William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
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William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (Guillaume Alexandre) (April 22, 1852 – February 25, 1912) was the eldest child of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He became Grand Duke on the death of his father on November 17, 1905.
On June 21, 1893, he married Marie Anne of Portugal, daughter of the deposed king Miguel I of Portugal and Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. The couple had six daughters, but no sons.
William IV, was a Protestant, the religion of the House of Nassau only changed after he married Marie Anne of Portugal, who believed that a Roman Catholic country ought to have a Roman Catholic monarch. Thus since William IV all other Grand Dukes have been Catholic.
At the death of his uncle, Prince Nikolaus-Wilhelm in 1905, the only other legitimate male in the House of Nassau-Weilburg was Guillaume's cousin, Georg Nikolaus, Count of Merenberg, the product of a morganatic marriage. So in 1907, Guilliame declared the Counts of Merenberg non-dynastic, naming his own eldest daughter Marie-Adélaïde (1894-1924) as heir to the grand ducal throne. She became Luxembourg's first reigning female monarch upon her father's death in 1912, and upon her own abdication in 1919, was succeeded by her younger sister Charlotte (1896-1985). Charlotte's descendants have reigned until the present day.
Their other daughters were:
- Princess Hilda (1897-1979), who married HSH Prince Adolf, Prince of Schwarzenberg.
- Princess Antoinette (1899-1954), who married HRH Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria.
- Princess Elizabeth (1901-1950), who married HSH Prince Ludwig Philipp of Thurn and Taxis.
- Princess Sophia (1902-1941), who married HRH Prince Ernst of Saxony, son of Frederick Augustus III of Saxony.
| Preceded by Adolphe |
Grand Duke of Luxembourg 1905–1912 |
Succeeded by Marie-Adélaïde |
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