Line of succession to the Saxon throne

Royal House of Saxony

Kingdom of Saxony

The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...

was abolished in 1918 when King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony

Frederick Augustus III of Saxony

This article is about King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony. For the elector Frederick Augustus III, see Frederick Augustus I of Saxony.Frederick Augustus III was the last King of Saxony and a member of the House of Wettin.Born in Dresden, Frederick Augustus was the son of King George of Saxony...

abdicated. The current head of the royal house

Royal House

A royal house or royal dynasty consists of at least one, but usually more monarchs who are related to one another, as well as their non-reigning descendants and spouses. Monarchs of the same realm who are not related to one another are usually deemed to belong to different houses, and each house is...

is Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen

Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen

Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen is the head of the Royal House of Saxony.Born in Schloss Prüfening, Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany as son of Hereditary Prince Frederick Christian of Saxony, Margrave of Meissen and Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis.He and Princess Anastasia of Anhalt ...

; he is dynastically married but has no children. The succession law until the abolition of the monarchy was semi-Salic primogeniture and required the successor to be born of an equal marriage

Royal intermarriage

Royal intermarriage is the practice of members of ruling dynasties marrying into other reigning families. It was more commonly done in the past as part of strategic diplomacy for reasons of state...

. Accordingly, the uncontested male line at present consists of:

Head: HRH Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen

Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen

(b. 1926)

HRH Prince Albert of Saxony
Prince Albert of Saxony
Prince Albert Joseph Maria Franz-Xaver of Saxony, Duke of Saxony is the fourth child and youngest son of Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen and his wife Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis and a younger brother of Maria...

(b. 1934) (who uses the style, "Albert, Duke of Saxony")

Claimants of the Saxe-Gessaphe branch

In May 1997 (after the death of his nephew and designated heir, Prince Johannes of Saxe-Coburg in 1987 placed the succession in doubt), Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen chose the son of yet another sister as his heir, Alexander de Afif

Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe

Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe , is the adopted heir of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, and a businessman with Lebanese, Mexican and German roots....

(b. 1953), son of Princess Anna of Saxony (b. 1929). The margrave

Margrave

A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...

adopted him two years later, which entitled him to the legal name of Prinz von Sachsen, Herzog zu Sachsen, although he had legally assumed the name Prinz von Sachsen-Gessaphe on 25 August 1972. Since Alexander has three sons and a daughter by his 1987 marriage to Princess Gisela of Bavaria

Princess Gisela of Bavaria

Princess Gisela Maria Karolina Adelgunde of Bavaria is a Princess of Bavaria and member of the House of Wittelsbach by birth and a Princess of Saxe-Gessaphe and member of the House of Saxe-Gessaphe by marriage...

(b.1964), his selection as heir offered the likelihood of compliance with the dynasty's marital laws for another generation.

It is not altogether clear whether the Afif-Gessaphe marriage met Saxony's equality requirements. The Afifs descend from a Maronite Christian

Maronite Church

The Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See of Rome . It traces its heritage back to the community founded by Maron, a 4th-century Syriac monk venerated as a saint. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th...

family of emir

Emir

Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...

s and sheikh

Sheikh

Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...

s in Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

. Some sources now attribute princely rank to this family, while others ascribe to it a lesser status. In May 1997 the remaining male dynasts of the house, Princes Albert, Dedo and Gero (1925–2003), consented to the margrave's decision.

If the Gessaphes were not of sufficient birth rank for Princess Maria Anna's 1953 marriage to Robert de Afif to be deemed dynastic, the agnates' approval of their son Alexander's status as the dynasty's eventual heir amounted to his de-morganatization

Morganatic marriage

In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...

, a prerogative that Germany's common law of princes (gemeines Fürstenrecht) allowed agnates to exercise (irrevocably) when done unanimously, but which would violate the old Saxon constitution's requirement for dynastic birth. In any event, the margrave's younger brother, Prince Albert, subsequently stated that he no longer accepts the designation of Alexander as dynastic heir, while the margrave continues to defend his choice. The line of succession within the Saxe-Gessaphe line is:

HRH Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe
Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe
Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe , is the adopted heir of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, and a businessman with Lebanese, Mexican and German roots....

(b. 1954)
HRH Prince Georg Philipp of Saxe-Gessaphe
Prince Georg Philipp of Saxe-Gessaphe
Prince Georg Philipp of Saxe-Gessaphe, , is the eldest son and heir of Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe and Princess Gisela of Bavaria.He stands to become pretender to the Saxon throne after his...

(b. 1988)
HRH Prince Mauricio-Gabriel Roberto of Saxe-Gessaphe (b. 1989)
HRH Prince Paul-Clemens of Saxe-Gessaphe (b. 1993)

Claimants of the Moritzburg branch

If equality requirements are discarded, then Prince Rüdiger, son of Prince Timo of Saxony (1923–1982), and his legitimate descendants might be included in the line of succession. This requires the de-morganatization of Timo's marriage, an act which could be undertaken by unanimous vote of the remaining agnates. The last surviving male dynast could also do this by unilateral decision although, as in the case of Alexander of the Gessaphe line, such action would be out of compliance with Saxony's last monarchical constitution. Thus, the dynastic succession may depend upon who will be the last surviving male dynast.

