Prince Ruediger of Saxony

Prince Ruediger
Spouse Astrid Lindke
Diana Dorndorf
Issue
Prince Daniel
Prince Arne
Prince Nils
Full name
German: Rüdiger Karl Ernst Timo Aldi
House House of Wettin
Father Prince Timo of Saxony
Mother Margrit Lucas
Born 23 December 1953 (1953-12-23) (age 58)
Mulheim
Religion Roman Catholic

Prince Ruediger of Saxony, Duke of Saxony (German: Prinz Rüdiger von Sachsen, Herzog zu Sachsen; born 23 December 1953) is the only agnatic great grandson of the last King of Saxony, Frederick Augustus III. In line to become a disputed Head of the Royal House of Saxony, he is also known as Ruediger Prinz von Sachsen Herzog zu Sachsen on account of his parents' morganatic marriage.

Contents

Saxon prince

The Royal Family of Saxony
Main branch
Moritzburg branch
Saxe-Gessaphe branch

Prince Ruediger Karl Ernst Timo Aldi was born in Muelheim,[1] the only son of Prince Timo of Saxony (1923–1983) and his first wife Margrit Lucas (1932–1957), the daughter of Carl Lucas, a butcher, and his wife Hildegard Stube.[2] Prince Ruediger's parents were married in Muelheim on 7 August 1952; this marriage was considered morganatic as Lucas was a commoner.[3] Prince Ruediger has one sister, Princess Iris (b. 1955).[2] The two children were raised by their mother's relatives after her early death, and were not told of their royal lineage until they were nearly adults.

Prince Ruediger's paternal grandfather Prince Ernst Heinrich of Saxony was the youngest son of King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony.

The future succession to the headship of the Royal House of Saxony is an area of dispute in the Saxon Royal Family. The current head of the house the Margrave of Meissen has no children, nor does his brother Prince Albert or Prince Dedo (b. 1922), his cousin and Ruediger's uncle. As a result the Margrave has adopted his nephew Alexander de Afif as his heir. However Prince Ruediger and other members of the Royal Family have not accepted this and when asked for his opinion on who the successor to the Margrave should be, Prince Ruediger replied that it should be himself.[4]

Prince Ruediger who is a psychologist,[1] also works in forestry, as in 2003 with his eldest son Prince Daniel he founded the Wettinische Forstverwaltung (Wettin Forest service) which operates in Moritzburg.[5] The forest which is owned as well as run by the royal family, is approximately 1200 hectares in size.[6]

In 2005 Prince Ruediger was appointed an honorary knight of the order of Henry the Illustrious.[7]

Personal life

Prince Ruediger has been married twice. His first wife was Astrid Linke (1949–1989), the daughter of Heinz Linke and Elvira Wandke. They were married at Willich on 14 June 1974 and had three sons,[1] through whom the direct line of the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin will continue, and thus avoid becoming extinct.[8]

After his first wife's suicide by drug overdose,[10][11][12] Prince Ruediger married for a second time in January 2004 to Diana Dorndorf. The marriage was short-lived however as the couple divorced in 2005. Following his divorce Prince Ruediger placed a lonely hearts advertisement in the German newspaper Bild in the hope of finding a princess to marry.[13]

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ a b c "Saxony". Almanach de Gotha (186th ed.). Almanach de Gotha. 2003. p. 342. ISBN 0953214249. 
  2. ^ a b von Ehrenkrook, Hans Friedrich (1991). Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. Frankfurt: Starke Verlag. p. 586. 
  3. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. Starke Verlag. 1978. p. 521. 
  4. ^ Mallek, Ulf (4 June 2005). "Geschichte Prinzliche Flucht" (in German). Sächsische Zeitung. http://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/artikel.asp?id=867948. Retrieved 15 May 2009. 
  5. ^ "Was lesen und essen Sie gern, Herr Daniel von Sachsen?" (in German). Sächsische Zeitung. 13 May 2006. http://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/base.asp?ausgabe=313&etag=13.05.2006. Retrieved 19 July 2009. 
  6. ^ "Der Betrieb" (in German). Wettinische Forstverwaltung. http://www.wettinische-forstverwaltung.de/2.html. Retrieved 20 July 2009. 
  7. ^ "Bilder" (in German). Ritterorden Heinrich III. der Erlauchte. http://www.ritterorden-heinrich-iii.de/documents/bilder.html. Retrieved 22 March 2010. 
  8. ^ "Geschichte des Hauses Wettin von seinen Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart" (in German). Prince Albert of Saxony. 5 March 2003. http://www.prinz-albert-von-sachsen.de/inhalt/historie/hist_haus_wettin.htm. Retrieved 15 May 2009. 
  9. ^ Klein, Ronny (24 March 2009). "Wettiner-Spross Moritz macht Königs Glück perfekt" (in German). Sächsische Zeitung. http://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/artikel.asp?id=2110266. Retrieved 16 July 2009. 
  10. ^ "Genealogy of the Royal Family of Saxony". Archived from the original on 2009-08-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20090808204723/http://geocities.com/henrivanoene/gensaxony2.html. Retrieved 15 July 2009. 
  11. ^ "Descendants of Maria Theresa of Austria". http://google.com/search?q=cache:GpidRqV6z-8J:artroots.com/brigitte/famous/m/mariatheresiaaustriadesc1717-32.htm. Retrieved 15 July 2009. 
  12. ^ "Descendants of Friedrich August I of Saxony". Archived from the original on 2009-08-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20090808204723/http://geocities.com/henrivanoene/gensaxony2.html. Retrieved 15 July 2009. 
  13. ^ "Germany's Most-Eligible Bachelor?". Deutsche Welle. 31 May 2005. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1601808,00.html. Retrieved 15 May 2009. 

External links