm were regarded as different and separate regnal names and thus were treated differently.

What is also interesting to note is that both Friedrich III and his son Wilhelm II were publicly known by the double names Friedrich-Wilhelm prior to them succeeding the throne. However, within the family the future Friedrich III was known as “Fritz” while his son, the future Wilhelm II, was known as “Willy.” When they came to the Prussian and Imperial thrones they chose as their regal names that which reflected how they were known within the family.

Friedrich III, German Emperor & King of Prussia

Wilhelm II, German Emperor & King of Prussia

Sweden is another excellent example of how similar names were treated, specifically with the names Carl and Gustaf. We’ve seen kings named Carl, the notable Carl XII for example. We’ve seen kings named Gustaf, Gustaf V is an example. We’ve also seen double names used uniquely. Unlike the Prussians who have regarded the names Friedrich and Friedrich Wilhelm as different and separate regal names, in Sweden the first name was treated as the primary name and the regal number was placed in the middle of the name not at the end.

This resulted in names such as Gustaf II Adolph, Carl X Gustaf, Carl XIV Johan, Gustaf VI Adolph and the current king, Carl XVI Gustaf. If the succession to the Swedish Crown had not been altered to absolute primogeniture then the next King of Sweden would be Carl XVII Philip.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.

It could be theoretically possible for the sovereign of the Netherlands treating Willem and Willem-Alexander as different regnal names as was done in Prussia. This would mean that there could be a Willem IV, or a Willem-Alexander II, at some point in the future, and that the current king is not counted as Willem IV, even though he has not taken that regal name and number.

However, Willem-Alexander wanting to be known by his given names are not the only reasons he chose this option. From this article I found online by The Guardian, published on April 30, 2013 when Willem-Alexander came to the throne, I learned that being called Willem IV could open himself up for ridicule.

King Willem-Alexander does not wish to be called Willem IV, he says, because he doesn’t want to be labelled with a number. It has been suggested that his real motive is to avoid being called “vier” (four) because it rhymes with “bier” (beer), which would make the temptation to call him “Willem Bier”, following his previous nickname “Prince Pils”, almost irrestible. His father, Prince Claus, was so committed to informality that he became famous for his condemnation of tie-wearing. He first made his feelings known at an awards ceremony for African fashion designers, when he announced his contempt for this “snake around my neck” – a statement that has since become known as “The Declaration of the Tie”. LB

There is also another reason Willem-Alexander didn’t want a regal number attached to his name….he seems to detest them.

In an interview Willem-Alexander made a rather degrading comment that the regal numbers remind him of farm animals. He stated that “Willem IV stands next to Bertha XII (a cow) in the pasture.” It seems that the king feels that numbering a Dutch Monarch is the same as numbering cattle.

HRH The Princess of Orange

This does create a problem in the future. How could a sovereign of the Netherlands now be known by a regal number with that image in their minds? The heiress to the throne is the Princess of Orange, Princess Catherina-Amalia, and her father’s remarks makes it very difficult for her to choose an already existing name for her eldest child from the list of the Dutch sovereigns, should she ever have one.

These names include Willem, Wilhelmina, Juliana, Beatrix, Willem-Alexander or her own, Catherina-Amalia. Since any of those names would require a regnal number if used again, it would open them up for criticism or ridicule with every television channel or news organization in the Netherlands repeating her father’s comment on how Willem IV (or any name requiring a regular number) “stands in a pasture next to Bertha XXII.”

There hasn’t been a Monarch of the Netherlands with a regal number since the death of King Willem III on November 23, 1890, 128 years, 10 months, 15 days ago.

Since the reign of Queen Wilhelmina the tradition within the Dutch Royal family has been to pick a name with a familial connection but one that does not require a regal number. Now one cannot rule out the possibility of there being a Willem IV or Willem-Alexander II (or even a Wilhelmina II or Beatrix II) but that is unlikely to occur in the near or foreseeable future.






Three Events in History, March 16.

