Line of succession to the Saxon throne

Line of succession to the Saxon throne

The Kingdom of Saxony was abolished in 1918 when King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony abdicated. The current head of the house is Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen; he is married but has no children. The succession law used before the abolition of the monarchy was Semi-Salic and according to the old law, obeying the dynasticity requirements of marriages of male dynasts, the line of succession to Maria Emanuel at present is:

#HRH Prince Albert of Saxony (b. 1934)
#HRH Prince Dedo of Saxony (b. 1922)

The paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Saxony states laconically: "Die Krone ist erblich in dem Mannsstamme des Sächsischen Fürstenhauses nach dem Rechte der Erstgeburt und der agnatischen Linealfolge, vermöge Abstammung aus ebenbürtiger Ehe." ("..hereditary in male line of the Saxon princely house.."; obs: not "royal house" but "Fürstenhaus"). The most logical interpretation of the term "Sächsischen Fürstenhauses" is: the agnatic House of Wettin in its entirety. Royal Saxon laws call the actual branch (then reigning) with another term, "Albertinischer Linie", and terminological comparisons have been regarded sufficient to Ernestine duchies being part of the Saxon Princely House. This application would make the titular Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach as the next heir.

Alternative succession scenarios

axe-Gessaphe

In May 1997 (after several years of contemplations and preparations, as his dynastical cognatic nephew the young Prince Johannes of Saxe-Coburg had deceased in 1987), the Margrave of Meissen decided to make his sister Princess Anna of Saxony's (b. 1929) son Alexander de Afif his heir, and adopted him two years later which gave him the legal surname of Prinz von Sachsen. Alexander, his sons and brothers are known as Prinz von Sachsen-Gessaphe. At the time it was said that the remaining male dynasts of the house Princes Albert, Dedo and Gero (1925-2003) consented to the margrave's decision, however the margrave's brother Prince Albert has recently stated that he does not accept the decision. The line of succession within the Saxe-Gessaphe line is:

# Alexander de Afif Prinz von Sachsen-Gessaphe (b. 1954)
# George Philip Prinz von Sachsen-Gessaphe (b. 1988)
# Mauricio-Gabriel Roberto Prinz von Sachsen-Gessaphe (b. 1989)
# Paul Clemens Afif Prinz von Sachsen-Gessaphe (b. 1993)

de-morganatization

Another potential line of succession is if equality requirements are discarded then prince Rüdiger, the son of Prince Timo of Saxony (1923-1982), and his line will be included in the line of succession. This requires the de-morganatization of Timo's marriage, an act the remaining agnates are entitled to do if they are unanimous (for example, the last surviving male dynast will be entitled to do it through a decision made by himself). Thus, its fate depends on who will be the last surviving male dynasts.

#Prince Albert of Saxony (b. 1934)
#Prince Dedo of Saxony (b. 1922)
#Prince Rüdiger of Saxony (b. 1953)
#Prince Daniel of Saxony (b. 1975)
#Prince Arne of Saxony (b. 1977)
#Prince Nils of Saxony (b. 1978)

Frederick William, Prince of Hohenzollern

Yet another potential claimant due to the semi Semi-Salic succession law used in Saxony would be Frederick William, Prince of Hohenzollern (b 1924) due to him being the son of Princess Margaret of Saxony (1900-1962), the eldest aunt of the Margrave of Meissen. The succession would fall to Prince Frederick William in case of Anna, the mother of the first Saxe-Gessaphe, and elder sister of the present margrave, having deemed to have married non-dynastically - it is not altogether clear whether the Afif-Gessaphe marriage met Saxony equality requirements (Afif belonged to a maronite catholic Lebanese chieftain family of the Gessaphe and some sources have dubbed a princely title to him, some others call him "Lord" or "sheikh"; the Lebanese are not easy to place in the German ranking, and the Pope has not yet ruled on their status). The line of succession after Frederick William, who happens to be in line of succession to the defunct throne of Romania also, can be found here.

