As speakly use a USA flag to represent English it can't be any good. Instead of leaning correct English you will end up with a horrible American accent.
12:39 In terms of the Polish-Lithuanian claim, there was never an institution of morganatic marriage in Poland and in Commonwealth, so if even some prince would marry a peasant it would not disqualify his children from the inheritance as long it was a valid marriage (of course marrying a peasant would not be seen fondly by the nobility, e.g. nobility wasn't happy that Jogaila married Elizabeth Granowska, because she was just nobility without any connections to royalty, had already two husbands and five children before, and wasn't very young, while Jogaila was still heirless, but if they had children they would not be banned from succession). So I don't think that prince Alexander have any claim to Polish-Lithunian throne, while Polish monarchist already ask prince Daniel if he would fancy to be theirs official pretender (he refused).
Oh, come on! They don’t know if they do it “just in case”. Those people walk in different circles than the general public. They still have generational wealth and businesses and stuff. They just marry who they know.
The _really_ strange thing about Otto von Habsburg is that he actually got a state funeral in Vienna, attended by the chancellor and president of Austria at the time and many, many citizens. He arguably had better attendance than he would've had as an actual emperor of austria. There were a few voices who critizised the police escort and other tax payer expenses, but the overwhelming majority of the by then staunchly republican and democratic austria celebrated the life of the last crown prince of the monarchy they rebelled to overthrow. And in a way, austria has this two-faced relationship with its own history to this day - companies still proudly display having been named "purveyor to the court", titles are still spoken with a tone of defferance, big archievments of monarchs that hold up (like, for example, the inception of mandatory school years) are still celebrated - but monarchistic support meassures in the low promille range... it's fascinating to watch as a non-austrian in austria (especially vienna)
I'm American but always admired von Habsburg for being a bit of what we call a troll now and thumbing his nose at the conventional wisdom. I've joined him in smoking one cigarette per year--on World No Tobacco Day. And I'll always find it funny that he was annoyed at how Willy Brandt attended the European Parliament infrequently so he posted a "for rent" sign on Brandt's spot, which apparently was there for weeks. I can see why Austrians like him!
Well in Austria his name is/was "Otto Habsburg" without "von"...the aristocratic "von" got abolished in Austria after WW1 for all Aristocrats which was part for abolishing aristocracy..only Germany kept the "von".
@@MrSinclairn Make a return from what? Can you explain what you actually mean? All their crownlands became Republics after WW1. And do you know what a "crownland" is? Austria was just one of several Habsburg crownlands And what is a - simple - Archduchy? An Archduchy is not "simple" ..the Archduchy is the highest ranked princedom in an Empire... The Habsburgian was Archdukes in Austria but he was King of Bohemia + King of Hungary as well...and had additionally all kinds of other ruler titels for the other regions in that Habsburg Empire and those were all legitimized titels by bloodline and not by conquer.The Habsburgs didn´t gain their titels by waging wars but by marriage and as consequence by inheriting. So your comment doesn´t make sense.
My history teacher in school (in Germany) used to joke around like, the reason why every single european monarchy has so much german royal blood is, because we used to have so damn many royals here, we didn't know what to do with them, so in the end we did what we are still good at today: export.
One more technicality: Germany allows to keep titles of nobilities as surnames, but Austria does not. So Otto von Habsburg's civil name was simply "Otto Habsburg", while pretty much all the German members of former monarchies have surnames containing "Duke/Duchess" or "Prince/Princess". Since civil law does not care about morganatic marriages and that there can only be one duke, the number of persons with such fancy surnames is probably larger today than the number of real dukes and princes would have been if the monarchies still existed.
Wrong as a lot of nobles sold there titles including von Happend to my family after ww1 So no There aren't more today than there would have ever been In fact the number is pretty much the same
@@KingJohnMichael You seem to have misunderstood the post. Titles of nobility DO NOT EXIST under German law. So all you sold was a useless piece of paper. What happend was that former nobles were allowed to make their former titles part of their surname. So Franz Herzog von Bayern isn't _the_ Herzog von Bayern, his NAME is Herzog von Bayern.
It is a bit more complicated: It is true that in Germany, unlike in Austria, the nobility predicates were not abolished in 1918, but were regarded as mere name components without legal relevance. However, in addition to Austrian citizenship, the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary also held German citizenship and, at the end of his life, even Hungarian citizenship again. That is why he was officially called "Dr Otto von Habsburg" in his German passport, but "Dr Otto Habsburg-Lothringen" in his Austrian one. His mandate in the European Parliament was based on his status as a German citizen. He belonged to the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian branch of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Fun Fact: Ferdinand Habsburg also works as a presenter for F1 races on the Austrian State TV where I saw him for the first time and was really surprised about the name.
I could just imagine that conversation. You: "Wait, is that our former Hapsburg emperor presenting the F1 races?" Other person: "I think so? His last name is Hapsburg. How many Hapsburgs are there around?" Then you went to check Google. Pikachu surprised faces all around! LOL.
