Prince Aribert Joseph Alexander of Anhalt (18 June 1866 – 24 December 1933) was

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of Anhalt from September to November 1918 on behalf of his underage nephew

Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt (11 January 1901 – 18 February 1947) was the last ruler of the Duchy of Anhalt. Biography He was born in Dessau, the son of Duke Eduard of Anhalt (1861–1918) and Princess Louise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg ...

. As regent, following the

German revolution German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, he abdicated in the name of his nephew on 12 November 1918, thus ending the rule of the

House of Ascania The House of Ascania (german: Askanier) was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt. The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ''Schloss ...

Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

Early life

Prince Aribert was born in

Wörlitz is a town and a former municipality in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it has been part of the town Oranienbaum-Wörlitz. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, east of Dessau. The historic p ...

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 ...

. He was the fourth son of

Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt , image = Friedrich I Anhalt.jpg , caption = Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt , succession = Duke of Anhalt , reign = 22 May 1871 – 24 January 1904 , coronation = , predecessor = Leopold IV , successor ...

, and

Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg (17 April 1838 – 13 October 1908) was a princess of Saxe-Altenburg by birth and Duchess of Anhalt by marriage. Biography Antoinette was the second child of Prince Eduard of Saxe-Altenburg (1804-1852) from ...

. Anhalt was a

Sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

Duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a Middle Ages, medieval country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once exis ...

in 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 ...

Marriage

On 6 July 1891, he married

Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein (Franziska Josepha Louise Augusta Marie Christina Helena; 12 August 1872 – 8 December 1956) was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Early life Princess Marie Louise was born at Cumberland Lodge in Wi ...

at St. George's Chapel in

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

. Princess Marie Louise was the daughter of

Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (Frederick Christian Charles Augustus; 22 January 1831 – 28 October 1917) was a minor Danish-born German prince who became a member of the British royal family through his marriage to Princess Helena ...

and

Princess Helena of the United Kingdom Princess Helena (Helena Augusta Victoria; 25 May 1846 – 9 June 1923), later Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, was the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Helena was educated by private tutors chosen ...

, making her a granddaughter 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 Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. The bride's first cousin, the German Emperor

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 ...

, had been instrumental in arranging the match. In December 1900, the Duke of Anhalt used his prerogative as reigning Duke to annul the marriage.''Royal Couple Separated''
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', 14 November 1900. Princess Marie Louise, on an official visit to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

at the time, immediately returned to England. According to her memoirs, she regarded her marriage vows as binding, so she never remarried. Her memoirs do, however, indicate rage over her marital experience and an obvious dislike of her former husband. Though contemporary sources did not directly suggest it was a cause of his marriage dissolution, a number of contemporaries and subsequent historical accounts suggest Aribert was

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

, and some have suggested an indiscretion with a male attendant was the catalyst for the dissolutionGreg King
''Twilight of Splendor: The Court of Queen Victoria During Her Diamond Jubilee Year''
John Wiley & Sons, 2007. and that the marriage had never been

consummate In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage to ...

d. However, other sources later suggested he was planning to remarry.

Regent

When his nephew, Joachim Ernst, succeeded his father as Duke of Anhalt on 13 September 1918, Aribert was appointed

due to the young age of Joachim Ernst. Aribert's brief

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

came to an end on 12 November 1918 when he abdicated in the name of his nephew following the German revolution. The duchy subsequently became the

Free State of Anhalt The Free State of Anhalt (german: Freistaat Anhalt) was formed after Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt abdicated on 12 November 1918, ending the Duchy of Anhalt. It was a state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic. In May 1932 the Nazi ...

Later life

Prince Aribert died in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

aged 67 on 24 December 1933.

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:''Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtum Anhalt'' (1894) "Genealogie des Herzoglichen Hauses
p. 5
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Ancestry

References and notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anhalt, Prince Aribert of 1866 births 1933 deaths Princes of Anhalt People from Wörlitz 19th-century LGBT people German LGBT people LGBT royalty Major generals of Prussia German people of French descent Annulled Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath 20th-century LGBT people Royal reburials