The Timo branch, in order of primogeniture, is:

HRH Prince Albert of Saxony
Prince Albert of Saxony
Prince Albert Joseph Maria Franz-Xaver of Saxony, Duke of Saxony is the fourth child and youngest son of Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen and his wife Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis and a younger brother of Maria...

(b. 1934)
HRH Prince Rüdiger of Saxony (b. 1953)
HRH Prince Daniel of Saxony
Prince Daniel Timo of Saxony
Prince Daniel Timo of Saxony, Duke of Saxony is the oldest son of Prince Ruediger of Saxony, who is in line to become a disputed Head of the Royal House of Saxony....

(b. 1975)
HRH Prince Arne of Saxony (b. 1977)
HRH Prince Nils of Saxony (b. 1978)
HRH Prince Moritz of Saxony (b. 2009)

Claim of Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern

Yet another potential successor to the former monarchy's royal crown, due to the semi-Salic succession law used in Saxony, is Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern. He is the eldest son and heir of Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern (1924–2010), who was the son of Princess Margaret of Saxony (1900–1962), the eldest aunt of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen. The succession would fall to Prince Karl Friedrich in case the marriage of Anna, the mother of the Saxe-Gessaphe

Saxe-Gessaphe

Saxe-Gessaphe is the name of a family descended in the female line from former kings of Saxony, a member of which has been recognized by the pretender to that throne as eventual heir to the deposed dynasty's rights...

claimant and elder sister of the margrave, is deemed non-dynastic despite the actions of the margrave and agnates to de-morganatize it.

His claim would also depend upon there having been no family pact (Erbverbrüderung) which allocated the kingdom to another dynasty upon extinction of the royal Wettins' male line, since Saxony's constitution explicitly recognized the validity of such pacts. After Karl Friedrich, who had also been considered in the line of succession to the defunct throne of Romania, there is also a line of succession

Line of succession to the Romanian throne

The succession order to the throne of Romania depends on the interpretation of the applicable laws, either the Romanian kingdom's last democratic constitution, that of 1923, or the new Statute of the Royal House of Romania, named Fundamental Rules of the Romanian Royal House, privately enacted by...

potentially applicable to the Saxon royal claim.

Ernestine Wettins

Paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Saxony states: 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 the male line of the Saxon princely house.."). Since the "Sächsischen Fürstenhauser" included all dynastic

Dynasty

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...

members of the various branches of the House of Wettin which ruled the Ernestine duchies

Ernestine duchies

The Ernestine duchies, also called the Saxon duchies , were a changing number of small states largely located in the present German state of Thuringia, governed by dukes of the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin.-Overview:The...

until 1918, any of these agnates

Patrilineality

Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....

fit this requirement and might, theoretically, claim the royal Saxon throne in accordance with primogeniture.

This rationale might make the titular Grand Duke of Saxony, Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach is a German prince and the current head of the Grand Ducal House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, as well as senior agnate of the entire House of Wettin....

, the royal heir by primogeniture after extinction of the Albertine branch (which is the most junior line of the House of Wettin although it alone attained the rank of a kingdom within Germany).

However, in the house law

House law

House law or House laws are rules that govern a royal family or dynasty in matters of eligibility for succession to a throne, membership in a dynasty, exercise of a regency, or entitlement to dynastic rank, titles and styles...

s of the Kingdom of Saxony the term Albertinischer Linie referred exclusively to Wettin dynasts of the royal branch, male and female, eligible to inherit Saxony's throne, and may constitute exclusion of the Ernestine agnates, even in favor of descendants of Saxony's kings in the female line.

One or more of the Ernestine Wettins may also have claims superior to descendants of both female and de-morganatized Albertine dynasts if an Erbverbrüderung had been signed between the Albertine and any of the Ernestine branches of the dynasty. There are a number of extant lines of the House of Wettin (Weimar, Meiningen and Coburg; and the most junior of them, Coburg, includes the sub-branches of Windsor, Coburg proper, Kohary, Bulgaria and Belgium) who ruled the various Ernestine duchies

Ernestine duchies

and other realms.

It should, again, be borne in mind that Saxony's royal constitution required that any successor to the throne be born of an equal marriage, therefore Wettins who may qualify as dynastic princes under other house laws, might not be eligible under royal Saxon law:

Grand Ducal House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

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

Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach is a German prince and the current head of the Grand Ducal House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, as well as senior agnate of the entire House of Wettin....

(b. 1946) - titular Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, and senior agnate of the entire House of Wettin

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

Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen

Head: HH Konrad, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen

Konrad, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen

Konrad, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen, Duke of Saxony is a German businessman and the current head of the Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen.-Prince of Saxe-Meiningen:...