I czrrent read a series of scify books about an american snall town from 2000 being transporter tjrough time to 1632 germany, and lets just say they change the World they landed into, and the austrian emporer of the time ends up liking sports cars😅😅
The map shown from min. 3:30 onwards is unfortunately wrong. The southern German states of Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden as well as the southern part of the Grand Duchy of Hesse were not part of the North German Confederation. They joined it only in 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War. This gave birth to the German Empire. Baden which lies to the west of Württemberg, is missing from the map, as is Alsace-Lorraine, which was annexed in 1871 and only reverted to France in 1918. The extent of Prussia for the period after the German War is also incorrectly depicted, as the country annexed not only Hanover in 1866, but also other parts of Germany, e.g. Schleswig-Holstein, the Electorate of Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt.
Vox Populi is right! I love this channel, but this map is so disturbingly wrong. I guess @EmperorTigerstar will add it to his collection of horrible maps!
@@untruelie2640 Like poor Baden. Grand duke Friedrich personaly proclaiming the emperor Wiliam I, but Baden is left out of Germany. Also Prussia seem to not want all the territories they annexed in 1866 IRL. Author(s) of this channel repeatedly makes easily avoidable mistakes. If I would want to be mean I could call it like "some north murican superability to mess stuff about royalty and nobility". Also he sometimes says not that important details (i am ok with that), but imho more important/interesting details are left out. Like his obsession with queen Elisabeth II, thanks to that he clearly messed/mixed up the succesion systems so it would end with her like he wanted.
My apologies about the map. My intention was to show the North German Confederation at its greatest extent (which, as pointed out, was right before it became the German Empire). But, yeah, I should have been more clear about how the borders evolved. As for the other details - I guess it just goes to show that I'm much better at making charts than maps. I'm definitely no Emperor Tigerstar!
When the head of the house of Baden died (shortly after Queen Elizabeth) the funeral guests were unexpectedly international. Although the King Charles got an invitation none of the British Royal Family actually attended (understandably). They sent I think someone from Hessen in their stead. It's always fascinating to see how former german royals and all European aristocracies are connected to each other. I live in a region where even a distant relative of the Swedish royals owns land and the family sometimes even visits. Thank you for this dive into german history
Wich of them is it? Because a swedish princess with a german mother from saxen-coburg-gotha married prince Hans of Hoenzollern, but Hoenzollern isn't mentioned at all.
A small note on German 'noble titles'. It is true that the German state does not recognise noble titles, and their bearers are all commoners. However, the 'titles' are treated as part of the official surname.
_Slight_ correction: Hannover, Saxony, Bavaria and Wurttemberg were not established in 1814. On that year, they were elevated to the rank of kingdom. Before the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, no country* was allowed to be called "kingdom of x" because it was seen as an attack on the rank of the emperor, which had the title "king of Germany"**. *Prussia got an exemption for siding with the emperor in the war of the Spanish succession **And king of Italy, and all other titles that he owned.
Firstly. Prussia started out only as "Kings *in* Prussia" to clarify that the Kingdom of Prussia was only the lands not part of the Empire. The lands within the Empire only became part of the Kingdom of Prussia legally when the empire was dissolved. Second. The empire was dissolved in 1806 and it was in this year that all the princes were elevated. Thus the electorates of Saxony, Bavaria, Hannover and Württemberg (only been an electorate since 1803) were elevated to Kingdoms.
@@ShadrolGER Correct, they were reinstated in 1814 following the defeat of napoleon. The kingdom of/in Prussia bit doesn't matter, it had nothing to do with the empire. It was the commonwealth that demanded this, because they had a province called ducal Prussia. However, you are correct in the matter that Prussia was not considered a kingdom within the empire.
@@ThatOneCatto you are correct, the "in" part was because of the commonwealth. I got that mixed up. Point still stands that only with the empire dissolved the Hohenzollern lands within the empire could become part of Prussia de jure.
That claim is strangely enough set to pass into the Princely house of Liechtenstein, so that the Jacobite claimant will eventually be an actual reigning monarch.
@@deutschermichel5807Its not his legal name. There is no nobility in Germany anymore though he would have been the Duke had the nobility not been abolished.
@@deutschermichel5807 Bavaria is no longer an independent entity, one cannot be the ruling Duke of Bavaria. The last ruler of Bavaria was Ludwig III who died in 1921. Franz’s title is a courtesy title, holding no legal authority or legitimacy. His legal name is Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern.
To be fair there's still more kings named Louis in France then kings named George in the UK. The last official and undisputed King Louis of France having been King Louis XVI (aka the 16th king named "Louis"), There has been only 7 King Georges in the UK.
I find the German monarchies, noble houses and such to be incredibly fascinating owing to there not really being any all encompassing, overarching German nation for so much of history for it all to become enveloped into (unlike Great Britain for example, where individual kingdoms on the island were annexed/defunct centuries ago). Any more content exploring this part of European history would be eagerly anticipated!
16:25 Another interesting thing about Bernhard, Margrave of Baden is that his mother (who is still alive), Archduchess Valerie of Austria is a great-granddaughter of Franz Joseph I as her paternal grandmother was one of his daughters, Archduchess Marie Valerie. However, her title comes from paternal ancestry, as her paternal great-grandfather was Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria, a younger son of the penultimate Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II, who was in turn a grandson of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II.
Two major corrections on the map. The south german states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and the southern part of Hessen) were not part of the North German Confederation in 1866. They only joined in late 1870 and thus the empire was formed. Also the aforementioned Großherzogtum Baden was completely forgotten in the map aswell as the annexation of Elsass-Lothringen.