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Assassination, Charles II of England and Scotland, Frederick the Great of Prussia, General Monck, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Gustav III of Sweden, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Prussia, The Long Parliament, William I of the Netherlands

Three significant events on this date in History. March 16.

The Netherlands, March 16, 1815.

Prince Willem VI of Orange-Nassau becomes King of the Netherlands.

Willem I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; August 24, 1772 – December 12, 1843) was a Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Prince Willem VI was the ruler of the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda from 1803 until 1806 and of the Principality of Orange-Nassau in the year 1806 and from 1813 until 1815. In 1813 he proclaimed himself Sovereign Prince of the United Netherlands. He proclaimed himself King Willem I of the Netherlands and Duke of Luxembourg on March 16, 1815. In the same year on June 9, Willem I became also the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and after 1839 he was furthermore the Duke of Limburg. After his abdication in 1840 he styled himself King Willem-Frederik, Count of Nassau.

On October 1, 1791, Prince Willem VI of Orange-Nassau married his cousin Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, in Berlin. Princess Wilhelmine was the fourth child of eight born to King Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia and Queen Frederica-Louisa (the daughter of Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Caroline of Zweibrücken). Her upbringing was dominated by the strict regime of her great-uncle, Friedrich II the Great, but in general very little is known about her youth. The marriage was arranged as a part of an alliance between the House of Orange and Prussia, but it was also, in fact, a love match and became very happy.

Sweden, March 16, 1792

Assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden.

Gustav III (January 24, 1746 – March 29, 1792) was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf-Frederik of Sweden and Queen Louise Ulrika (a sister of King Friedrich II the Great of Prussia), and a first cousin of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia by reason of their common descent from Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and his wife Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach.

Gustav III married Princess Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, by proxy in Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, on October 1, 1766 and in person in Stockholm on November 4, 1766. Sophia Magdalena of Denmark was the eldest daughter of Frederik V of Denmark and his first wife Louise of Great Britain. Louise of Great Britain was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1746 until her death, as the first wife of King Frederick V. She was the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. Gustav III was first impressed by Sophia Magdalena’s beauty, but her silent nature made her a disappointment in court life. The match was not a happy one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temperament, but still more to the interference of Gustav’s jealous mother, Queen Louisa Ulrika.

Assassination

Gustav III’s war against Russia and the implementation of the Union and Security Act in 1789 helped to increase a hatred against the king among the nobility that had been growing ever since the coup d’état in 1772. A conspiracy to have the king killed and reform the constitution took place within the nobility in the winter of 1791-92. Among those involved were Jacob Johan Anckarström, Adolph Ribbing, Claes Fredrik Horn, Carl Pontus Lilliehorn and Carl Fredrik Pechlin.
The assassination of the king took place at a masked ball at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm at midnight on March 16, 1792. Gustav had arrived earlier that evening to enjoy a dinner in the company of friends. During dinner, he received an anonymous letter that contained a threat to his life (written by the colonel of the Life guards Carl Pontus Lilliehorn), but, as the king had received numerous threatening letters in the past, he chose to ignore it. After dining, he left his rooms to take part in the masquerade.

Soon upon entering, he was surrounded by Anckarström and his co-conspirators, Count Claes Fredrik Horn and Count Adolf Ludvig Ribbing. The king was easily spotted, mainly due to the breast star of the Royal Order of the Seraphim that glowed in silver upon his cape. The conspirators were all wearing black masks and accosted him in French with the words: Bonjour, beau masque (“Good-day, fine masked man”). Anckarström moved behind the king and fired a pistol-shot into the left side of his back. The king jumped aside, crying in French: Ah! Je suis blessé, tirez-moi d’ici et arrêtez-le (“Ah! I am wounded, take me away from here and arrest him!”)

