Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
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Adolphe I, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (Adolph/Adolf Wilhelm August Karl Friedrich of Nassau[-Weilburg]) (Biebrich, 24 July 1817 – Schloss Hohenburg, 17 November 1905) was the last Duke of Nassau, and the fourth Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
He was a son of Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau (1792 - 1839) and his first wife Charlotte Luise Friederike of Saxe-Altenburg. Adolphe's half-sister, Sophia of Nassau, married King Oscar II of Sweden.
Adolph became Duke of Nassau on 20 August/30 August 1839, after the death of his father. He supported the Austrian Empire in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. After Austria's defeat, Nassau was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia and he lost his throne on 20 September 1866.
In 1879, Adolphe's niece Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, the daughter of another of his half-sisters, married her distant relative King William III of the Netherlands. In 1890, their only daughter Wilhelmina succeeded on his death without surviving male issue to the Dutch throne, but was excluded from the succession to Luxembourg by the Salic Law. The Grand Duchy, which had been linked to the Netherlands since 1815, passed to the Dutch royal family's distant relative - the dispossessed Duke Adolphe - on 23 November 1890, in accordance with the Nassau family compact. The Grand Dukes of Luxembourg are still descendants of Adolphe, although through female lines, since the very independence of the Grand-Duchy required an alteration of the succession laws at the absence of male heirs.
On 31 January 1844, Adolph married firstly in St. Petersburg Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mikhailovna of Russia, niece of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. She died less than a year afterwards in childbirth with a stillborn daughter.
On 23 April 1851, he remarried in Dessau Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau (Dessau, 25 December 1833 - Schloss Königstein, 24 November 1916), a daughter of Friedrich, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau. They had five children, of whom only two lived to the age of eighteen and to become prince and princess of Luxembourg:
- William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (1852–1912)
- Prince Friedrich Paul Wilhelm of Nassau (Biebrich, 23 September 1854 - Biebrich, 23 October 1855)
- Princess Marie Bathildis of Nassau (Biebrich, 14 November 1857 - Biebrich, 28 December 1857)
- Prince Franz Joseph Wilhelm of Nassau (Biebrich, 30 January 1859 - Vienna, 2 April 1875)
- Princess Hilda Charlotte Wilhelmine (1864 - 1952), married HRH Friedrich II, Grand Duke of Baden.
In 1892, Grand Duke Adolphe conferred the hereditary title Count of Wisborg on his Swedish nephew, Oscar, who had lost his Swedish titles after marrying without his father's approval. Wisborg (also spelt Visborg) was the old castle in the city of Visby within Prince Oscar's lost Dukedom of Gotland, but the title itself was created in the nobiliy of Luxembourg.
[edit] Ancestors
| Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg | Father: Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau |
Paternal Grandfather: Frederick William, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Karl Christian of Nassau-Weilburg |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Carolina of Orange-Nassau |
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| Paternal Grandmother: Burgravine Louise Isabelle of Kirchberg |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Wilhelm Georg of Kirchberg |
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| Paternal Great-grandmother: Isabella Auguste Reuss-Greiz |
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| Mother: Charlotte Luise Friederike of Saxe-Altenburg |
Maternal Grandfather: Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Ernest Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Ernestine of Saxe-Weimar |
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| Maternal Grandmother: Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Karl II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Friederike Karoline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt |
[edit] External links
- Grand-Ducal House of Luxembourg and Ducal House of Nassau
- Ducal House of Nassau
- Imperial House of Russia
- Ducal House of Anhalt-Dessau
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Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Born: 24 July 1817 1817 Died: 17 November 1905 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by William III |
Grand Duke of Luxembourg 1890–1905 |
Succeeded by William IV |
| Preceded by Wilhelm |
Duke of Nassau 1839-1866 |
Succeeded by annexed to Prussia |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Preceded by New creation |
— TITULAR — Duke of Nassau 1866–1905 Reason for succession failure: Duchy annexed by Prussia in 1866 |
Succeeded by William IV |
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