In Germany, former titles are considered part of the surname, so a member of a former noble house would be named "Alfred Prince Coockoo", not "Prince Albert Coockoo"
@@PinHeadSupliciumwtf Yes, the House of Anhalt comes to mind. The sister of the last Duke of Anhalt adopted an adult commoner (who afterwards called himself Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, husband of the late Zsa Zsa Gabor), who in turn also adopted several adult men, one of whom a brothel owner. But from what I understand, the rest of the House of Anhalt doesn't consider those as part of the noble house.
With the German monarchs you could of ended up with a massive video due to all the Grand Duchies, Duchies, Principalities, Counties etc that still have a recognisable pretender
You can't really make that correctly though. I know one such pretender to countdom personally and he really doesn't want it to be known. The castle his family used only says that the house supports keeping it repaired, not that he is the head of the house. Also the line will probably die with him as he doesn't have siblings, lost track of other branches and I doubt he'll marry at all, much less any sort of nobility
@@theultimatefreak666 That's interesting, ik that quite a few of the Grand Duchies, Duchies and Principalities still have pretenders; I assumed there would be some Counts as well my mistake
@@thomasdixon4373 huh? I just said I know a pretender to a county. It's not that they aren't there, they are just numerous enough to fly under the radar. Nearly every castle had it's own ruler back during HRE times, let's just say half of them still have their own pretender, many of which deposed by napoleon that's roughly 12k people in the modern German borders alone. My damn godmother has a noble title (it's just having "von" in their name, but you aren't allowed to add it to your name if it doesn't come from your ancestors and you can reject it a bit differently from having your name changed in other ways) but her family doesn't even remember where it comes from. So being noble really doesn't get looked twice at
@@theultimatefreak666 Though that County ceased to exist during Napoleonic Times? He could still have made a Video for the Monarchies that existed until 1918.
0:15 The word "Kaiser" is simply the german translation of emperor. Especially saying that the german emperor was ''called Kaiser'' while not using the german title names for the other monarchs is somewhat misleading. Either call both emperors Kaiser or neither
Similarly do either use the English or the German place names, but not a mixture please. The last one mentioned is German Hannover, which is also not pronounced like the English Hanover.
"Kaiser" is specifically derived from "Caesar" as is the Russian/Slavic "Tsar" for example, so you could say there is an implied connection to Roman emperors (to be fair most European houses claimed the title in some form). The term emperor (even though too derived from the latin "imperator") seems to be a more broad title, also encompassing the "King of Kings" in Persia or the monarchs of China for example. But it's true, in German "Kaiser" is used for all kinds of emperors, be it Romans, the current Japanese monarch, the Austrian or Brasilian ones. Frankly, it's a bit silly to refer to the German Empire as the/a "Kaiserreich" with a "Kaiser", but not to refer to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its monarch similarly.
@@Mimi.1001 Yes at the outbreak of World War One there were actually 2 Kaisers -the German one and the Austro-Hungarian one but most people only think of the Kaiser (Wilhelm II) of Germany.
@@Mimi.1001 In Latin as spoken originally the letter C was always a hard C like K, and not soft like S. So Caesar would have been pronounced very similar to Kaiser today. It's quite funny really as the name Caesar was simply a nickname for one of the early members of the family, meaning thick head of hair. More so funny in that Gaius Julius Caesar was quite bald early in his career, and was made fun of by his contemporaries.
The titles of the German nobility are not actually 'entirely unofficial' today - when the Monarchy was abolished in 1918, these were turned into their actual last names/surnames. So i.e. Georg Friedrich's actual name on his passport is 'Georg Friedrich Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen' - 'Prince of Prussia' being his surname! So he is actually a Prince - it's part of his name! (and his children etc. as well are all Princes/ses because of this, the name is adjusted to each person's gender). Though of course this legally doesn't mean anything, it's just an unusual name. This is different to Austria where titles were completely abolished, so the Habsburg family is actually legally just, for example, 'Karl Habsburg-Lothringen' on their passports (plus a few more given/first names that I've left out here)
Yes and no. They're unofficial as titles. They're official as names. Names and titles are fairly different things. So no, Georg Friedrich Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen is *not* a Prince. He's just _named_ Prinz. The titles were still completely abolished, the former nobles just got to keep the, now worthless, words.
Unfortunately the maps in the beginning are a bit wrong. The North German confederation did not contain the Southern states, and for the empire, you were missing a chunk of land in the South West.
One of the advantages of having so many sovereign states is that their monarchies, whether king, prince, grand duke, or duke, were considered royal for the purposes of marriage, because they were sovereign states in a confederation, later empire. Other royal houses made matches with German princesses, so they're all interrelated
Plus, since they were mostly very small states, they tended to make good marriage prospects for the royal families of larger states. It avoided the issues of alliances or balance of power that would tend to result from trying to intermarry with royal families from other large states, and also opened up the prospect of potentially absorbing the smaller state at some point in the future if dynastic luck went a certain way.
Also lucky for other kingdoms there were katholic kingdoms/duchys, like bavaria and austria, for catholic marriages and protestant kingdoms, who had been eligible partners for marriages for english souverreigns and princes
look up the saxon line that lead to that center of the empire bordergore. And try to understand which line rules of which part of the area at what time.