The king was carried back to his quarters, and the exits of the Opera were sealed. Anckarström was arrested the following morning and immediately confessed to the murder, although he denied a conspiracy until informed that Horn and Ribbing had also been arrested and had confessed in full.
The king had not been shot dead; he was alive and continued to function as head of state. The coup was a failure in the short run. However, the wound became infected, and on March 29, the king finally died with these last words: Jag känner mig sömnig, några ögonblicks vila skulle göra mig gott (“I feel sleepy, a few moments’ rest would do me good”)

Ulrica Arfvidsson, the famous medium of the Gustavian era, had told him something that could be interpreted as a prediction of his assassination in 1786, when he visited her anonymously – a coincidence – but she was known to have a large network of informers all over town to help her with her predictions, and she was in fact interrogated about the murder.

The king was succeeded on the throne by his eldest son who became King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden.

England. March 16, 1660

The Long Parliament is dissolved.

The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament which had been held for three weeks during the spring of 1640, and which in its turn had followed an 11-year parliamentary absence. In September 1640 writs were issued summoning a parliament to convene on 3 November 1640 by King Charles I. The parliament was summoned to pass financial bills, a step that was necessary as a result of the cost of the Bishops’ Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could be dissolved only with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War was close to the end of the Interregnum on 16 March 1660.

It sat from 1640 until 1648, when it was purged by the New Model Army. In the chaos following the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, General George Monck allowed the members barred in 1648 to retake their seats, so that they could pass the necessary legislation to allow the Restoration and dissolve the Long Parliament. This cleared the way for a new Parliament to be elected, which was known as the Convention Parliament. Some key members of Long Parliament, such as Sir Henry Vane the Younger and General Edmond Ludlow, barred from the final acts of the Long Parliament, claimed it was not legally dissolved; its final votes a procedural irregularity (words used contemporaneously “device” and “conspiracy”) by General George Monck to ensure the restoration of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. On the restoration the general was awarded with a Dukedom.

Birth of Friedrich-Wilhelm The Great Elctor of Brandenburg-Prussia.

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Brandenburg, Frederick William the Great Elector, Friedrich I of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm, Germany, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, Imperial Elector, Prussia

On this date in History: February 16, 1620. Birth of Friedrich-Wilhelm the Great Elector, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia.

Friedrich-Wilhelm (February 16, 1620 – April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as “the Great Elector” because of his military and political achievements. Friedrich-Wilhelm was a staunch pillar of the Calvinist faith, associated with the rising commercial class. He saw the importance of trade and promoted it vigorously. His shrewd domestic reforms gave Prussia a strong position in the post-Treaty of Westphalia 1648 German Holy Roman Empire along with political order of north-central Europe, setting Prussia up for elevation from duchy to kingdom, achieved under his son and successor, Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg who became Friedrich I, King in Prussia in 1701.

Biography

Elector Friedrich-Wilhelm was born in Berlin to Georg-Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, and Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate of the Rhine. His inheritance consisted of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the Duchy of Cleves, the County of Mark, and the Duchy of Prussia.

During the Thirty Years’ War, Georg-Wilhelm strove to maintain, with a minimal army, a delicate balance between the Protestant and Catholic forces fighting throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Out of these unpromising beginnings Frederick William managed to rebuild his war-ravaged territories. In contrast to the religious disputes that disrupted the internal affairs of other European states, Brandenburg-Prussia benefited from the policy of religious tolerance adopted by Frederick William. With the help of French subsidies, he built up an army to defend the country. In the Second Northern War, he was forced to accept Swedish vassalage for the Duchy of Prussia according to the terms of the Treaty of Königsberg.

Friedrich-Wilhelm was a military commander of wide renown, and his standing army would later become the model for the Prussian Army. He is notable for his joint victory with Swedish forces at the Battle of Warsaw, which, according to Hajo Holborn, marked “the beginning of Prussian military history.” However, the Swedes turned on him at the behest of King Louis XIV and invaded Brandenburg. After marching 250 kilometers in 15 days back to Brandenburg, he caught the Swedes by surprise and managed to defeat them on the field at the Battle of Fehrbellin, destroying the myth of Swedish military invincibility. He later destroyed another Swedish army that invaded the Duchy of Prussia during the Great Sleigh Drive in 1678. He is noted for his use of broad directives and delegation of decision-making to his commanders, which would later become the basis for the German doctrine of Auftragstaktik, and he is noted for using rapid mobility to defeat his foes.

