Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg and his cousin Prince Josef-Emanuel of Liechtenstein pose for a picture on December 11, 2011, the day of Officer Cadet Liechtenstein's passing out parade from the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst.
For the son of Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha to be able to attend Sandhurst, a special treaty had to be signed between Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom as Liechtenstein does not have a national army. With his graduation from the prestigious British military academy, the prince followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Grand Duke Jean, his uncles Grand Duke Henri and Prince Jean of Luxembourg and the late Prince Wenzel of Liechtenstein as well as his cousins Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume.
Yes, this is a new feature to the blog.
Yes, this is a new feature to the blog.
Thank you so very much for your painstaking efforts! The results are impressive, and your translation will surely be an invaluable resource.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. The second part of the 2012 acts (Family Pact and Bylaws) have been translated. We will post those soon, as well.
ReplyDeleteHow did this change from the previous family bylaws?
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that if Princess Alexandra marries a commoner he will be given the style HRH and the title of Prince of Luxembourg, Prince of Nassau and Bourbon-Parma? Is that to let the offspring of Princess Alexandra bear the HRH?
ReplyDeleteThe entire bylaws can't be found anywhere. The original version of 1907 only included two paragraphs dealing with the inheritance of Grand Duchess Marie-Adelaide. More were added later on but not published.
ReplyDeleteNo, as §4a and §4b state the styles and titles only apply for wives of princes. The children of Princess Alexandra or any other princess of the house who is not the heiress will bear the surname (and title if they have any) of the father.
ReplyDeleteIf you read 4a and 4b in the Family Bylaw you can see the answer; however, I will attempt to clarify things as best I can.
ReplyDeleteAs stated in the bylaw, the only way the husband or children of a princess can receive a title is if she becomes monarch or is the heiress apparent (hereditary grand duchess in her own right).
Alexandra has 2 (soon to be 3) people before her in the line of succession. It is highly unlikely that she will ever become the heiress apparent/monarch. As an ordinary princess of the house, her children can inherit a place in the line of succession from her, but not the surname de Nassau or any title.
Titles remain only to be shared with the wife and children of princes of the house who make approved marriages. As Alexandra is not a prince, nor the heiress apparent, her husband will not gain any title nor will her children.
The husband of a Hereditary Grand Duchess, as the heiress apparent, or of a reigning Grand Duchess will obtain the titles HRH Prince, as would her children. Only in those situations can a man gain a title by marriage to a princess of the house.
The house law regulates that as 3rd in line for the throne that when she marries her husband will have no title and their children will be neither HRH nor Nassaus.
The only way her husband and children would become HRH Prince(sse) of Luxembourg, Nassau and BP would be if some horrible tragedy should result in the death of those before her in the line of succession. If Guillaume, Felix and Felix' unborn child predeceased Alexandra then she would become the heiress apparent. Only in that situation would her husband and children acquire titles.
Of course, it remains possible that the Grand Duke could create a noble title for his son-in-law and grandchildren but nothing suggests he'd do so.
We were typing at the same time. Didn't see your reply until after I'd already written my long winded reply. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your detailed response. I really appreciate it. I figure if GD Henri doesn't want to make Alexandra's children feel left out without the de Nassau title among their other cousins he might give the children a title. But, again, in order for the children to have a noble title the father has to have a title.. right? Meaning.. that if he does decide to have Alexandra's children bear a noble title he consequently has to give the commoner father a noble title as well? Will he need to change his surname or add a - de Nassau to his surname?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response!
ReplyDeleteI guess we will only knew if/when Pss Alexandra gets married and has children. Though I think that if the Grand Duke had wanted the husband/children of his daughter to have titles, he should have just changed the house law to reflect that instead of creating a need to create titles individually. The law was revised in 2012, given that I can only assume that he intends the titles of the Grand Ducal Family to be hereditary in male line. If he gives Princess Alexandra's future family titles, he should also give titles to his brothers' daughters Princess Marie-Gabrielle and Princess Charlotte. There has only been one precedent in which a Princess of Luxembourg married a commoner without a title and that is Princess Charlotte, daughter of Prince Charles and cousin of Grand Duke Henri. Her husband did not receive a title and her children are commoners. Of course the Grand Duke is a fountain of honour and as such has every right to create titles but I feel like the house law makes it pretty clear that only the husband of the heiress will receive a title. I doubt that if either Archduchess Marie-Astrid, Princess Margaretha or any of their paternal aunts had married a commoner, they would have received a Luxembourgish title. Luxembourg isn't the UK or Belgium were titles are still regularly given out.
ReplyDeleteI concur with your expectations. Nevertheless, it is quite illogical and disappointing that the grand duke's commitment (or perhaps acquiescence?) to the principle of gender equality in the order of succession evaporated as he made arrangements for his house's titulature.
ReplyDeleteShould one expect that, as with Charlotte Cunningham, any princess who marries an untitled husband will cease to use her royal title and adopt her husband's surname?