3:00 There is a little inaccuracy on the map. At the time of the German Confederation, the Austrian Empire still included Lombardy-Venetia, an then just Vetetia.
One may add that while the Kingdom of Hannover was annexed by Prussia, the royal family were also next in succession to the much smaller Duchy of Brunswick when the Duke died without heir (I think sometime in the 1880s). However, due to the Hannover line not accepting the Prussian conquest of their country, the Prussians blocked the succession in Brunswick for decades. I think it was in 1913 when Ernst August III married a Prussian princess (as visible at 15:51) that he was allowed to become Duke of Brunswick. So even if the Kingdom of Hannover would not be resurrected, he and his line would be Dukes of Brunswick.
You mentioned that the claimant to Emperor of Austria would also be King of Bohemia. Being of Czech descent, I'm wondering if there are any descendants of Czech rulers who could also claim this crown.
Short answer: Yes they are. Roughly thousand at least. Longer answer: Just learn how to use the internet. It is not that hard to find. How do i know? I am Czech myself.
True last slavic king of Bohemia (Přemyslovci dynasty) was Wenceslaus III, who died in 1306. After that the kings come from various other dynasties. Karl von Habsburg is the current heir, since the last king of Bohemia was Karl I of Austria.
I would argue that the duke of Hohenberg, though from a morganatic line, could actually have a claim to Bohemia. This is because the wife of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, was from a non-sovereing Bohemian noble house. Her rank makes the marriage morganatic, but her origin makes her descendents closer to Bohemia. Furthermore, though morganatic, the Hohenberg line is actually the most senior line of the Habsburg dynasty today, being that the most senior dynasts descend from Francis Ferdinand's younger brother. That being said, Hohenbergs since then are mostly just Austrian.
I would advise against anyone else doing so, given the legend that if anyone who is not the legitimate King of Bohemia is crowned, they will die within 3 years. So much so that there is a rumour that Reinhard Heydrich placed the Crown of St. Wenceslaus on his head in 1941. He was assassinated the next year.
@@ruyfernandez If Bohemia woud be sovereign at the time of accession of Franz Ferdinand then his children could be heirs of throne. No need for equal marriage.
Can you do something on the Monarchs of the Deccan Plateau? The Nizam of Hyderabad was literally the richest man in the world, and his Asaf Jahi dynasty followed the Qutb Shahi Dynasty, who along with 4 other Sultanates were called the Deccan Sultanates, which all ruled land previously ruled by the Bahmani Empire
I would like to note that the heir to the House of Hanover has two children which like himself are in the british line of succession. Should he for some reason or other become King of the UK and of Hanover the crowns would split yet again as his daughter (firstborn) would become Queen of the UK and his son (secondborn) King of Hanover. Plus the current head of the House of Hanover has a daughter who is in line to the Throne of Monaco being the youngest child of his second wife a monegasque Princess.
The present Hanoverian heir,also has a valid claim to the peerage title of 'Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale',which his father,grandfather and great-grandfather were stripped of,under the 'Titles Deprivation Act 1917' ,due to his grandfather's 1st World War service in the German military.
@@MrSinclairnAs a side note, Augustus had to get permission from QEII to marry Princess Caroline. He had a higher rank and she got the HRH after marriage to him.
Little Correction on the Bavarian Kings: King Otto was king until his death in 1916. But because of his mental illness, Ludwig III. was declared King in 1913, so that Bavaria had two kings during this time. Note: Otto never reigned himself, so after 1913 it was only a title, while Ludwig was the reigning king.
The "hi, this is Matt Baker" opening always sounds like you're leaving a voicemail. And then I get a kick out of thinking of the whole thing as a very earnest, infodump-y voicemail just for me :)
I personally was quite surprised to see the Koháry last name in the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family tree. Since I live in the same locality where the House of Koháry had their estates, properties, etc.
The death of Kaiser Friedrich was really tragic and I am not even saying that because of his liberal ideas but because Wilhelm I missed his birthday by just two weeks, Friedrich ruled so shortly that he did not have a birthday while on the throne. At their birthday there was celebration and the Kaiser gave out gifts to the children of Berlin and so on but there was no Kaiser birthday for almost two years because of that, hard times man Really interesting video as always Matt! Even as a German I didn’t know that they still use male lines only. I know that they did historically and I never looked into their modern house rules, I guess I just assumed that they would have changed it by now
He does not understand that or he made poor job by being so shallow while explaining that. They did not use nor used strict male-line only during 2nd reich time. Most of them used some form of semi-salic. (most of) Houses with many branches had all house males and then closest female of last ruler and then again her descedants by same rules (it makes sense .. if you are not woke). Only minority of german monarchies had strict male-line only. E.g. Austria was inheritable in male and female line since Babenberger times. Some house (their sole head) in recent years facing extinction (in amle line) changed house rules to absolute primogeniture (which doesn't make sense if there was already provision for female succession). One of claimants to headship of royal family of Sicily did same recently and same applies for one of claimants for kingdom of Italy. I need to say that absolute primogeniture is just progressive fashion nonsense, that otherwise makes no sense. Author(s) of this channel repeatedly makes easily avoidable mistakes in his videos.
