Mecklenburg-Schwerin

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Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a Duchy (from 1815 a Grand Duchy) in northeastern Germany, formed by a partition of the Duchy of Mecklenburg. Ruled by the Nikloting dynasty, it was a relatively poor state along the Baltic littoral. After the fall of the monarchies in 1918 it became the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Contents 1 Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1352-1815 2 Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1815-1918 3 Hereditary Grand Dukes and claimants 4 Presidents of the State Ministry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1850-1918 5 See also

[edit] Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1352-1815

• Albrecht II 1352-1379
• Albrecht III 1379-1412
• Magnus I 1379-1385
• Heinrich III 1379-1383
• Albrecht IV 1383-1388
• Johann IV 1385-1390
• Johann II of Mecklenburg-Stargard 1390-1417
• Albrecht V 1417-1423
• Johann V 1423-1442
• Heinrich IV 1423-1477
• Albrecht VI 1464-1483
• Johann VI 1464-1474
• Magnus II 1477-1503
• Heinrich V 1503-1552
• Magnus III (died 1550)
• Albrecht VII 1503-1547
• Johann Albrecht I 1547-1576
• Johann VII 1576-1592
• Sigismund Augustus 1576-1603
• Adolf Friedrich I 1592-1628
• Johann Albrecht II 1592-1610
• Albrecht von Wallenstein 1628-1631
• Johann Albrecht II (restored) 1631-1658
• Christian Ludwig I 1658-1692
• Friedrich Wilhelm 1692-1713
• Karl Leopold 1713-1747
• Christian Ludwig II 1747-1756
• Friedrich II 1756-1785
• Friedrich Franz I 1785-1815

[edit] Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1815-1918

• Friedrich Franz I 1815-1837
• Paul Friedrich 1837-1842
• Friedrich Franz II 1842-1883
• Friedrich Franz III 1883-1897
• Friedrich Franz IV 1897-1918
  • Duke Johann Albrecht of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, (Regent) (1897-1901)

[edit] Hereditary Grand Dukes and claimants

After the loss of the monarchy, the native grand ducal line of Mecklenburg-Schwerin survived incontestably for almost a century, but has recently gone extinct with the death of Frederick Francis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1910-2001), the eldest son and heir of the last reigning Grand Duke.

The ruling family of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, collaterals of this Schwerin branch, faced its practical extinction already much earlier, either in 1918 or in 1934: Grand Duke Adolf Frederick VI committed suicide on 23 February 1918, just before the end of the monarchy. The only other surviving agnate of Strelitz, his cousin Duke Charles Michael (d 1934), being in Russian service, had in 1914 renounced his rights to succession of Strelitz (though possibly not of Schwerin). Their only living male-line relative was Count George Alexandrovich Carlow (d 1962), morganatic son of Charles Michael's elder brother. Thus, there were no dynastic male heirs of the Strelitz line. In the unclear and possibly heirless situation, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (possibly the rightful heir, though the case was yet under adjudication) was in 1918 appointed as the regent of the small grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and the depositions of German monarchs soon ended both these grand duchies.

After the sonless deaths of his great-uncle duke Adolf Frederick of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d 1969) and his only brother duke Christian Ludwig of Mecklenburg (d 1996), the childless hereditary grand duke Frederick Francis V confirmed the Count of Carlow's (d 1962) male-line descendants as dynasts of Mecklenburg with rights to succession in Mecklenburg states.

The count of Carlow himself had been adopted by his uncle, Duke Charles Michael of Mecklenburg, and thus already became known as Duke Georg of Mecklenburg (the title recognized also by Cyril Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia, the first Head of the Russian Imperial House in exile). Carlow's grandson is the present George Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg, claimant to the two grand duchies since Fredrick Francis V's death.

Their dynastic status is under dispute, depending on the validity of the act of Frederick Francis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d 2001) to recognize this family as dynasts of Mecklenburg.

[edit] Presidents of the State Ministry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1850-1918

• Hans Adolf Karl Graf von Bülow 1850-1858
• Jasper Joachin Bernhard Wilhelm von Oertzen 1858-1869
• Henning Carl Friedrich Graf von Bassewitz 1869-1885
• Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow 1886-1901
• Karl Heinrich Ludwig Graf von Bassewitz-Levetzow 1901-1914
• Adolf Ferdinand Helmut August Wilhelm Langfeld 1914-1918

[edit] See also

• House of Mecklenburg