Duke Philipp of Württemberg (30 July 1838 – 11 October 1917) was a German prince, head of the Roman Catholic

cadet branch In history and heraldry, a cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets— realm, title ...

of the

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

which ruled the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which exist ...

Biography

He was the son of Duke Alexander and of Princess Marie d'Orléans, a daughter of

Louis Philippe, King of the French Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...

. His mother died when he was a few months old, causing him to be raised by his grandparents in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. When he was ten, the Royal family of France had to flee from France, staying in exile in Great Britain. Duke Philipp became engaged to Duchess Sophie in Bavaria, sister of the

Empress Elisabeth of Austria Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria (24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898) was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I on 24 April 1854 until her assassination in 1898. Elisabeth was ...

. But the Duke dissolved the engagement. He married Archduchess Maria Theresia and the couple had a splendid palace built at the Ringstrasse in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. They moved in during 1865, but as Duchess Marie Therese never liked the palace it was sold to a banker and investor in 1871. Two years later, the renovated palace was opened on the occasion of the

1873 Vienna World's Fair ) , building = Rotunda , area = 233 Ha , invent = , visitors = 7,255,000 , organized = , cnt = , org = , biz = , country = Austria-Hungary , city ...

as the

Hotel Imperial The Hotel Imperial, also known as The Imperial, is a five-star luxury hotel in Vienna, Austria. It is located on the Vienna Ring Road (''Ringstraße'') at Kärntner Ring 16, in the Innere Stadt district. Description The Hotel Imperial's façade ...

. To this day it remains one of the most famous hotels in the world, and while renovated multiple times it has retained many elements of the original neo-Renaissance elements in the Ducal Palace. After selling their palace in Vienna the couple bought a much smaller city palace named Strudelhof. They had a grand villa built at

Altmünster Altmünster (Central Bavarian: ''Oidmünsta''), also known as Altmünster am Traunsee, is a market town located about 3 kilometres south of Gmunden in the Austrian state of Upper Austria, on the west shore of the Traunsee. Its economic base consist ...

on the shore of the

Traunsee Traunsee () is a lake in the Salzkammergut, Upper Austria, Austria. Its surface is approximately 24.5 km2 and its maximum depth of 191 metres makes it the deepest and by volume largest lake located entirely within Austrian territory; only Lake ...

, not far away from the Emperor's summer residence at

Bad Ischl Bad Ischl (Austrian German ) is a spa town in Austria. It lies in the southern part of Upper Austria, at the Traun River in the centre of the Salzkammergut region. The town consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Ahorn'', ''Bad Ischl'', ''Haiden' ...

. Around 1900, the couple moved to Stuttgart where they lived near their sons, at the Prinzenbau. Upon the death of his cousin Duke Nicholas of Württemberg in 1903,

Almanach de Gotha The ''Almanach de Gotha'' (german: Gothaischer Hofkalender) is a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First published ...

, ''Haus Württemberg (Maison de Wurtemberg)''. Gotha.

Justus Perthes Johann Georg Justus Perthes (11 September 1749, Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – 2 May 1816, Gotha, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg) was a German publisher and founder of the publishing house that bears his name. Life He was born in the Thuringian to ...

, 1944), pp. 131-132, (French). he became

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

to the royal throne of

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

until his death in 1917. But he was ten years older than King Wilhelm II of Württemberg, and so his eldest son Duke Albrecht (1865–1939) was considered and raised as the next king. On 29 November 1918 Württemberg's monarchy was abolished in the collapse of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, while his kinsman of the senior branch of the dynasty,

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...

, was still king (and lived, after his abdication, until 2 October 1921).

Marriage and issue

In 1865 Philip of Württemberg married Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of

Archduke Albert, Duke of Teschen Archduke Albrecht Friedrich Rudolf Dominik of Austria, Duke of Teschen (3 August 1817 – 18 February 1895), was an Austrian Habsburg general. He was the grandson of Emperor Leopold II and one of the chief military advisors of Emperor Francis J ...

and

Princess Hildegard of Bavaria Princess Hildegard of Bavaria (German: ''Hildegard Luise Charlotte Theresia Friederike von Bayern''; 10 June 1825 – 2 April 1864) was the seventh child and fourth daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Life Marria ...

. They had five children: *

Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg Albrecht, Duke and Crown Prince of Württemberg (Albrecht Maria Alexander Philipp Joseph; 23 December 1865 – 31 October 1939) was the last Kingdom of Württemberg, Württemberger crown prince, a German military commander of the First World War, a ...