@@0000-z4z I do not talk about absolute primogeniture as nonsense like succession system. In that manner I think it would be nicer if it would evolve naturally in some of world monarchies that existed. I am talking of the "progressive trend fashion in the west to force it ideally everywhere where monarchy cannot be destroyed yet". Forcing it in the west, especially in countries with long tradition of female succession (like UK or Netherlands) make no other sense to me than progressive fashion trend.
Thank you for the video. Some suggestions: I think you should have put the pictures of the people that followed the head of the house line for each house. Also, I don't understand why you cut so hard a line between kingdoms and duchys, etc. There are many monarchies (Baden, Luxembourg, Monaco, Lietchestein, Milan, Parma, etc) that could make nice content for future videos.
Great video! I've always been fascinated by the German royal houses especially Bavaria as I love the place. And as a Scottish native, I find it funny how our rightful king James III was deposed because he was Catholic and the UK ended up choosing a German relative to rule the UK so all the British royal family are descended from him yet the rightful descendant of James III also ended up being German - Franz Duke of Bavaria 😂 German ruler either way... amazing!
Everybody knows that Queen Victoria's eldest son was Edward VII, and that her eldest daughter, who was also named Victoria, married the German Emperor Friedrich whom she survived for decades as Dowager Empress of Germany. - But not everyone may know that another son of her and Albert of Saxe-Coburg returned to Germany as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg. Victoria liked to visit both of them in Germany.
And later one of his nephews became his heir. He was the second Duke of Albany and lived in England until he was 15. He is the infamous grandfather of the Swedish king. Infamous, because he later was a Nazi.
Great work in total; the issue with the North German Confederation have been mentioned already. But there is a big lack of knowledge: there is a third Kaiser in Germany. His name is Franz Beckenbauer.
btw., 'Neuschwanstein' castle (New-Swan-Stone) was created by Ludwig II. from Bavaria. The 'Marienburg castle' close to Hannover was created by Georg V. - that castle became recently famous for being the School in the German series 'Maxton Hall' (most successful 'International' show in Amazon Prime history - Nr. 1 in 110 countries right from the start).
My old friend Anton Brzezinski once met a Hapsburg who was grandson of the last emperor of Austria, Ferdinand Hopf; he was a very friendly and generous man who might have been in the Royal family if history had gone different (he was very well off, even offering his new friend use of his Paris apartment; which like most offers he humbly never took them up on.) Personally, anyone who offers to do me a favor; I take into serious consideration.
Fun fact: ABBA member Anni-Frid Lyngstad was married to Heinrich Ruzzo Prinz Reuss von Plauen who was the head of house of the Principality of Reuss-Gera, until his death in 1999
16:30 Funfact to Hamburg as a free Reichstadt the Mayor of the City was on the same level as a Duke. And there is even a saying "A Hamburg mayor kneels or bows the head to no one, neither to an emperor nor to the church" It is also customary for the mayor to stop on the last step to greet his guests, the Only exception was Queen Elizabeth II but only due to that our Mayor helped her up the staris
That patchwork is why I am here today. When Bismarck was busily mopping up, or unifying the Germanies one of my great grandfathers was sixteen and about to be drafted. He didn't fancy being cannon fodder so he fled to America, where he already had a brother working a farm. He had no money for the passage so he stowed away, was found, and worked his passage on a ship.
@@KingJohnMichael Bismarck also has the capital of North Dakota named after him. He sent them a nice thank you note (though IIRC, they were actually trying to entice him into investing in a railroad they wanted to build.)
I was hoping you would do ALL of the parts of the HRE-like the principalities, and say Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Hesse, and all those little ones who had princes or grand dukes or dukes but they did rule their little corner of the HRE. That would be a really fun chart!
The whole saxon bordergore is absolute chaos. There were like 8 territories and 5.3 lines that ruled over some of it, then split, got together, gave territory, etc. At one point one line died out, another line took over the territory and gave up their previous lands, which was then incorporated into a third land, but none of them changed their name.
6:00 The use of the title "Prince of Prussia" is actually not unofficial in Germany today. After WW1, nobility and royalty were indeed abolished in Germany, however former members of noble and royal houses were allowed to officially keep their rank by including it in their surnames. So, technically, the official names and surnames of the current heads of german houses are Georg Fridrich Prinz von Preussen, Max Hertzog in Bayern etc.. This however is not the case in Austria, where not only was noble titles were abolished but also surname noble particles. So the official, legal name the head of the house of Habsburg in Austria today is not Karl Erherzog von Österreich (as would be the case in Germany), and not even Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, but just Karl Habsburg-Lothringen.
@@katherinegilks3880 well, you're right, I meant Austria's decision make more sense to me if you want to install a republican culture. Both German and Austrian ways were wrong if you see it that way. But let's go even further. Weren't the German or Austrian empires (or any other monarchy in general for that matter) wrong when they dictate who can and who can not "hold a title" in their name?
Given the differences between the Weimar Republic and the modern German government, I do wonder if that still holds true? I'm genuinely curious, not trying to argue.
Well, if you want to be all "well, ackchually..." about it... The royal houses were NOT allowed to officially keep their rank! They were allowed to use the _former_ rank (and no new rank was allowed to be bestowed!) as a family name, which thereafter was passed on _like a family name_ (with the exception of being allowed to gender the name - i.e. the daughter of "Franz Herzog von Bayern" was allowed to be "Anna Herzogin von Bayern" instead of "Anna Herzog von Bayern"). So while you are correct in saying that "Herzog von Bayern" is their legally official surname (as printed in their passports), they did NOT keep their rank. There is no nobility in germany, legally speaking.
