Line of succession to the Saxon throne
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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:
- Prince Albert of Saxony (b. 1934)
- 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 as the next heir.
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[edit] Alternative succession scenarios
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 Prince’s 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 succesion within the Saxony-Gessaphe line is:
- Prince Alexander de Afif of Saxony-Gessaphe (b. 1954)
- Prince George Philip of Saxony-Gessaphe (b. 1988)
- Prince Mauricio-Gabriel Roberto of Saxony-Gessaphe (b. 1989)
- Prince Paul Clemens Afif of Saxony-Gessaphe (b. 1993)
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)
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.
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-Gotha, 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:
[edit] Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Head: Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
- Prince Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (b. 1946)
- Prince Georg-Constantin of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (b. 1977)
[edit] Saxe-Meiningen
(unclear: Prince Frederick Constantin of Saxe-Meiningen (b. 1980), nephew of Konrad the below-mentioned, son of his elder half-brother, who was originally deemed morganatic.)
Head: Konrad, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (born 1952)
[edit] Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (the question whether his son Alexander, Earl of Ulster is eligible, depends on the dynasticity of his marriage in Saxon house laws)
- Edward, Duke of Kent (the question whether his sons George, Earl of St.Andrews (father of Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick) and Lord Nicholas Windsor are eligible, depends on the dynasticity of his marriage in Saxon house laws)
- Prince Michael of Kent (the question whether his son Lord Frederick Windsor is eligible, depends on the dynasticity of his marriage with baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz in Saxon house laws)
unclear part (John Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's marriage with baroness Feodore von der Horst was deemed non-dynastic in 1930s):
- Hubertus Richard Ernst Leopold Prinz zu Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (b. 1961), current heir to the defunct Dukedom of Albany
- Sebastian Hubertus (b. 16 Jan 1994)
- Ernst-Josias Carl Eduard Hermann Leopold (b. 13 May 1965)
- Carl-Eduard Wilhelm Josias (b.7 July 1966)
- Friedrich Ferdinand-Christian Georg Ernst Albert (b. 13 Dec 1968)
- Nicolaus Ferdinand-Christian Ernst Albert-Lothar Prüssing (b. 12 Oct 1987)
- Peter Albert Friedrich Josias (b. 12 June 1939)
- Peter Karl Eduard Alexander (b. 4 Oct 1964)
- Malte Alexander Maximilian (b. 20 Dec 1990)
- Malte Georg Albert (b. 6 Oct 1966)
Head: Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- Hubertus, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1975)
- Prince Alexander of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1977)
- possibly (if marriage to his mother was dynastically valid): Prince Adrian of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1955); father of Simon Prinz zu sachsen-Coburg-Gotha and Daniel Prinz zu Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha
- John Henry, Prince of Kohary (b. 1931), father of the late young prince Johannes, who was nephew of Margrave Maria Emanuel (above)
- (originally morganatic) Philipp August Ferdinand (b. 3 January 1944)
- (originally morganatic) Maximilian (b. 20 July 1972)
- (originally morganatic) Alexander Ernst (b. 30 June 1978)
- Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria (b. 1937)
- Prince Kardam of Bulgaria, Prince of Turnovo (b. 1962)
- Prince Boris of Bulgaria (b. 1997)
- Prince Beltran of Bulgaria (b. 1999)
- Prince Kyrill of Bulgaria, Prince of Preslav (b. 1964)
- Prince Tassilo of Bulgaria, Prince of Preslav (b. 2002)
- Prince Kubrat of Bulgaria, Prince of Panagiurishte (b. 1965)
- Prince Mirko of Bulgaria, Prince of Panagiurishte (b. 1995)
- Prince Lukás of Bulgaria, Prince of Panagiurishte (b. 1997)
- Prince Tirso of Bulgaria, Prince of Panagiurishte (b. 2002)
- Prince Konstantin-Assen of Bulgaria, Prince of Vidin (b. 1967)
- Prince Umberto of Bulgaria, Prince of Vidin (b. 1999)
- King Albert II of Belgium (b. 1934)
- Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant (b. 1960)
- Prince Gabriel of Belgium (b. 2003)
- Prince Emmanuel of Belgium (b. 2005)
- Prince Laurent of Belgium (b. 1963)
- Prince Nicolas of Belgium (b. 2005)
- Prince Aymeric of Belgium (b. 2005)