Domestic policies

Friedrich-Wilhelm is notable for raising an army of 40,000 soldiers by 1678, through the General War Commissariat presided over by Joachim Friedrich von Blumenthal. He was an advocate of mercantilism, monopolies, subsidies, tariffs, and internal improvements. Following Louis XIV’s revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Friedrich-Wilhelm encouraged skilled French and Walloon Huguenots to emigrate to Brandenburg-Prussia with the Edict of Potsdam, bolstering the country’s technical and industrial base. On Blumenthal’s advice he agreed to exempt the nobility from taxes and in return they agreed to dissolve the Estates-General. He also simplified travel in Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia by connecting riverways with canals, a system that was expanded by later Prussian architects, such as Georg Steenke; the system is still in use today.

Marriages

On December 7, 1646 in The Hague, Friedrich-Wilhelm entered into a marriage, proposed by Blumenthal as a partial solution to the Jülich-Berg question, with Luise Henriette of Nassau (1627–1667), daughter of Frederick Henry of Orange-Nassau and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels and his 1st cousin once removed through Willem the Silent. Their children were as follows:

1. Wilhelm-Heinrich, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg (1648–1649)

2. Carl, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg (1655–1674)

3. Friedrich III-I of Prussia (1657–1713), his successor

4. Amalie (1656–1664)

5. Heinrich (1664–1664)

6. Ludwig (1666–1687), who married Ludwika Karolina Radziwiłł

On June 13, 1668 in Gröningen, Friedrich-Wilhelm married Sophie Dorothea of Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, daughter of Philipp, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Sophie Hedwig of Saxe-Lauenburg. Their children were the following:

1. Philipp-Wilhelm (1669–1711)

2. Marie Amelie (1670–1739)

3. Albrecht-Friedrich (1672–1731)

4. Carl-Philipp (1673–1695)

5. Elisabeth Sofie (1674–1748)

6. Dorothea (1675–1676)

7. Christian Ludwig (1677–1734)

Surviving Monarchies: Prussia Part V

Tags

Count Benedetti, Ems Telegraph, Franco-Prussian War, Isabel II of Spain, Kaiser Wilhelm I, Prussia, Treaty of Frankfurt

There is so much to this topic it is taking longer than I originally thought. Also, the subject of German Unification is a topic that could, in itself, take mane pages to write about. This post will be just a basic survey of the subject as it is relevant to the topic of the survival of monarchies.

After the failure of the 1849 Frankfurt Parliament to unify Germany the desire for a unified country still existed. The problem was dualism. During this time of the German Confederation we had a Germany with two heads: Austria and Prussia. For Prussians many felt Austria had to go its own way. The man who felt most strongly about that was Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismark. Not a supporter of Liberalism at all Bismark believed that Germany needed to be forged out of blood-and-iron and under the leadership of Prussia.

In 1861 King Wilhelm I became King of Prussia and shortly thereafter he appointed Otto von Bismarck as the Chancellor. To unify Germany Bismark developed a plan that would exclude Austria, and then join the southern German States with Prussia and the other northern German States. Bismark knew that these steps would only be accomplished through a series of wars. In 1864 a crisis in Denmark provided the first step. There was a great controversy over the ownership of the thrones of the united Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Both Denmark and Prussia had claims. In 1863 the king of Denmark, Christian IX, annexed these territories which violated the London Protocol of 1853.