FYI, Georg Friedrich’s marriage to Sophie is technically also a morganatic marriage, not because of standing, but Sophie is a Catholic. Our house rules do not permit a marriage to a Catholic raised spouse even if this spouse converts to the Prussian Lutheran faith. But, this is 2024 and I am glad Georg and Sophie are happy and have beautiful children.
There is an error in your explanations: The Kingdoms of Bavaria and Würtemberg did not belong to the North-German Federation between 1866 and 1871. They were integrated with the German Reich from 1871 after they had joined the Franco-Prussian War becoming the Franco German War of 1870/71.
Small correction for the map at 3:30: The North German Federation of 1866 actually didn't include Bavaria and Württemberg (and some other southern states) - these only joined when the Empire was founded 5 years later (during the franco-german war). (Also, the German Emperor stayed King of Prussia in Personal Union, didn't abolish this title.) I'm waiting for the family trees of all the other german monarchies (grand duchies, duchies, principalities) too.
Excellent video. I have always been interested in German monarchies since a kid. Not sure why, as a black american kid, I was drawn to it but it's so very interesting.
@@mappingshaman5280 don't be petty, sometimes our brain jumps. I'm sure he wanted to write since childhood, but his brain was already by his wondering why he was interested.
There were a whole lot more kingdoms, duchies, and principalities than that in German-speaking Europe! Not to mention Lichtenstein, which still exists. Look at a map of the German Empire before the Great War. Each of those two dozen bits of territory were internally sovereign with its own crown.
8:22 no, he wouldn't be automatically Emperor of the HRE, since this title was not inherited, but awarded thruogh an election among the electoral princes.
3:35 - The maps presented are really a bit of a mess! Firstly, you simply forgot to integrate the dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein, Hesse, Nassau and Frankfurt into Prussia. Why do you change the borders in the case of Hanover but not in the case of the other states? They have been an integral part of the Kingdom of Prussia from that point on. Secondly, it is presented as if Baden had not been part of the empire. Pay close attention to 3:31. The red line retreats behind Baden, although with the founding of the Empire in 1871, the borders on the contrary even extended to Alsace-Lorraine.
Baden is not presented as not being part of the empire. It is clearly said that all the monarchies shown at the end were part of the german empire, and Baden is just one of them.
@@ruyfernandez It would be beneficial to this discussion if you read my comment in full. I explicitly asked that you look closely at 3:31. There you can see that the red line, which previously represented the German Confederation, is now supposed to show the borders of the Empire. At this point, the line shifts to the east and excludes the borders of Baden. This is clear and cannot be interpreted in any other way! I therefore do not understand your point.
cool heraldry map at the end. would be cool to see the heirs of the duchies etc and what you say about them. Personally interested as it mentions the former free cities, among them Luebeck my birth place, who sadly lost its status, but has a rich history from being the first town given city right (and others modelled after) over leader of the Hansa League to defying Napoleon's troupes (they only lost due a traitor opening the gates).
Ahh, yet another house where the ernestine saxon line sits, right besides the british royal line... And now, that is not the line of the kingdom of saxony, but of about half a dozen saxon duchies.
There is a little mistake at 3:30. The borderline does not include the south of the Grand Duchy of Baden. And after 1871 Alsace Lorraine was part of the German Empire as well. So the border in the German southwest is a little bit off.
Nice video but i missed a bit the fact that the current Duke of Bavaria spend the most time of his childhood in a Nazi-concentration camp since the bavarian Royal Family was also against the regime.
While the Hohenzollern heir who would have become Wilhelm III was an ally of Hitler and a big fan of the SA and the SS. He deluded himself into believing that Hitler would put him on the throne and played an important role in getting Hitler to power through the conservative-nationalist coalition.
@@finneogan I wouldn't say a ally hitler and crown prince wilhelm used each other for their own goals In Private they couldn't stand each other crown prince wilhelm even had some contacts in the German Resistance and knew of coup plots like the oster conspiracy in 1938 and operation valkyrie in 1944 Had he actually been a Nazi then he would have reported this to the authority's but he didn't He even called the nazis dangerous and that His son's should stay away from these poeple (Just like his father wilhelm II said to him) To sum it up They where never actually allies the crown prince was no nazi and hitler and crown prince wilhelm hated each other
@@palastofhistory4026But he made propaganda for the Nazis. Thatcis fact. And other people went to prison after WWII and lost their reputation, and work for the state... Men like Gottfried Benn, He did nothing but didn't go to Exile. He was never in knowlege of secrets of the German underground. It was all found out after the current leader of the family claimed back the fully restored Cäcilienhof in Berlin. Which was an awkward idea in my opinion. But rich people always try to get more and more. The same as the Markgraf von Baden. He asked back a lot of parts of the antiques collection of Baden-Württemberg. Now luckily a man made a research in the archives and it was found out, nothing belonged to the Markgrafs family. It was all written down in a legal contract between Baden and the Markgrafs grandfather or great grandfather after the Revolution of 1918. This man has studied in Harvard and is an fincial expert but not a Patriot at all. I detest him for saying if our country Baden has no money for keeping the antiques, we shall sell out our Nibelungenlied. The Nibelungenlied is our eldest Epos in German language. Would the English sell the Magna Carta? The contract from 1066? Or America 0:00 ns the bill of rights? No good idea....
