| Maria Emanuel Prinz von Sachsen Herzog zu Sachsen | |
|---|---|
| Head of the Royal House of Saxony | |
| Period | 9 August 1968 – 23 July 2012 |
| Predecessor | Friedrich Christian |
| Successor | Albert (disputed) Alexander (disputed) |
| Born | (1926-01-31)31 January 1926 Prüfening Abbey,Regensburg,Upper Palatinate,Bavaria,Weimar Republic |
| Died | 23 July 2012(2012-07-23) (aged 86)[1] La Tour-de-Peilz,Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District,Canton of Vaud,Switzerland |
| Burial | 30 July 2012 Royal Chapel in Königskapelle inKarrösten in North Tyrol |
| Spouse | |
| House | Wettin |
| Father | Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen |
| Mother | Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Maria Emanuel Prinz von Sachsen Herzog zu Sachsen, also self-styledMarkgraf von Meißen (Margrave of Meissen),[2] (31 January 1926 – 23 July 2012) was the head of theHouse of Saxony.[3]
Born atPrüfening Abbey inRegensburg,Bavaria, he was the eldest child of the thenHereditary Prince Frederick Christian of Saxony, later Margrave of Meissen, andPrincess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis. As German nobility had been constitutionally abolished in 1919,[4] the hereditary titles of descendants of former nobility are unrecognized and instead incorporated into their surnames,[5] hence "Maria Emanuel Prinz von Sachsen Herzog zu Sachsen".[2]
At the age of 18, Maria Emanuel was imprisoned andsentenced to death for opposingNazi rule. The death sentence, however, was commuted. He next had to escape from the approaching Soviets as his homeland,Saxony, became a part ofcommunistEast Germany in theAftermath of World War II. After the war he moved toSwitzerland where he began working in the financial services sector. Also being a talented painter Maria Emanuel had a number of his works exhibited.[6]
AlthoughMarie Vassiltchikov recounts in her bookThe Berlin Diaries 1940–45 the story of the 16-year-old Maria Emanuel paying her a visit to seek her help in finding a bride, as he felt it was his dynastic obligation to start a family early,[7] Emanuel would not in fact marry until his 37th birthday. His wife wasAnastasia (born 1940), daughter of Eduard, Duke of Anhalt; they married (civ.) on 22 June 1962 inLa Tour-de-Peilz and (rel.) on 31 January 1963 inVevey, Switzerland. They had no children.[citation needed]
Maria Emanuel became head of the former Royal House of Saxony upon the death of his father on 9 August 1968.
As Maria Emanuel fathered no legitimate children, he had acknowledged as his eventual heirAlexander Prinz von Sachsen, the son of his sister Anna and her late husband Robert Afif,Prince of Gessaphe (or "Assaphe"/"Afif-Assaf", descendants of a Lebanese Christian family which ruled theKeserwan, a province in north ofBeirut).[8][9] Maria Emanuel adopted Alexander on 1 June 1999, who had married Gisela of Bavaria in 1987. In 1997 the surviving male dynasts of the Albertine line of Wettins consented to the Margrave's decision,[10] Subsequently, his brotherAlbert stated that he no longer accepted the decision.[citation needed]
The royal line of theHouse of Wettin applies semi-salic law, which allows for inheritance through a female. Since the death of Maria Emanuel, if Albert was the last male dynast then this would lead firstly to the children of their sisters Maria Josepha (unmarried), Maria Anna, and Mathilde, but only Mathilde's marriage undisputedly met equality requirements and her only son died in 1987.[citation needed] Therefore, if the Gessaphe claim is invalid, the succession would pass to the issue of the Margrave's paternal aunts, who wereMargarete Karola (1900–1962),Maria Alix (1901–1990) and Anna (1903–1976), all of whom left children. Margarete having been the eldest, the heir would be her grandsonKarl Friedrich von Hohenzollern (born 1932), head of the princely line of theHouse of Hohenzollern.[citation needed]
Maria Emanuel's brother Albert, however, supported discarding equality requirements to allow his cousin Timo von Sachsen'smorganatic son,Rüdiger von Sachsen (1953-2022) to eventually succeed. Rüdiger had, with his first wife Astrid Linke (1949–1989), three sons Daniel (born 1975), Arne (born 1977) and Nils (born 1978).[citation needed]
Although theAlbertine Saxons consist only of the royal branch, there are several extant lines of the House of Wettin which ruled the variousErnestine duchies until 1918 (as well as thecadet branches of theCoburg line which held several royal crowns).[citation needed] In a joint statement of 23 June 2015, the heads of the three remaining branches of the seniorErnestine line of the House of Wettin,Michael Prinz von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach,Andreas Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha and Konrad Prinz von Sachsen-Meiningen, declared that, according to the house law of the House of Wettin and to traditional princely succession rules, Alexander Afif, bearing the (legally unrecognized[5]) namePrince of Saxony by adoption, was neither a member of nobility nor of the House of Wettin, nor had he succeeded Maria Emanuel as head of the Albertine branch (the Royal House of Saxony), nor was he entitled to style himself Margrave of Meissen.[11]
Adelsbezeichnungen gelten nur als Teil des Namens und dürfen nicht mehr verliehen werden.
Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen Born: 31 January 1926 | ||
| Titles in pretence | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | — TITULAR — King of Saxony 9 August 1968 – 23 July 2012 Reason for succession failure: Kingdom abolished in 1918 | Succeeded by Albert (disputed) |
| Succeeded by Alexander (disputed) | ||
Heads of theHouse of Wettin since1918 | ||
|---|---|---|
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