It was Charlotte's own choice to be known as Charlotte Cunningham in her professional life. To the best of my knowledge, she is still considered to be a Princess of Luxembourg by the court and the government. It's the same with Tatjana von Lattorff who chose to be known by her husband's name while still officially being HSH Tatjana von Lattorff, Princess of Liechtenstein but never using the title. The sisters of Grand Duke Jean remained Princess of Luxembourg, Nassau and Bourbon-Parma even after their respective marriages. The same goes for the sister of Grand Duchess Charlotte minus the Bourbon-Parma title of course. Princess Alexandra will not lose her title upon marriage but might choses to be known by her husband's name. It will be up to herself just with any other princess of the house.
ReplyDeleteI might be a little more traditional when it comes to royal titles distribution than others and I don't mind her Princess Alexandra's possible future husband and children not having a title. If that it is was defines someone or would make them feel "left out" I'm sorry for them. I think the key for any royal family in the future is to downsize and not to give out even more titles to people who will likely never have any official role. It is not as bad in Luxembourg as they already limited the Prince/ss of Luxembourg title to the children and spouses of the current and future head of the house but I don't think it is a good idea to hand out the HRH Prince/ss of Belgium or HRH Prince/ss of Sweden title out as freely as they do at the moment. King Albert II has 12 grandchildren who according to current law would transmit their titles to their children. If they have the average four children of their parents (Philippe, Astrid, Laurent) generation, there will be more than 70 princes and princesses of Belgium running around in 20 or 30 years time (provided Belgium still exists at that point in time). Of course it's possible that King Philippe's nephews and nieces will not ask for consent like it was the case for the younger Van Vollenhoven sons in the Netherlands but imagine they do. It will lead to dozens of princes and princesses of Belgium who will never have any official role. The same goes for Sweden though in not such big numbers. It has already happened in Liechtenstein where you have over a hundred people with the title prince or princess of Liechtenstein. To me, that is not desirable. If it is fair to draw the line at the gender barrier, I don't know but you have to draw it somewhere, IMHO. After all, at least here in Germany and in most countries that I know it is still the case the most children get their last names from their fathers (in the case that the parents are married) so why should it be different for royal children? Even in countries like Spain where children get both parents' names, it is usually the father's name which is passed on to the next generation.
I only wish to add to your comment about Charlotte. She does use her married name professionally as she wants to earn her own way. She also wants to be viewed as credible not just someone who has is successful because people want to deal with a princess (or as someone who milks connections).
ReplyDeleteI've been checking some various documents and Charlotte Cunningham absolutely is still Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Luxembourg, Nassau and BP according to the government, the GDF and even her family's wine business.
I appreciate your thoughtful response. I understand that Princess Alexandra would retain her titles in the formal sense, but inquired as to the likelihood that she would cease to use the title and be known by her husband's surname, à la Charlotte Cunningham.
ReplyDeleteGiven that the revised house law enables the titles of Prince(ss) of Nassau and Prince(ss) of Bourbon de Parme to descend and proliferate boundlessly in the male line, I infer that the grand duke is not a proponent of downsizing. Should he wish to curb the proliferation of titles, however, it would be far more logical (in light of the revised succession law) and fair, in my eyes, to do so according to the degree of descent.
I likewise favor legislative and societal reforms to facilitate parents' freedom to choose, without prejudice, between the mother's and the father's surnames. :)
Thank you for the supplementary information; her sensibility is quite admirable.
ReplyDeleteYou can actually argue that the family will be downsized in the next generation as it appears that neither Prince Jean's nor Prince Louis' sons will be able to confer their titles as Prince of Nassau on to their own children. As §4b states "The use or the conferral of a style or title in the individual case
ReplyDeletecannot deduce either rights from the membership of the house or family
or consent to the marriage." So in the strict sense of the House Law, Constantin, Wenceslas, Carl, Gabriel and Noah would only be able to pass on the count of Nassau title if at all.
I can understand the point you are making about gender equality but the concept of monarchy and royalty is very much based on tradition so I don't know whether it would be a good idea to get rid of all traditional elements including the matter of titles.
I think it is worthy of note that despite not having a (Luxembourgish) title Princess Alexandra's husband will still be considered to be part of both the Grand Ducal Family and the Grand Ducal House. Her children will be considered to be part of the Grand Ducal Line.
I can not thank you enough for your detailed response. I appreciate you taking the time to do this. I was also thinking about downsizing and gender equality. Even, as you say, with tradition being more attached to royalty, we have seen that now the laws have changed for the Grand Ducal Family and succession to the throne allows Alexandra to be behind her brother Felix, no longer after her younger brother Sebastien. And about downsizing, I consider the Grand Ducal family to be quite small, unlike the British one. Again, we have to consider that the Grand Duchy is quite smaller and so might have to be the royal family but just thought (IMHO) that maybe Alexandra would like her children (from a commoner husband) to bear at least the de Nassau surname attached to the father's surname. We know Felix is expecting but we don't see Guillaume getting pregnant anytime soon... just a thought on having at least the Grand Ducal Family all bearing titles for the sake of maintaining the cachet and panache of the family (at least with the Grand Duke's sons and daughter). Who knows, maybe if the royal family gets so downsized the country will no longer think the family needs to be there anyway. But, then again, this will be up to the Grand Duke and if he has a change of heart.
ReplyDelete