Under Bismark’s plan the Austrian Empire was deliberately drawn into this war by Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Prussia. The Austro-Prussian war was short and an easy Prussian victory led to Schleswig, the northern part, being governed by Prussia and Holstein, the southern part, being governed by Austria. (Treaty of Vienna (1864). The next step in German unification for Bismark was to remove Austria from German interests and to do this he goaded them into war. This opportunity came in 1866 when Bismarck accused the Austrian Empire of stirring up troubles in Prussia-held Schleswig. Austria declared war on Prussia and Prussian troops drove into Austrian-held Holstein and took control of the entire state of Schleswig-Holstein. The short seven weeks war found Austria swiftly defeated. The resulting Treaty of Prague (1866) formally dissolved the German Confederation and Prussia created the North German Confederation to include all Germanic states except the pro-French, southern kingdoms of Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg which formally created the Southern German Confederation.

Bismark’s next step was to bring the Southern German Confederation into union with the Prussian lead North German Confederation. The next step was complex so I will simplify it. In 1868 Queen Isabel II of Spain was deposed and the Spanish Parliament voted Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as their king. The French who were ruled by Napoleon III did not want to be sandwiched in by two Hohenzollern empires. After a series of rejections of the candidacy of Leopold for the Spanish throne the matter seemed settled. It wasn’t. In 1870 Napoleon III, demanded territories of the Rhineland in return for his neutrality during the Austro-Prussian War. This increased tensions between France and Prussia. Bismarck used the Spanish Succession question and the Ems Telegram to King Wilhelm to start a war. The Ems Telegram was a harmless telegram from the French ambassador to King Wilhelm looking for reassurance that the candidacy of Prince Leopold was dropped. Bismark reworded the Ems telegram to give the French the impression that King Wilhelm I had insulted Count Benedetti; likewise, the Germans interpreted the modified dispatch as the Count insulting the King. As a result Napoleon III declared war against Prussia.

The Franco-Prussian War 1870-71 was also swift and ended with Prussian troops capturing Paris, the capital of the Second French Empire. Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg were incorporated into the North German Confederation in the Treaty of Frankfurt (1871). Bismarck then proclaimed King Wilhelm I, now Kaiser Wilhelm I, as leader of the new, united Germany (German Reich). With the German troops remaining in Paris, Napoleon III dissolved the French Empire and a new republic, Third French Republic, was created under Adolphe Thiers. The Prussian Constitution became the Constitution for the German Empire and gave both the Chancellor and the Emperor considerable power.

Survival of Monarchies: Prussia Part IV

Tags

Conservative, Frankfurt Parliament, Frederick William IV of Prussia, French Revolution, German Empire, Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire, Liberal, Nicholas I of Russia, Prussia

When the 1848 revolutions swept Germany many Liberals sought to unify Germany under a liberal constitution. However, King Friedrich-Wilhelm IV of Prussia was not sympathetic toward the revolutionaries. The king initially moved to repress it with the army, but on March 19 the king had a change of heart and recalled the troops and place himself at the head of the revolutionary movement.

The king committed himself fully to the ideal of German unification. The king formed a liberal government, convened a national assembly, and ordered that a constitution be written. It would seem the conservative Prussian king had become a liberal. Or had he? These actions did calm the tensions in the State and once his position was more secure again, however, he quickly had the army reoccupy Berlin and in December dissolved the Liberal assembly.

Although the king’s change from conservatism to liberalism was a ruse to keep order, He did, however, remain dedicated to unification for a limited period of time. In reality his support for German Unification was paper-thin. When the moment came to unify Germany as a Liberal state, the king blinked. On April 3rd, 1849, the Frankfurt Parliament offered Freidrich-Wilhelm IV the Imperial Crown of Germany. The King flatly refused saying that he would not accept “a crown from the gutter”.

It is interesting to note that the king did not want to unify Germany under his Hohenzollern dynasty. The King had romantic aspiration were to re-establish the medieval Holy Roman Empire, comprising smaller, semi-sovereign monarchies under the limited authority of a Habsburg emperor. Therefore Friedrich-Wilhelm IV would only accept the imperial crown if he had been elected by the German princes, as per the former empire’s ancient customs. He would not accept the crown from German politicians whom the king did not believe had the authority to create an emperor. He expressed this sentiment in a letter to his sister the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia (wife of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia), in which he said the Frankfurt Parliament had overlooked that “in order to give, you would first of all have to be in possession of something that can be given.” In his eyes, only a reconstituted College of Electors (consisting of princes of the Empire) could possess such authority.

