Hohenlohe-Langenburg () was a German county and later principality in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

. It was located in the current northeastern

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, around

Langenburg Langenburg () is a town in the district of Schwäbisch Hall, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on a hill above the river Jagst, 18 km northeast of Schwäbisch Hall. It is also the place where Wibele - small, sweet, biscuit-like ...

. Since the medieval times this small state was ruled by the House of

Hohenlohe The House of Hohenlohe () is a German princely dynasty. It ruled an immediate territory within the Holy Roman Empire which was divided between several branches. The Hohenlohes became imperial counts in 1450. The county was divided numerous tim ...

, counts and since 1764 ruling

Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors o ...

, until 1806. The princely House of Hohenlohe-Langenburg still owns and lives in Langenburg Castle today.

History

In 1253 the town and castle of Langenburg were inherited by the lords of

, after the lords of Langenburg had become extinct. Despite repeated divisions in the 13th and 15th centuries and a donation to the

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

of 1219, the House of Hohenlohe was able to form an almost complete territory of which Langenburg was a part. The lordship of Hohenlohe was elevated to the status of a county in 1495. The house often divided its possessions so that different lines emerged and sometimes merged again later. In 1586-1590, the Neuenstein line split into the Langenburg side line under Count Friedrich. Of the protestant branch of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, which underwent several partitions and inherited the county of Gleichen in Thuringia (with its residence in

Ohrdruf Ohrdruf () is a small town in the district of Gotha in the German state of Thuringia. It lies some 30 km southwest of Erfurt at the foot of the northern slope of the Thuringian Forest. The former municipalities Crawinkel, Gräfenhain an ...

) in 1631, the senior line became extinct in 1805, while in 1701 the junior line divided itself into three branches, those of Hohenlohe-Langenburg,

Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen was a German County of the House of Hohenlohe, located in northeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, around Ingelfingen. Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen was a scion of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. It was raised from a County to a Principality i ...

and

Hohenlohe-Kirchberg Hohenlohe-Kirchberg was a German County located in northeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, around Kirchberg. It was ruled by a protestant branch of the Hohenlohe family. The county of Kirchberg was located between the territories of Brandenb ...

. Hohenlohe-Langenburg was raised from a county to a principality in 1701, and was mediatised to

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 ...

in 1806. The House of Hohenlohe-Langenburg remained

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, and has remained closely related to Europe's Protestant ruling dynasties.

Queen Adelaide , house = Saxe-Meiningen , father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen , mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy Rom ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

was a Hohenlohe-Langenburg on her mother's side and her cousin, Prince Ernst, married in 1828

Feodora of Leiningen Princess Feodora of Leiningen (Anna Feodora Auguste Charlotte Wilhelmine; 7 December 1807 – 23 September 1872) was the only daughter of Emich Carl, Prince of Leiningen (1763–1814), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1786–1861) ...

, the half-sister of the future

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. In 1896, Feodora's grandson, another Prince Ernst, married Victoria's granddaughter,

Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Princess Alexandra Louise Olga Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, (1 September 1878 – 16 April 1942) was the fourth child and third daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. As the wife ...

. Prince Gottfried (1897–1960) was married in 1931 to his second cousin once removed,

Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark ( el, Μαργαρίτα; 18 April 1905 – 24 April 1981) was by birth a Greek and Danish princess as well as Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg by marriage. A sister-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II of the Un ...

(1905–1981). She was the eldest daughter of

Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark ( el, Ανδρέας; da, Andreas; – 3 December 1944) of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of Greece and Olga Constantino ...

and his wife

Princess Alice of Battenberg Princess Alice of Battenberg (Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie; 25 February 1885 – 5 December 1969) was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II, and the paternal grandmother of King Charles III ...

, and sister of

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...

