Monarchy of Luxembourg

Grand Duke of Luxembourg

Incumbent
Henri
since 7 October 2000 (2000-10-07)
Details
Style His Royal Highness
Heir apparent Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
First monarch
Formation 15 March 1815
Residence Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg
Website Monarchie.lu (in French)

The Grand Duke of Luxembourg is the monarchical head of state of Luxembourg. Luxembourg has been a grand duchy since 15 March 1815, when it was elevated from a duchy, and was in personal union with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1890 under the House of Orange-Nassau and is the world's only sovereign grand duchy. Since 1815, there have been nine monarchs of Luxembourg, including the incumbent, Henri.

Constitutional role

The constitution of Luxembourg defines the grand duke's position:

The Grand Duke is the head of state, symbol of its unity, and guarantor of national independence. He exercises executive power in accordance with the constitution and the laws of the country.[1]

After a constitutional change (to article 34) in December 2008 resulting from Henri's refusal to sign a law legalizing euthanasia, laws now take effect without the grand duke's assent.[2] As a result, the grand duke no longer has any formal role in the legislative process, but his task of promulgating the law as chief executive remains.

Succession

Succession to the throne was governed by Salic law, as dictated by the Nassau Family Pact, first adopted on 30 June 1783.[1] The right to reign over Luxembourg was until June 2011 passed by agnatic-cognatic primogeniture within the House of Nassau, as stipulated under the 1815 Final Act of the Congress of Vienna and as confirmed by the 1867 Treaty of London.[1] The Nassau Family Pact itself can be amended by the usual legislative process, having been so on 10 July 1907 to exclude the Count of Merenberg branch of the House, which was descended from a morganatic marriage.[3]

An heir apparent may be granted the style 'Hereditary Grand Duke'. The current heir apparent is Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume. In June 2011, agnatic primogeniture was dropped in favour of absolute primogeniture, allowing any legitimate female descendants within the House of Nassau to be included in the line of succession.[4]

Full titles

The current grand duke, Henri, bears the full style: By the Grace of God, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Nassau, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Count of Sayn, Königstein, Katzenelnbogen and Diez, Burgrave of Hammerstein, Lord of Mahlberg, Wiesbaden, Idstein, Merenberg, Limburg and Eppstein. It should, however, be noted that many of the titles are held without regard to the strict rules of Salic inheritance.

List of grand dukes

House of Orange-Nassau

Image Name Date of birth Date of death Reign Relationship with predecessor
 Guillaume I
Willem Frederik
(Prince William VI of Orange)		 24 August 1772 12 December 1843 15 March 1815
–
7 October 1840		 Francis' third cousin
and
Anne's direct descendant
 Guillaume II
Willem Frederik George Lodewijk		 6 December 1792 17 March 1849 7 October 1840
–
17 March 1849		 Son of William I
 Guillaume III
Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk		 17 February 1817 23 November 1890 17 March 1849
–
23 November 1890		 Son of William II

House of Nassau-Weilburg

Under the 1783 Nassau Family Pact, those territories of the Nassau family in the Holy Roman Empire at the time of the pact (Luxembourg and Nassau) were bound by semi-Salic law, which allowed inheritance by females or through the female line only upon extinction of male members of the dynasty. When William III died leaving only his daughter Wilhelmina as an heir, the crown of the Netherlands, not being bound by the family pact, passed to Wilhelmina. However, the crown of Luxembourg passed to a male of another branch of the House of Nassau: Adolphe, the dispossessed Duke of Nassau and head of the branch of Nassau-Weilburg.

In 1905, Grand Duke Adolphe's younger half-brother, Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau, died, having left a son Georg Nikolaus, Count von Merenberg who was, however, the product of a morganatic marriage, and therefore not legally a member of the House of Nassau. In 1907, Adolphe's only son, William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, obtained passage of a law confirming the right of his eldest daughter, Marie-Adélaïde, to succeed to the throne in virtue of the absence of any remaining dynastic males of the House of Nassau, as originally stipulated in the Nassau Family Pact. She became the grand duchy'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, who married Felix of Bourbon-Parma, a prince of the former Duchy of Parma. Charlotte's descendants have since reigned as the continued dynasty of Nassau, and also constitute a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon-Parma.

NamePortraitBirthMarriagesDeathSuccession right
Adolphe
23 November 1890 –
17 November 1905
24 July 1817
Wiesbaden (Prussia)		 (1) Grand Duchess Elizabeth
31 January 1844
[1 child (stillborn)]
(2) Grand Duchess Adelheid-Marie
23 April 1851
[5 children]		 17 November 1905
Colmar-Berg		 Agnatic relative of
William III
Guillaume IV
17 November 1905 –
25 February 1912
22 April 1852
Wiesbaden (Prussia)		 Grand Duchess Marie Anne
[6 children]		 25 February 1912
Colmar-Berg		 Son of
Adolphe
Marie-Adélaïde
25 February 1912 –
14 January 1919
(abdicated)
14 June 1894
Colmar-Berg		 Unmarried
[childless]		 24 January 1924
Lenggries (Germany)		 Daughter of
William IV
Charlotte
14 January 1919 –
12 November 1964
(abdicated)
23 January 1896
Colmar-Berg		 Prince Felix
6 November 1919
[6 children]		 9 July 1985
Fischbach		 Daughter of
William IV /
Sister of
Marie-Adélaïde
Jean
12 November 1964 –
7 October 2000
(abdicated)
5 January 1921
Colmar-Berg		 Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte
9 April 1953
[5 children]		 Living Son of
Charlotte
Henri
7 October 2000 –
present
16 April 1955
Betzdorf		 Grand Duchess Maria Teresa
4/14 February 1981
[5 children]		 Living Son of
Jean
Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg William III of the Netherlands William II of the Netherlands William I of the Netherlands

Grand ducal consorts

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Constitution de Luxembourg" (PDF) (in French). Service central de législation. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  2. ↑ "Luxembourg strips monarch of legislative role". The Guardian. London. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  3. ↑ (in French)/(in German) "Mémorial A, 1907, No. 37" (PDF). Service central de législation. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  4. ↑ "New Ducal succession rights for Grand Duchy". Luxemburger Wort. 21 June 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2011.

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