Ernestine Duchies

There are a number of extant lines of the House of Wettin (three main lines: Weimar, Meiningen and Coburg; and the most junior of them, Coburg, has sub-lines of Windsor, Coburg proper, Kohary, Bulgaria and Belgium) who ruled the various Ernestine Duchies who could arguably be taken into account and can be included in the Saxon royal succession on basis of being agnates of the original ducal Wettin house of Saxony, they are:

Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Head: HRH Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

#HH Prince Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (b. 1946)
#HH Prince Georg-Constantin of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (b. 1977)

Saxe-Meiningen

Head: HH Konrad, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (born 1952)

(unclear: Prince Frederick Constantin of Saxe-Meiningen (b. 1980), nephew of Konrad the above-mentioned, son of his elder half-brother, who was originally deemed morganatic.)

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

In 1863 Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and Arthur, Duke of Connaught deferred their rights for themselves and their descendants to the ducal throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in favor of their younger brother. By those deferments the present Gloucester and Kent members of the British Royal family would have succession rights to duchy only after the line of Leopold, Duke of Albany. Whereas their renunciation was not ratified in legislatures of Saxon principalities other than those of Gotha and Coburg.

In 1932 Hereditary Prince Johann Leopold (son of Duke Charles Edward) made a non-dynastic marriage and under the then House Rules he and his descendants lost any rights to the succession of the ducal throne. Neither are they entitled to the style and title "His/Her Highness Prince/Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha", however they may use the title in German for their surname - Prinz/Prinzessin von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha. [http://www.geocities.com/henrivanoene/genbritain06.html Decendents of Prince Leopold of Great Britain, Duke of Albany] ] His descendents do have the right to petition for the restoration of the Dukedom of Albany and other British peerages, which the current heir to that title is his grandson, Hubertus Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (b. 1961).

The present Head of the Ducal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is HH Prince Andreas, titular Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b.1943), grandson of Charles Edward, last reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

# HH Prince Hubertus, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1975)
# HH Prince Alexander of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1977)
# HH Prince Adrian of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1955)
# Simon Coburg (b. 1985), who is entitled to the style and title HH Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. [http://www.geocities.com/henrivanoene/genbritain06.html Decendents of Prince Leopold of Great Britain, Duke of Albany] ]
# Daniel Coburg (b. 1988), who is entitled to the style and title HH Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. [http://www.geocities.com/henrivanoene/genbritain06.html Decendents of Prince Leopold of Great Britain, Duke of Albany] ]
# HH Prince Johannes Heinrich, Prince of Kohary (b. 1931), father of the late young Prince Johannes, who was nephew of Margrave Maria Emanuel (above)
# (originally morganatic) HH Prince Philipp August Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1944)
# (originally morganatic) HH Prince Maximilian of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1972)
# (originally morganatic) HH Prince Alexander Ernst of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1978)
# HM Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria (b. 1937)
# HRH Prince Kardam of Bulgaria, Prince of Turnovo (b. 1962)
# HRH Prince Boris of Bulgaria (b. 1997)
# HRH Prince Beltran of Bulgaria (b. 1999)
# HRH Prince Kyrill of Bulgaria, Prince of Preslav (b. 1964)
# HRH Prince Tassilo of Bulgaria, Prince of Preslav (b. 2002)
# HRH Prince Kubrat of Bulgaria, Prince of Panagiurishte (b. 1965)
# HRH Prince Mirko of Bulgaria, Prince of Panagiurishte (b. 1995)
# HRH Prince Lukás of Bulgaria, Prince of Panagiurishte (b. 1997)
# HRH Prince Tirso of Bulgaria, Prince of Panagiurishte (b. 2002)
# HRH Prince Konstantin-Assen of Bulgaria, Prince of Vidin (b. 1967)
# HRH Prince Umberto of Bulgaria, Prince of Vidin (b. 1999)
# HM King Albert II of Belgium (b. 1934)
# HRH Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant (b. 1960)
# HRH Prince Gabriel of Belgium (b. 2003)
# HRH Prince Emmanuel of Belgium (b. 2005)
# HRH Prince Laurent of Belgium (b. 1963)
# HRH Prince Nicolas of Belgium (b. 2005)
# HRH Prince Aymeric of Belgium (b. 2005)

References

External links

* [http://www.heraldica.org/topics/royalty/HGSachsen-K.htm#1837 House Laws of the Kingdom of Saxony] de icon
* [http://www.prinz-albert-von-sachsen.de/ Website of Prince Albert of Saxony] de icon
* [http://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/saxony.html An Online Gotha (Saxony)]
* [http://www.sachsen-coburg-gotha.de/english/frame.html The Ducal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha] "The official website in English".


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