The Grand Duke of Luxembourg ( lb, Groussherzog vu Lëtzebuerg, french: Grand-duc de Luxembourg, german: Großherzog von Luxemburg) is the
monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...
ical
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
of
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
. Luxembourg has been a
grand duchy since 15 March 1815, when it was created from territory of the former
Duchy of Luxembourg. It was in
personal union
A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...
with the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...
until 1890 under the
House of Orange-Nassau. Luxembourg is the world's only sovereign grand duchy and since 1815, there have been nine monarchs, including the
incumbent
The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...
,
Henri.
Constitutional role
The
constitution of Luxembourg
The Constitution of Luxembourg (french: Constitution du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg) is the supreme law of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The modern constitution was adopted on 17 October 1868.
Whilst the constitution of 1868 marked a radical c ...
defines the
grand duke's position:
:The grand duke is the head of state, symbol of its unity, and guarantor of national
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
. He exercises
executive power in accordance with the constitution and the laws of the country.
After a constitutional change (to article 34) in December 2008 resulting from Henri's refusal to assent to a law legalizing
euthanasia, laws now no longer require the grand duke's formal
assent (implying "approval") but his task of
promulgating the law as chief executive remains.
Compensation
The grand duke does not receive a salary, but the grand ducal family receives annually 300,000 gold francs (€281,000) for grand ducal functions. In 2017, the Luxembourg budget included €10.1 million for the grand duke's household costs.
Succession
Succession to the throne was governed by
Salic law, as dictated by the
Nassau Family Pact, first adopted on 30 June 1783.
The right to reign over Luxembourg was until June 2011 passed by
agnatic-cognatic primogeniture within the
House of Nassau
The House of Nassau is a diversified aristocratic dynasty in Europe. It is named after the lordship associated with Nassau Castle, located in present-day Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The lords of Nassau were originally titled "Count ...
, as stipulated under the 1815
Final Act of the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
and as confirmed by the 1867
Treaty of London.
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
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 ...
.
An
heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
may be granted the style 'hereditary grand duke'. The current heir apparent is
Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume. In June 2011, agnatic primogeniture was replaced with
absolute primogeniture, allowing any legitimate female descendants within the House of Nassau to be included in the line of succession.
Full titles
The traditional titulatures of the grand duke are ''
By the Grace of God, Grand Duke of Luxembourg,
Duke of Nassau
The Duchy of Nassau (German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the G ...
,
Count Palatine of the Rhine
The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kind ...
, Count of
Sayn
Sayn was a small German county of the Holy Roman Empire which, during the Middle Ages, existed within what is today Rheinland-Pfalz.
There have been two Counties of Sayn. The first emerged in 1139 and became closely associated with the County ...
,
Königstein,
Katzenelnbogen and
Diez, Burgrave of
Hammerstein
Hammerstein is a municipality on the river Rhine in the district of Neuwied in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous co ...
, Lord of
Mahlberg,
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
,
Idstein,
Merenberg,
Limburg
Limburg or Limbourg may refer to:
Regions
* Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium
* Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands
* Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...
and
Eppstein
Eppstein is a town in the Main-Taunus-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. Eppstein lies west of Frankfurt am Main, around 12 km north east of the state capital Wiesbaden, and is at the edge of the Taunus mountains. The ruins of the Eppstein castle is ...
''.
It should, however, be noted that many of the titles are held without regard to the strict rules of
Salic inheritance and that most, save for Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Duke of Nassau, are simply not used.
List of grand dukes
House of Orange-Nassau
House of Nassau-Weilburg
Under the 1783
Nassau Family Pact, those territories of the Nassau family in the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
at the time of the pact (Luxembourg and
Nassau) were bound by semi-
Salic law, which allowed
inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officia ...
by females or through the female line only upon extinction of male members 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 ...
. 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
''Adolphe'' is a classic French novel by Benjamin Constant, first published in 1816. It tells the story of an alienated young man, Adolphe, who falls in love with an older woman, Ellénore, the Polish mistress of the Comte de P***. Their illicit ...