After the failure of the Frankfurt Parliament even King Freiedrich-Wilhelm IV began considering a Prussian-led union where all German states, excluding those ruled by the Habsburgs, would be unified under Hohenzollern authority. However, Friedrich-Wilhelm IV abandoned the idea of German Unity after the Punctuation of Olmütz on November 29, 1850, in the face of renewed Austrian and Russian resistance to the notion of a Hohenzollern controlled German Empire. The German Confederation remained the common government of German Europe.

One of the benefits of these failures was that Friedrich-Wilhelm IV promulgated a new constitution that created a Parliament of Prussia with two chambers, an aristocratic upper house and an elected lower house. The lower house was elected by all taxpayers, but in a three-tiered system based on the amount of taxes paid, so that true liberal principle of universal suffrage was denied. The constitution also reserved to the king the power of appointing all ministers, reestablished the conservative district assemblies and provincial diets, and guaranteed that the civil service and the military remained firmly in the hands of the king. This was a more liberal system than had existed in Prussia before 1848, but it was still a conservative system of government in which the monarch, the aristocracy, and the military retained most of the power. This constitution remained in effect until the dissolution of the Prussian kingdom in 1918.

After 1850, the increasingly depressed king withdrew from the public eye and began surrounding himself with advisers who preached absolute orthodoxy and conservatism in religious and political matters. In 1857 a stroke left the king partially paralyzed and largely mentally incapacitated, and his brother (and heir-presumptive) Prince Wilhelm served as regent from 1858 until the king’s death in 1861, at which point the regent acceded to the throne himself as Wilhelm I of Prussia.

Next week. German unification under Wilhelm I and Chancellor Bismark.

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.

Survival of Monarchies: Prussia

Tags

Brandenburg, Constitutional Monarchy, Frederick I of Prussia, Frederick William, Hohenzollern, House of Hohenzollern, Monarchy, Prussia

Now we begin to examine the fall of three of the more conservative monarchies. My examinations of England and Denmark were quite lengthy, lets see if I can keep these a little more brief. Today I’ll start with Prussia.

Initially Prussia was a fief of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1525 during the Protestant Reformation, Prince Albert of Brandenburg, a scion of the House of Hohenzollern and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, secularized the order’s Prussian held territory, becoming Albert, Duke of Prussia. The new Duchy, which had its capital in Königsberg was established as fief of the Crown of Poland. In time it was inherited by the Hohenzollern prince-electors of Brandenburg of the main Branch of the House of Hohenzollern. Because of this personal union with the Electorate of Brandenburg the Duchy is often referred to as Brandenburg-Prussia. In 1657 the Treaty of Wehlau, and then in 1660 the Treaty of Oliva granted Friedrich-Wilhelm, the “Great Elector” of Brandenburg, full sovereignty over the territory. In 1701 The Duchy of Prussia was elevated to the Kingdom of Prussia, with Elector Friedrich III assuming the style of King Friedrich I in Prussia.

Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I granted Elector Friedrich III the style “King in Prussia” to acknowledge the legality that the Hohenzollerns were kings only in their former duchy and not their Brandenburg lands that were still part of the Empire. In legal terms this meant that within the Empire the Hohenzollerns were only Electors and were under the over-lordship of the Emperor. In truth this was merely a dog and pony show because at this juncture in history the emperor’s authority was only nominal. Each ruler of the various territories within the Empire acted largely as if they were the rulers of independent sovereign states, and only acknowledged the emperor’s suzerainity in a formal way. The only thing granting the Emperor some respect and power was due to the fact that the Hapsburg Emperor was also the Archduke of Austria, a state with considerable power within the Empire.