(b. 1952) - titular Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

Konrad is unmarried and has no issue, therefore the line of succession to Meiningen is unclear. The main opinion is that after the extinction of his branch, its representation will devolve upon the Head of the Grand Ducal House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Some claim however that in this case Prince Frederick Constantin of Saxe-Meiningen (b. 1980) is in line of succession, who is the son of Konrad's elder half-brother, who originally was deemed morganatic. In addition to Constantin there is the additional morganatic branch, the Baron's von Saalfeld, descendants of Ernst, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen.

Ducal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...

(later Edward VII) in 1863, and Arthur, Duke of Connaught

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the shared British and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha royal family who served as the Governor General of Canada, the 10th since Canadian Confederation.Born the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and...

in 1899, both deferred their rights and those of their descendants to the ducal throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in favor of their nephew, Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany

Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the fourth and last reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, two duchies in Germany , and the head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1900 until his death in 1954...

. Due to succession in the female line, and heirs of the two elder brothers entering into marriages that would be considered unequal by Coburg dynastic rules, there do not appear to be potential claimants to Saxe Coburg-Gotha amongst the current British Royal Family

British Royal Family

The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...

.

In 1932 Hereditary Prince Johann Leopold

Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the eldest son of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg...

(son of Duke Charles Edward) made a non-dynastic marriage whereupon, under the then house law

House law

s, 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", although they remain entitled to use "Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha" as a surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

. Johann Leopold's descendants do retain the right to petition for restoration of the Dukedom of Albany

Duke of Albany

Duke of Albany is a peerage title that has occasionally been bestowed on the younger sons in the Scottish, and later the British, royal family, particularly in the Houses of Stuart and Hanover....

and other British peerage

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

s. 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 Prince Andreas, the grandson of Charles Edward, last reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Head: HH Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1943) - titular Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

HH Hubertus, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Hubertus, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Hubertus Michael, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony is the heir of the head of the family which ruled the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1918....

(b. 1975)
HH Prince Alexander of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1977)
HH Prince Adrian of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Prince Adrian of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Prince Adrian Vinzenz Eduard of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , a professional Afro-Cuban percussionist better known as Adrian Coburg is a scion on the Saxon House of Wettin, branch of the former Dukes of Albany and is related to the British royal family.He married firstly morganatically in Bern,...

(b. 1955)
Simon Coburg (b. 1985) - claims the style and title HH Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Daniel Coburg (b. 1988)- claims the style and title HH Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
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) - originally morganatic
HM King Simeon II of Bulgaria (b. 1937) - reigning Tsar of Bulgaria between 1943 and 1946
HRH Kardam, Prince of Turnovo
Kardam, Prince of Turnovo
Kardam, Prince of Turnovo, Duke of Saxony , is the eldest son of Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria and his wife Doña Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela, however born after his loss of the throne. As such, he is by courtesy also sometimes styled as if being a crown prince...

(b. 1962)
HRH Prince Boris of Bulgaria
Prince Boris of Bulgaria
Prince Boris Turnovski of Bulgaria, Duke of Saxony is the first son of Kardam, Prince of Turnovo and a grandson of Simeon II of Bulgaria, former Tsar of Bulgaria. He is thus second in line to the titular throne of Bulgaria....

(b. 1997)
HRH Prince Beltran of Bulgaria (b. 1999)
HRH Kyril, Prince of Preslav (b. 1964)
HRH Prince Tassilo of Bulgaria (b. 2002)
HRH Kubrat, Prince of Panagyurishte (b. 1965)
HRH Prince Mirko of Bulgaria (b. 1995)
HRH Prince Lukás of Bulgaria (b. 1997)
HRH Prince Tirso of Bulgaria (b. 2002)
HRH Konstantin-Assen, Prince of Vidin
Konstantin-Assen, Prince of Vidin
Konstantin-Assen, Prince of Vidin, Duke of Saxony , is the fourth son of Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria and his wife Doña Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela. He is known also as Konstantin-Assen of Bulgaria and Konstantin-Assen of Vidin, the latter being the title of the fourth son of Bulgarian kings...

(b. 1967)
HRH Prince Umberto of Bulgaria, (b. 1999)
HM King Albert II of the Belgians
Albert II of Belgium
Albert II is the current reigning King of the Belgians, a constitutional monarch. He is a member of the royal house "of Belgium"; formerly this house was named Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...

(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
Prince Nicolas of Belgium
Prince Nicolas of Belgium born Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, 13 December 2005, is the second child of Prince Laurent and Princess Claire of Belgium. He is currently 14th in the line of succession to the Belgian throne....

(b. 2005)
HRH Prince Aymeric of Belgium
Prince Aymeric of Belgium
Prince Aymeric of Belgium , is the third child of Prince Laurent and Princess Claire of Belgium...

(b. 2005)

External links

House Laws of the Kingdom of Saxony
Website of Prince Albert of Saxony
An Online Gotha (Saxony)
The Ducal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha The official website in English.

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