(23 December 1865–31 October 1939) he married

Archduchess Margarete Sophie of Austria Archduchess Margarete Sophie of Austria (Margarete Sophie Marie Annunciata Theresia Caroline Luise Josephe Johanna; 13 May 1870 – 24 August 1902) was a member of the House of Habsburg and an Archduchess of Austria by birth. She was married t ...

on 24 January 1893. They had seven children. * Duchess Marie Amélie of Württemberg (24 December 1865-16 December 1883) died at the age of seventeen. *

Duchess Maria Isabella of Württemberg , title = Princess Johann Georg of Saxony , image = Duchess Maria Isabella of Württemberg.jpg , caption = , spouse = Prince Johann Georg of Saxony , issue = , house = Württemberg Wettin , father ...

(30 August 1871–24 May 1904) she married

Prince Johann Georg of Saxony en, John George Pius Charles Leopold Maria Januarius Anacletus , image = PrinceJohannGeorg.jpg , image_size = 200px , caption = Prince Johann Georg with his second wife Princess Maria Immaculata in Cannes. , spouse = , iss ...

on 5 April 1894. * Duke Robert of Württemberg (14 January 1873–12 April 1947) he married Archduchess Maria Immakulata of Austria on 29 October 1900. * Duke Ulrich of Württemberg (13 June 1877-13 June 1944)

Ducal branch of the royal dynasty

Philip of Württemberg belonged to the fifth branch (called the "Ducal branch") of the

House of Württemberg The House of Württemberg is a German dynasty and former royal family from Württemberg. History County The House probably originated in the vicinity of the Salian dynasty. Around 1080 the ancestors of modern Württemberg, which was then called ...

, descended from the seventh son of

Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg Friedrich Eugen, Duke of Württemberg (21 January 1732 – 23 December 1797) was the fourth son of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, and Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis (11 August 1706 – 1 February 1756). He was born in Stuttg ...

. On the extinction of the eldest branch in 1921, the Catholic ducal line remained the only

dynastic A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...

branch of the formerly reigning family. The House of Württemberg's two

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

branches - that of the

Dukes of Teck Duke of Teck is a title which was created twice in Germanic lands. It was first borne from 1187 to 1439 by the head of a cadet line of the German ducal House of Zähringen, known as the "first House of Teck". The ''caput'' of his territory was Te ...

(extinct in the male line in 1981), and of the Dukes of Urach - were genealogically senior to the Ducal branch, but had been ineligible to succeed to the throne. Philip is the direct ancestor of the current

claimant A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

to the Kingdom of Württemberg:

Wilhelm, Duke of Württemberg Wilhelm Friedrich Carl Philipp Albert Nikolaus Erich Maria Herzog von Württemberg (born 13 August 1994) is the head of the House of Württemberg and a German businessperson. He is Chair of the Hofkammer des Hauses Württemberg, the company whi ...

Honours

* :''Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg'' (1908), "Departement des Kriegswesen" p
224
/ref> ** Grand Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown, ''1852'' ** Grand Cross of the

Friedrich Order The Friedrich Order (german: Friedrichs-Orden or ''Friedrichsorden'') was an order of merit of the German Kingdom of Württemberg. It was instituted on 1 January 1830 by the second king of Württemberg, Wilhelm I in remembrance of his father, Kin ...

* : ** Knight of the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...

, ''1865'' ** Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen, ''1900'' * : Knight of the

Order of Saint Hubert The Royal Order of Saint Hubert (german: Sankt Hubertus Königlicher Orden), or sometimes (german: Königlicher Orden des Heiligen Hubertus) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood founded in 1444 or 1445 by Gerhard VII, Duke of Jülic ...

, ''1893'' * : Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (civil division), ''21 July 1861'' * : Knight of the

Order of the Rue Crown The Order of the Rue Crown (german: Hausorden der Rautenkrone) or Order of the Crown of Saxony was a dynastic order of knighthood of the Kingdom of Saxony. The order takes its name from the green floral crown of rue (''crancelin'') found in the c ...

, ''1894'' *

Ernestine duchies The Ernestine duchies (), also known as the Saxon duchies (, although the Albertine appanage duchies of Weissenfels, Merseburg and Zeitz were also "Saxon duchies" and adjacent to several Ernestine ones), were a group of small states whose numb ...

: Grand Cross of the

Saxe-Ernestine House Order The Saxe-Ernestine House Order (german: link=yes, Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden)Hausorden
Herz ...

, ''1864''; with Swords * : Grand Cross of the

Order of Henry the Lion The House Order of Henry the Lion In German: ''Hausorden Heinrichs des Löwen,'' was the House Order of the Duchy of Brunswick. It was instituted by William VIII, Duke of Brunswick on 25 April 1834. The ribbon of the Order was red with yellow edges ...

, ''1863'' * : Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished

Order of Charles III The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III, originally Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III ( es, Real y Distinguida Orden Española de Carlos III, originally es, Real y Muy Distinguida Orden de Carlos III) was establ ...

, ''10 January 1884''

Biography

Marriage and issue

Ducal branch of the royal dynasty

Honours

Ancestry

References

Further reading