Really great video there Mr Baker! I love your videos they are amazingly presented and you are a fantastic narrator as are all the other people who do these videos as well. Thank you so much for your videos they are amazing! GOD Bless you and all those who you love!
Maybe you can do a series charting the Family trees of the different German Royal Houses! Some of them actually had an influence far beyond Germany. For example, as you have stated, the Hanoverian state was once in a personal Union with Great Britain and later the UK. Also, the first King of Greece was Otto from the House of Wittelsbach (but he was eventually deposed and the former Greek Royal Family is from the House of Glucksburg). Also, a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern once sat on the throne of Romania and the Royal Family of Bulgaria is actually part of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (he even had a brief stint as Bulgaria’s prime minister).
Literally every single european land has had a german royal dynasty with a german monarch at the helm of the country at some point of their history. And there are several very big german royal houses that had been very influential far beyond Germany. So that could be a long video. The Glucksburgs are also from Germany btw.
@@OogaBooga-tq7jc "Literally every single european land has had a german royal dynasty with a german monarch at the helm of the country at some point of their history." Really? Please name the German royal dynasties of Venice (the republic), Malta, Andorra and Monaco.
The German word for 'Emperor' is Kaiser which is what both countries called their respective monarchs. I am perplexed as to how anyone could refer to the Kaiser von Österreich (Austria) as anything other than Kaiser.
@@magentacyan6086 We would call him King, because in 1848 we threw the Habsburgs out of the window in a rebellion. Which was later crushed by the help of Russia, but the hate still remained. Over the years things softened and in 1867 the two nations came into a Reconciliation, and Hungary accepted back the Habsburgs by crowning Franz Joseph as King of Hungary. So there was this interesting situation where FJ (and all his successors) was Kaiser of the Empire but King of Hungary. Edit: and that meant 2 coronation ceremoni for a ruler :D
@@magentacyan6086 The Emperor of Austria-Hungary was always and only from German-Austria and a Habsburg. And they basically created the whole thing and called themselves *Kaiser*
As seen in the first map there is a hole in the middle of germany, where Hessen is today. But Hessen had a monarch and that monarch still exists as they are the monarchy of Luxemburg the monarchy of Nassau. That is why a part of Luxemburg has a tiny enclave in the heart of germany. The crypt below the castle church is that enclave of luxemburg, as it hosts the bones of prior monarchs.
15:37 Basically, George V of the UK was the grandnephew of George V of Hanover. Thus, making Prince Ernst August (the Heir Apparent of the House of Hanover) and Charles III fifth-cousins.
George V was also grandson of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and grandson of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg who became Christian IX, King of Denmark, grandfather of Nicholas II of Russia. The descendents of Christian IX were not only Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Phillip, but also the current Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, King Harald V of Norway, King Michael I of Romania, King Constantine II of the Hellenes, (and his wife, the sister of Margarethe II of Denmark), and King Felipe VI of Spain. Christian IX and Victoria also share a great-great-grandfather, which means everything goes back to George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, son of George I from the house of Hannover. Who had toes to the english throne themselves.
This is inaccurate. The electors of Saxons were also dukes. The issue is that the title “Duke of Saxony” was used by many divided parts due to gavelkind succession in one branch of the House of Wettin. Incidentally the Albertine and Ernestine branches of the Wettins and their many many Saxonies would be a fun topic for this channel.
well put james, i like this channel, and even if makes an error, he is happy to correct things for his listeners. great information, presented with a kind tone in his voice
Agreed all the Electors kept their temporal and spiritual titles. The title Elector was only relevant when they sat in the House of Electors in the Imperial Diet.
About the Saxonian claim: There's actually a third claimant today. Since neither the descendants of princess Anna (including Alexander) nor the descendants of Prince Timo (including Daniel) would have a claim according to the house laws, the claim would - if we adhered strictly to this house laws - actually pass through a more distant and more senior line of the house of Wettin all the way to prince Michael-Benedict of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach who is the current head of the House of Wettin alltogether. This would mean that the division of the house of Wettin into an Ernestine line and an Albertine line has ended after 500 years. Although the pronce of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach has not yet announced a claim on Saxony, he and the heads of the remaining Wettin branches have all proclaimed that Alexander is not a member of the house of Wettin with no claims on the specific titles.
Why Maria Emmanuel of Saxony has the right to choose his heir, but Albrecht Mat think not? There is no dispute! Rudiger is the male heir of the house and as every royal house these days its allright the morgonatic marriage if is allowed from the head of the family. And Albrecht he was allowed that.Prince Alexander is next in line only if the male line extinc...
@@dimkyrio1333True, most princess and princesses in the last decades married commoners without being disowned, but I think the difference between them and Timo of Saxony is that they aquired the consent of the head of their respective houses to marry. Basically they all asked the heads of their houses to make an exception for them regarding the house laws. Since Timo of Saxony and his descendants didn't do this, the old house laws apply to them.