The personal union between Brandenburg and Prussia legally continued until the Empire was dissolved in 1806 under the pressure of Napoleon. Despite the legalities, from 1701 onward Brandenburg was treated as an integral part of the Kingdom of Prussia. During this time periods the Hohenzollern kings of Prussia were nominally subjects of the emperor within the parts of their territories that were part of the empire, they continued to style themselves “Elector of Brandenburg” until the empire ceased. It was not until 1772 under King Friedrich II “The Great” of Prussia (1740-1786) that the title was changed to “King of Prussia”.

With Prussia established as a Kingdom, next week I will look at King Friedrich II “The Great” of Prussia and the rise of Militarism, a large aspect of this conservative monarchy.

Prince Ernst-August II of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland

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Austria, Christian IX of Denmark, Duke of Cumberland, Emperor Alexander III of Russia, German Empire, Gmunden, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Edward VII of Great Britain, King Frederik VIII of Denmark, King George I of Greece, Prince Ernst-August II of Hanover, Prussia, Queen Victoria, Titles Deprivation Act, World War I

I wanted to revive an old feature, where I would focus on one monarch or prince/princess. The problem with that in the past was that it was difficult for me to keep it brief. I ended up writing way too much for a blog post. So, I will revive this feature and see if I can keep it brief!!

HRH Prince Ernst-August II of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland. He was born in 21 September 1845 the eldest son of King Georg V of Hanover and Marie of Saxe-Altenburg. He was the grandson of Queen Victoria’s uncle, King Ernst-August I of Hanover. Prince Ernst-August’s father, Georg V of Hanover, lost the throne when it was annexed to Prussia in the 1866 war against Austria. As a descendant of King George III of Great Britain, Elector of Hanover, Prince Enrst-August II was heir to the vacant throne of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick as well as a British Prince and as Duke of Cumberland he was a British Peer.

Because of Hanover’s annexation to Prussia Ernst-August had long deep-seated prejudice and hatred toward all things Prussian and the House of Hohenzollern. For that reason he took Princess Thyra of Denmark as his wife. Thyra was the youngest daughter of  Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. The Danish Royal Family lost a war against Prussia in 1864 so they all shared a common hatred of Prussia. This marriage also made him the brother-in-law to King Frederik VIII of Denmark, King Edward VII of Great Britain, Emperor Alexander III of Russia and King George I of Greece.

Queen Victoria appointed the Duke of Cumberland a colonel in the British Army in 1876 and promoted him to major-general in 1886, lieutenant-general in 1892 and general in 1898. After his time in the British Army he lived in Gmunden, Upper Austria. Although he never renounced the succession to the thrones of Hanover and Brunswick Ernst-August II was eventually reconciled to Prussia when his eldest surviving son, Ernst-August III, married Princess Victoria-Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of German Emperor Wilhelm II in 1913. That same year his son was created the reigning Duke of Brunswick by Wilhelm II.

As a British and German Prince, Ernst-August II lost his British peerage in 1917 when all German relatives of the British Royal Family lost their British titles during World War I when King George V issued the Titles Deprivation Act. Prince Ernst August, the former Crown Prince of Hanover and former Duke of Cumberland, died of a stroke on his estate at Gmunden in November 1923. He was 78 years old.

Divided by War: Austro-Prussian War 1866

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Austria, German Unification, Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine, Habsburg, Hohenzollern, Otto von Bismark, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prussia, Queen Victoria of Great Britain

Often when I think of monarchy I envision a family, royal family, or, if you will, a national family. In the context of a national family which represents the nation it leaves out a part of their story and who they are. Throughout history royal families have been large extended families that often transcend national boarders. We can see this played out during the Victorian era when the numerous descendants of Victoria and Prince Albert were scattered about Europe. With centuries of inter-marriage the royal families of Europe, were in truth a grand family with many branches. Although we mere commoners may not have the degrees of consanguinity that the royals have, we too often belong to large extended families that may be scattered about all over the globe. We also, through our ethnic heritage may share kinship with more people than we are aware of. A problem that occurs when large extended families are separated by geography and culture and nationality it can place family members in conflicting positions both socially and politically.