, the dispossessed
Duke of Nassau
The Duchy of Nassau (German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the G ...
and head of the
branch of Nassau-Weilburg.
In 1905, Grand Duke Adolphe's younger half-brother, Prince
Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau
Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau (20 September 1832 – 17 September 1905), was the only son of William, Duke of Nassau by his second wife Princess Pauline of Württemberg.
Marriage and issue
He married morganatic marriage, morganatically in Lo ...
, died, having left a son
Georg Nikolaus, Count von Merenberg who was, however, the product of a
morganatic marriage
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 ...
, and therefore not legally a member of the House of Nassau. In 1907, Adolphe's only son,
William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
William IV (Guillaume Alexander; ''French: Guillaume Alexandre''; 22 April 1852 – 25 February 1912) reigned as the Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 17 November 1905 until his death. He succeeded his father, Adolphe.
William was a Protestant, the ...
, 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
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 ...
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
Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...
in 1919, was succeeded by her younger sister
Charlotte, who married
Felix of Bourbon-Parma
Prince Félix of Bourbon-Parma (later Prince Félix of Luxembourg; 28 September 1893 – 8 April 1970) was the husband of Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and the father of her six children, including her successor Jean, Grand Duke of ...
, a prince of the former
Duchy of Parma. Charlotte's descendants have since
reign
A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-prince of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kings, the Franks, List of ...
ed as the continued dynasty of ''Nassau'', and also constitute a
cadet branch of the House of Bourbon-Parma.
ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12
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''Adolphe'' is a classic French novel by Benjamin Constant, first published in 1816. It tells the story of an alienated young man, Adolphe, who falls in love with an older woman, Ellénore, the Polish mistress of the Comte de P***. Their illicit ...
" fontsize:10
from: 17/11/1905 till: 25/02/1912 color:nassau text:"William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...
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from: 12/11/1964 till: 07/10/2000 color:nassau text:"Jean
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* Jea ...
" fontsize:10
from: 07/10/2000 till: 30/07/2020 color:nassau text:" Henri" fontsize:10
Grand ducal consorts
*
Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia (first wife of
Grand Duke William I)
*
Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia
Anna Pavlovna of Russia (russian: Анна Павловна ; nl, Anna Paulowna ; – 1 March 1865) was a queen of the Netherlands by marriage to king William II of the Netherlands. She was a Russian patriot who upheld a strict royal etiquette ...
(wife of
Grand Duke William II)
*
Princess Sophie of Württemberg (first wife of
Grand Duke William III)
*
Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont (Adelheid Emma Wilhelmina Theresia; 2 August 1858 – 20 March 1934) was Queen of the Netherlands and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg as the wife of King-Grand Duke William III. An immensely popular member of the Dutch R ...
(second wife of
Grand Duke William III)
*
Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau (wife of
Grand Duke Adolphe
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 Willia ...
)
*
Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal (wife of
Grand Duke William IV)
*
Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma
Prince Félix of Bourbon-Parma (later Prince Félix of Luxembourg; 28 September 1893 – 8 April 1970) was the husband of Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and the father of her six children, including her successor Jean, Grand Duke of ...
(husband of
Grand Duchess Charlotte
Charlotte (Charlotte Adelgonde Elisabeth Marie Wilhelmine; 23 January 1896 – 9 July 1985) reigned as Grand Duchess of Luxembourg from 14 January 1919 until her abdication on 12 November 1964.
She acceded to the throne on 14 January 1919 foll ...
)
*
Princess Joséphine Charlotte of Belgium (wife of
Grand Duke Jean
Jean (Jean Benoît Guillaume Robert Antoine Louis Marie Adolphe Marc d'Aviano; 5 January 1921 – 23 April 2019) was the Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1964 until his abdication in 2000. He was the first Grand Duke of Luxembourg of French agnatic ...
)
*
María Teresa Mestre y Batista (wife of
Grand Duke Henri)
See also
*
Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grand Duke Of Luxembourg
1815 establishments in Germany