The title of Prince of Leiningen (german: Fürst zu Leiningen) was created by the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...

, who elevated Carl Friedrich Wilhelm, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg (a younger branch of the

House of Leiningen The House of Leiningen is the name of an old German noble family whose lands lay principally in Alsace, Lorraine, Saarland, Rhineland, and the Palatinate. Various branches of this family developed over the centuries and ruled counties with Imp ...

) to the rank of ''Reichsfürst'' (

Prince 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 ...

) on 3 July 1779. Together with all other titles of nobility in Germany, it was abolished with the 1919

Weimar Constitution The Constitution of the German Reich (german: Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs), usually known as the Weimar Constitution (''Weimarer Verfassung''), was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era (1919–1933). The c ...

Principality of Leiningen at Amorbach

From 1560 until 1725 Hardenburg Castle was the main seat of the branch. After its partial destruction during the

Nine Years' War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between Kingdom of France, France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by t ...

the residence was moved to

Bad Dürkheim Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration, and is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Bad Dürkheim lies at the edge of Palatinate Forest on the German Win ...

. In 1801, this line was deprived of its lands on the left bank of the Rhine, namely Hardenburg, Dagsburg and Durkheim, by France, but in 1803 it received the secularized

Amorbach Abbey Amorbach Abbey (german: Kloster Amorbach) was a Benedictine imperial abbey of the Holy Roman Empire located at Amorbach. It was later the residence of the rulers of the short-lived Principality of Leiningen, before that became part of the Kingd ...

as an ample compensation for these losses. The complete titles of

Carl Friedrich Wilhelm, 1st Prince of Leiningen Carl Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Leiningen (german: Fürst zu Leiningen; 14 August 1724 – 9 January 1807) was a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and the first ruler of the Principality of Leiningen. Life Carl Friedrich Wilhelm was the eldest ...

were ''Imperial Prince of Leiningen,

Count palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...

Mosbach Mosbach (; South Franconian: ''Mossbach'') is a town in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the seat of the Neckar-Odenwald district and has a population of approximately 25,000 distributed in six boroughs: Mosbach Town, Lohrbach, N ...

, Count of

Düren Düren (; ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne on the river Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a peopl ...

, Lord of

Miltenberg Miltenberg () is a town in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named district and has a population of over 9,000. Geography Location The old town lies on the Mai ...

, Amorbach, Bischofsheim, Boxberg, Schüpf and Lauda.'' A few years later, the short-lived

Principality of Leiningen The Principality of Leiningen (german: Fürstentum Leiningen) was a short-lived principality ruled by the Prince of Leiningen. History The principality emerged in 1803 in the course of secularization and was created when the princely branch of ...

at Amorbach was mediatized, and its territory is now included mainly in

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

, but partly in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

and in

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

. Amorbach Abbey is still today the seat of the Prince of Leiningen. The former hunting lodge Waldleiningen Castle at

Mudau Mudau is a municipality in the Neckar-Odenwald district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. it has 4,833 inhabitants. Geography Mudau lies in the southeastern Odenwald mountains between the Neckar and Main rivers, 75 km southeast of Frankfurt ...

is now run as a hospital by the family. File:Dagsburg 18.2.2010.jpg, Dagsburg Castle (1663) File:Hardenburg 1580.jpg, Hardenburg Castle (1580) File:Dürkheim Schloss Rieger.jpg, Durkheim Castle (1787) File:Amorbach-abteikirche.jpg,

File:Waldleiningen.jpg, Waldleiningen Castle

Family connections and events

The second prince, Emich Charles, married

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , house = , father = Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , mother = Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf , birth_date = , birth_place = Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Holy Roman Empire , death_date = , death ...

. After his death in 1814, the princess married

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, (Edward Augustus; 2 November 1767 – 23 January 1820) was the fourth son and fifth child of King George III. His only legitimate child became Queen Victoria. Prince Edward was created Duke of Kent a ...

, a younger son of

George III of the United Kingdom George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, by whom she became the mother of

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 her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

. The Queen's half-siblings, Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen and Princess Feodora remained close to their half-sister. The fourth prince, Ernst, pursued a career in the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

and married Princess Marie of Baden. The sixth prince, Karl, married Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia, daughter of Princess Victoria Melita who was in turn daughter of

Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Alfred (Alfred Ernest Albert; 6 August 184430 July 1900) was the sovereign duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1893 to 1900. He was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from ...

's second son. In 1991, the seventh prince, Emich, disinherited his eldest son, the Hereditary Prince Karl Emich, after he married his second wife, Dr Gabriele Thyssen, on May 24 of that same year. The disinheritance was upheld by the German courts, and so on Emich's death later that year, he was succeeded by his second son, Andreas, who has been the eighth prince from that time. He married Princess Alexandra of Hanover.

Princes of Leiningen (from 1779)

Sources

* https://archive.today/20120722083831/http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/Leiningen_Royal_Family.htm *

External links

{{Commonscat, House of Leiningen
Website of the Prince of Leiningen

European Heraldry page
Leiningen Leiningen family Odenwald

Principality of Leiningen at Amorbach

Family connections and events

Princes of Leiningen (from 1779)

See also

Sources

External links