Coat of arms of the House of Lippe (simple variant)[1], later also used by Lippe-Biesterfeld[2] |
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| Country | Biesterfeld, Lippe, Germany, Netherlands |
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| Ancestral house | House of Lippe |
| Titles |
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| Founder | Jobst Herman |
| Current head | Armin, Prince of Lippe (also Head of the House of Lippe) |
| Founding | ca. 1625 |
Lippe-Biesterfeld is a cadet line of the House of Lippe, a morganatic title created in 1916, and since 1937 a title of the Dutch Royal House.
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The branch of Lippe-Biesterfeld was founded by Jobst Herman (1625-1678), youngest son of Simon VII of Lippe-Detmold. From the line Lippe-Biesterfeld later the branch Lippe-Weissenfeld was separated. Both the Counties Lippe-Biesterfeld and Lippe-Weissenfeld were ceded and sold to the princely line of Lippe(-Detmold) on 24 May 1762.[3] The Head of the Lippe-Biesterfeld family was given the style Illustrious Highness (German: Erlaucht) at Detmold on 27 August and 1 October 1844.[3]
When in 1895 the mentally ill Prince Alexander ascended the throne of the Principality of Lippe, Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe was appointed to act as regent of Lippe, this according to a then secret kept decree of the predecessor Prince Woldemar. Alexander was the last male of the Lippe-Detmold line, the next senior lines of the House of Lippe were the Counts of Lippe-Biesterfeld, followed by the Counts of Lippe-Weissenfeld, and then by the most junior line the Princes of Schaumburg-Lippe.
Shortly after becoming a member state of the German Empire in 1871, the Lippe-Detmold line died out on 20 July 1895. This resulted in an inheritance dispute between the neighboring principality of Schaumburg-Lippe and the Lippe-Biesterfeld line. The dispute was resolved by the Imperial Court in Leipzig in 1905, with the lands passing to the Lippe-Biesterfeld line who, until this point, had no territorial sovereignty. Since then the Counts of Lippe-Biesterfeld were the Princess of Lippe.
The current head of the Lippe-Biesterfeld family is Armin, Prince of Lippe (born 18 August 1924), who is also the Head of the whole House of Lippe. Armin is the son of Prince Leopold IV (1871–1949), and a first cousin of Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (1911–2004), the prince consort of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (1909–2004).
On 25 October 1905 Count Leopold became the reigning Prince of Lippe.
On 8 February 1909, the title Countess of Biesterfeld (not related to the previous title Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld) was created for Armgard of Sierstorpff-Cramm (1883–1971) and her descendants. Armgard was the wife of Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (1872–1934), the brother of Prince Leopold IV. On 24 February 1916, Armgard and her two sons Bernhard (1911–2004) and Aschwin (1914–1988) were created Prince(ss) of Lippe-Biesterfeld with the style Serene Highness.[4] However, they did not belong to the main House of Lippe, since the marriage between Bernhard and Armgard was a morganatic marriage.
By royal decree of 6 January 1937, the titles Prince of the Netherlands and Prince of Lippe-Biesterfeld, with the style Royal Highness, were created in the Kingdom of the Netherlands for Prince Bernhard and his descendants.[5] The Lippe-Biesterfeld title hereby became also a Dutch one. On 7 January 1937, Bernhard married Prince Juliana of the Netherlands (who later was the Queen regnant of the Netherlands between 1948 and 1980). From this marriage four daughters were born who all hold the title Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld:
Since the title is only inheritable in male line, with them the title will become extinct.
By royal decree of 26 May 1998, the descendants of Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven (born 1968), eldest son of Princess Margriet, all have the newly created surname van Lippe-Biesterfeld van Vollenhoven.[6] This is a non-aristocratic branch of the family Van Vollenhoven.