. The British royal family therefore still occasionally visit Langenburg and, conversely, the Hohenlohe-Langenburgs are regular guests at the British court. Rothenhaus1

Prince ''Karl Gustav Wilhelm'' (1777–1866) of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, who came from a younger branch, founded a Catholic,

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

branch at Rothenhaus Castle (today Červený Hrádek Castle in

Jirkov Jirkov (; german: Görkau) is a town in Chomutov District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. Jirkov creates a conurbation with Chomutov. Administrative parts Town parts and villages of Březenec ...

, Czech Republic) in the 19th century. As one of 16 mediatized princely houses of the former Holy Roman Empire, then residing in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, this family had a hereditary seat in the

House of Lords (Austria) The House of Lords (german: Herrenhaus; cs, Panská sněmovna; it, Camera dei signori; sl, Gosposka zbornica; pl, Izba Panów) was the upper house of the Imperial Council, the bicameral legislature of the Austrian Empire from 1861 and of ...

. Prince ''Max Egon'' (1897–1968) tried to prevent the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Hitler in 1938 through diplomatic negotiations with the British government. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Prince Max Egon was expropriated by the communist government. Due to the wealthy Spanish origins of his wife, his descendants still live mainly in Spain, among them

Princess Victoria of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, 20th Duchess of Medinaceli Princess Victoria Elisabeth of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, 20th Duchess of Medinaceli, GE (born 17 March 1997) is a Spanish-German noblewoman. Holding 43 officially recognised titles in the Spanish nobility, she is the most titled aristocrat in the w ...

Counts of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1610–1764)

* Philipp Ernst, Count 1610–1628 (1584–1628); son of Wolfgang zu Hohenlohe (d. 1610) ** Ludwig Kraft, Count 1628–1632 (1613–1632) ** Joachim Albert, Count 1632–1650 (1619–1675); also Count of

** Henry Frederick, Count 1650–1699 (1625–1699) *** Christian Kraft, Count 1699–1701 (1668–1743); also Count of

*** Frederick Eberhard, Count 1699–1701 (1672–1737); also Count of Hohenlohe-Kirchberg *** Albert Wolfgang, Count 1701–1715 (1659–1715) **** Louis, Count 1715–1764 (1696–1765); raised to Prince Jan 7, 1764

Princes A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1764–1806; titular to the present)

* Louis, 1st Prince 1764–1765 (1696–1765) ** Christian Albert, 2nd Prince 1765–1789 (1726–1789) *** Carl Ludwig I, 3rd Prince 1789–1825 (1762–1825) **** Ernst I, 4th Prince 1825–1860 (1794–1860) ***** Carl Ludwig II, 5th Prince April 12–21, 1860 (1829–1907); renounced his rights ***** Hermann, 6th Prince 1860–1913 (1832–1913) ****** Ernst II, 7th Prince 1913–1950 (1863–1950) ******* Gottfried, 8th Prince 1950–1960 (1897–1960) ******** Crato, 9th Prince 1960–2004 (1935–2004) ********* Philipp Gottfried Alexander, 10th Prince 2004–present (b. 1970) ********** Max-LeopoldLangenburg Castle
/ref> ********** Gustav ******** ''Prince Albrecht (1944–1992)'' ********* Prince Ludwig Ferdinand (b. 1976) ** ''Prince Friedrich Ernst (1750–1794)'' *** ''Prince Karl Gustav Wilhelm (1777–1866)''; founder of the catholic Bohemian branch **** ''Prince Ludwig Karl Gustav (1823–1866)'' ∞ Gabriela of Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg (1840–1923), heiress of Rothenhaus Castle ***** ''Prince Gottfried Karl Joseph (1860–1933)'' ****** ''Prince Max Egon (1897–1968)'', private diplomat in World War II ******* '' Prince Alfonso (1924–2003)''

References

External links

European Heraldry page
{{coord missing, Baden-Württemberg Counties of the Holy Roman Empire 1610 establishments in Europe

History

Counts of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1610–1764)

See also

References

External links