One of the examples of that was during the 1866 War between Prussia and Austria. This war was part of the plan in uniting Germany under Prussian leadership that Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismark had constructed. The origins of the war are complex and worthy of a series of blog posts of its own, so I will only give you a brief synopsis. In 1864 there was a great controversy over the ownership of the thrones of the united Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. When the succession to that throne was contested between Denmark and Prussia war ensued with Denmark being easily trounced by Prussia. At this time both the Hohenzollerns of Prussia and the Habsburgs of Austria were wrestling for supremacy over the German nation and to see who would become the central power within Germany. Bismark desired a Germany with Prussia as its head and he found no room for Austria in this system. After the 1864 war with Denmark both Austria and Prussia took jurisdiction over the twin duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The next step in German unification for Bismark was to remove Austria from German interests and to do this he goaded them into War. With Prussia at war with Austria many of the smaller, or lesser, German states in southern Germany, sided with Austria. Like the US Civil War which happened in that same decade, this conflict divided families, even royal families.

This conflict affected two sisters specifically, Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, and Hereditary Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse and By Rhine. Prior to their marriage they were both princesses of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Victoria, was the Princess Royal, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, and Princess Alice was their second daughter. In 1858 Victoria married the future German Kaiser and King of Prussia, Friedrich III. In 1862 Alice married the future Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine. Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia was commander of one of the three division sof the Prussian Army and he was an essential leader in the Prussian victory at the Battle of Königgrätz on July 3, 1866. Prince Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine found himself on the side with Austria and pitted against Prussia. He was a front line officer in a Hessian Regiment. With Prussia easily winning this war, Vicky was proud of the victories and accomplishments of her husband. However, Ludwig was feared for his life as Prussian troops marched into Darmstadt, the capital of the Hessian Grand Duchy.

Vicky and Alice, despite being on opposite sides of the war did have a strong relationship through the short conflict. Although Crown Prince Friedrich was a succesful leader during the conflict he was personally against the war. That did have some solace in easing family tensions. All of the parties mentioned wanted Great Britain to mediate the conflict but all efforts were squashed by Bismark. during this time Vicky had a tragedy. Days prior to her husband’s triumphant victory at the Battle of Königgrätz their son, Prince Sigismund, died of meningitis at 21 months and was the first grandchild of Queen Victoria to die. Therefore this tragedy also helped to detract Vicky from the war.

Another aspect of their relationship which helped them through the war was the fact that both being intellectual they were brought together over recent developments in both science and philosophy that made them both question their Christian faith. Liberal Biblical scholarship was in its infancy in 1866 but it had left the sisters to question some of the historical accuracy of the faith. They were also interested Darwin’s book, Origin of the Species, published in 1859. Their enlightened attitudes put them in disfavor with their mother, Queen Victoria, who could easily show favoritism or displeasure not only her children but anyone who displeased her and these new attitudes of her daughters did just that. It is interesting to see that royal families have petty squabbles just like the rest of us.

Two Boys For the Prince and Princess of Prussia!!!

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Carl-Friedrich of Prussia, Georg-Friedrich, German Empire, Imperial Germany, Prince Louis-Ferdinand of Prussia, Prussia, Twins

Their Royal and Imperial Highnesses, Prince Georg-Friedrich and Princess Sophie of Prussia are the proud parents of twin boys! The boys names are Carl-Friedrich and Louis Ferdinand. Little Prince Carl-Friedrich is the eldest and will be the heir to his father’s claims as German Emperor and King of Prussia.

congratulations to the happy couple!!

http://www.swp.de/hechingen/lokales/hechingen/Zwei-Buben-fuer-das-Preussen-Paar;art1158605,1814451