Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

Adolphe (Adolf Wilhelm August Karl Friedrich; 24 July 1817 – 17 November 1905) was Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 23 November 1890 to his death on 17 November 1905. The first grand duke from the House of Nassau-Weilburg, he succeeded King William III of the Netherlands, ending the personal union between the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Adolphe was Duke of Nassau from 20 August 1839 to 20 September 1866, when the Duchy was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia.

Adolphe
Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Reign23 November 1890 – 17 November 1905
PredecessorWilliam III
SuccessorWilliam IV
Prime MinisterPaul Eyschen
Duke of Nassau
Reign20 August 1839 – 20 September 1866
PredecessorWilliam
SuccessorNassau annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia
Born(1817-07-24)24 July 1817
Biebrich Palace, Wiesbaden, Duchy of Nassau
Died17 November 1905(1905-11-17) (aged 88)
Schloss Hohenburg, Lenggries, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Burial
Schlosskirche of Schloss Weilburg (since 1953)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1844; died 1845)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1851)​
    IssueStillborn daughter
    William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
    Hilda, Grand Duchess of Baden
    HouseNassau-Weilburg
    FatherWilhelm, Duke of Nassau
    MotherPrincess Louise of Saxe-Hildburghausen
    ReligionProtestantism
    SignatureAdolphe's signature

    Adolphe became Duke of Nassau in August 1839, following the death of his father William. The Duchy was annexed to Prussia after Austria's defeat in the Austro-Prussian War. From 1815 to 1839, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was ruled by the kings of the Netherlands as a province of the Netherlands. Following the Treaty of London (1839), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg became independent but remained in personal union with the Netherlands. Following the death of his sons, the Dutch king William III had no male heirs to succeed him. In the Netherlands, females were allowed to succeed to the throne. Luxembourg, however, followed Salic law which barred females from succession. Thus, upon King William III's death, the crown of the Netherlands passed to his only daughter, Wilhelmina, while that of Luxembourg passed to Adolphe in accordance with the Nassau Family Pact. Adolphe died in 1905 and was succeeded by his son, William IV.

    Biography

    He was a son of William, Duke of Nassau (1792–1839), and his first wife, Princess Louise of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Adolphe's half-sister, Sophia of Nassau, was the wife of Oscar II of Sweden.

    Duke of Nassau
    Adolphe of Nassau when he was Duke of Nassau 1860

    Adolphe became Duke of Nassau in August 1839 at the age of 22, after the death of his father. Wiesbaden had by this time become the capital of the Duchy and Adolphe took up residence in the newly constructed Stadtschloss in 1841. On 4 March 1848 he consented to the population of Nassau's nine "Demands of the Nassauers". A few years later, however, he revoked his liberal views and took a strongly conservative and reactionary course. In general, though, he was seen as a popular ruler. He supported the Austrian Empire in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. After Austria's defeat, Nassau was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia and he lost his throne on 20 September 1866.

    Grand Duke of Luxembourg

    In 1879, Adolphe's niece Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, the daughter of another of his half-sisters, married William III, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. In 1890, their only daughter Wilhelmina succeeded on his death without surviving male issue to the Dutch throne, but was excluded from the succession to Luxembourg by Salic Law. The Grand Duchy, which had been linked to the Netherlands in personal union since 1815, passed to Adolphe in accordance with the Nassau Family Pact. Adolphe was King-Grand Duke William III's 17th cousin once removed through a male-only line, but was also his 3rd cousin as they both descended from William IV, Prince of Orange (he being the paternal great-grandson of William IV's eldest daughter Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau.)

    He had, in fact, taken over the regency of Luxembourg for a short time during William III's illness.

    In any case, as he was already 73 years old and knew little of Luxembourgish politics, he mostly abstained from day-to-day governing. The prime minister Paul Eyschen, in office since 1888, took care of the affairs of state. This created a tradition that the ruler would remain absent from the politics of the day, despite being vested with considerable power on paper. In 1902 Adolphe appointed his son William as Lieutenant-Representative. He died in 1905 at his summer home, Schloss Hohenburg in Lenggries, and in 1953 was buried in the crypt of the church of Schloss Weilburg.

    Personal life

    On 31 January 1844, Adolphe married firstly in St. Petersburg Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mikhailovna of Russia, niece of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. She died less than a year afterwards giving birth to a stillborn daughter. Adolphe built the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Elizabeth 1847 to 1855 as her funeral church.

    On 23 April 1851, he remarried in Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau. They had five children, of whom only two lived to the age of eighteen and became prince and princess of Luxembourg:

    In 1892, Grand Duke Adolphe conferred the personal title of Prince Bernadotte in the nobility of Luxembourg as well as the hereditary title of Count of Wisborg[2] on his Swedish nephew, Oscar, who had lost his Swedish titles after marrying without his father's approval. Wisborg (also spelled Visborg) is the ruins of an old castle in the city of Visby within Oscar's former Dukedom of Gotland, but the title itself was created in the nobility of Luxembourg.

    Adelsverein

    On April 20, 1842, the Adelsverein, Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas, was organised in the Grand Duke's castle at Biebrich on the Rhine. He was named the Protector of the organisation. The Verein was responsible for the large emigration of Germans to Texas in the 19th Century, and on January 9, 1843, established the 4,428 acre Nassau Plantation in Fayette County, Texas and named it after the Grand Duke.[3][4]

    Honours

    Arms
    • Coat of arms of Adolphe, 1890 - 1898
      Coat of arms of Adolphe, 1890 - 1898
    • Coat of arms of Adolphe and Grand Duke of Luxembourg in general, 1898 - 2000
      Coat of arms of Adolphe and Grand Duke of Luxembourg in general, 1898 - 2000

    References
    1. "Full name". Archived from the original on 2014-07-17. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
    2. Roger Lundgren in Sibylla en biografi Bonniers Stockholm ISBN 9789100111120 p. 62, specifically naming both the noble titles as created then
    3. King, Irene Marschall (1967). John O.Meusebach. University of Texas Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-292-73656-6.
    4. Garrett, Daphne Dalton. "Nassau Farm". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
    5. Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1843), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 6
    6. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1841), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 29, 44
    7. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern (in German). Königl. Oberpostamt. 1867. p. 8. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
    8. Staat Hannover (1861). Hof- und Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Hannover: 1861. Berenberg. pp. 37, 70.
    9. Jørgen Pedersen (2009). Riddere af Elefantordenen, 1559–2009 (in Danish). Syddansk Universitetsforlag. p. 466. ISBN 978-87-7674-434-2.
    10. Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm III. ernannte Ritter" p. 21
    11. "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
    12. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1879), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" p. 10
    13. Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1846), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 9
    14. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1907), "Königliche Orden" p. 27
    15. Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: für das Jahr 1872/73, "Der Großherzogliche Haus-und Verdienst Orden" p. 30
    16. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1879), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" p. 44
    17. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch für des Herzogtum Anhalt (1867), "Herzoglicher Haus-Orden Albrecht des Bären" p. 17
    18. Sveriges och Norges statskalender. Liberförlag. 1874. p. 468.
    19. Norges Statskalender (in Norwegian), 1890, pp. 593–594, retrieved 2018-01-06 – via runeberg.org
    20. Sachsen (1866). Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen: 1865/66. Heinrich. p. 4.
    21. Staats- und Adreß-Handbuch des Herzogthums Nassau: 1859. Schellenberg. 1859. pp. 7, 9.
    22. "Liste des Membres de l'Ordre de Léopold", Almanach Royal Officiel (in French), 1863, p. 51 – via Archives de Bruxelles
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