It is important to note that the reign of Blessed Karl of Austria was predicted by 4 very holy people, and one saint. 1. A Holy Nun said (while Karl was still a child) that Karl needed prayers because he would be the special attack of hell, and would be emperor one day. (He was far from the throne at this time). 2. Pope St. Pius X offered mass for Karl’s newly betrothed future spouse, Zita. It was there where he said Karl would become Emperor and would be special in the hearts of his people but that it would not be known until after this death. 3. The Hungarian Bishop to the family had a dream of Archduke Franz and his wife Sophie. There a letter in black on his desk said that he had been killed in a political assassination with his wife. The bishop woke at 3:15am. It wasn’t until that afternoon reports came in that Franz and his wife were murdered. 4. Lastly, December of 1913, Franz told Karl that he knew he would die soon. And that everything he needed would be in his desk for when he was Emperor. Blessed Karl was a man of peace and Holy will. May he pray for us!
5:10 I would like to point out that even though prince Wilhelm fought in ww2 he most definitely was not a nazi In fact he was opossed to the nazis and he was involved in a coup against them (the Oster Conspiracy)
Otto von Hapsburg was a great man who got involved in Democratic politics and during the cold war, I believe towards the end, he had a friendship picnic. Where the borders of Austria, Germany and Czechia meet people from all three countries met and mingled-not crossing each others border. There is actually a table with benches there where if 3 people sit, there is one person in each country. Otto was a wonderful peacemaker. AND, In Hanover, Ernst August was married to Princess Thyra of Denmark, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. Her brothers were the Kings of Denmark, Norway and Greece and her sisters were Queen Alexandra of the UK, Tzarina Dalmar (Maria Feodorova) of Russia-mother of Nicholas II the last Tzar. I'd say those kids married well.
"Otto von Hapsburg was a great man" - you beat me to saying this. I'd only add that he was also a great European. Of course, he could not get a State funeral, but the ones he did receive honoured a man who made an enormous contribution to Europe.
One thing I had wondered was who'd be Poland's monarch today (whether that be the partition never happening, the November 11th Act being fulfilled or the proposal to restore the Polish Crown in 1989 had been carried out) but then I thought, I'm not sure if that would be possible given Poland was an elected monarchy.
I do not know if Matt has done that Polish one in an earlier vid,might have to look through the online archive,but if not,that def. one for future work ! 👌👍
@@bewareofpigeons Interesting, and these families can be traced from 1792. Which would allow an interesting video, since it would provide a candidacy range for the "who'd be the monarch of Poland?".
At 3:40, when there is an outline of the German Empire you forgot to include the Grand Duchy of Baden. Does this mean it’s from an alternate timeline where Friedrich Hecker’s rebellion won?
As a proud Württemberg monarchist, I'll present a few interesting facts about the Württembergers for those who are interested: - King Wilhelm II was regarded by the citizens as a beloved and popular king. He was greeted by the inhabitants of Stuttgart when walking through the city with his dogs with the words: "Grüß Gott, Herr König" (Greetings, King), and Wilhelm II would then doff his hat in return and give the children sweets. - Duke/Crown Prince Albrecht of Württemberg became commander-in-chief of the 4th Army on the Western Front at the start of WWI on 2 August 1914. He was instrumental in the victory at the Battle of Neufchateau in the Ardennes. Under his command, the infamous attack by semi-trained war volunteers at Langemarck in the First Battle of Flanders (transfigured into the myth of Langemarck) and the first poison gas attack on 22 April 1915 at Ypres in the Second Battle of Flanders also took place. He was considered one of the most capable German army commanders of the World War. Due to his military merits, Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded him the Order Pour le Mérite on 22 August 1915 and the Oak Leaves on 25 February 1918. He also appointed him Prussian Field Marshal on 1 August 1916. From 7 March 1917, he commanded the entire southern section of the Western Front from Verdun to the Swiss border as Commander-in-Chief of Army Group "Duke Albrecht". In contrast to the Prussian Crown Prince Wilhelm and the Bavarian Crown Prince Rupprecht, he remained at his post after the outbreak of the November Revolution until immediately before Christmas 1918 and led the troops of the army group under his command safely back home. He was also critical of National Socialism (as was much of the Catholic nobility in Germany) and no high-ranking National Socialist appeared at his funeral in October 1939. Adolf Hitler merely sent a wreath. There were also no Nazi banners. - Duke Carl of Württemberg had been a Familiare of the Teutonic Knights since 1979, and on 21 May 2009 he was made an Honorary Knight of the Commandery of Tauber, Neckar and Lake Constance. He was a very good friend of King Juan Carlos I of Spain and on 31 May 2002 Pope John Paul II presented him with the Commander's Cross of the Pontifical Order of Knights of St Gregory the Great. - Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg, the current head, is directly related to the last King of Württemberg. He is a direct descendant of the last Crown Prince, Albrecht Duke of Württemberg. The last King of Württemberg, Wilhelm II, had only one daughter, Princess Pauline (1877-1965), who married Prince Friedrich Hermann zu Wied (1872-1945), who had been Prince zu Wied since 1907. But Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg is a great-great-great-grandson of King Wilhelm II of Württemberg on his mother's side through Princess Pauline zu Wied and thus also a descendant of the royal line of Württemberg.
About Carl of Wurttemberg. There is a rumour that his wife, Diane d'Orleans had affair with Juan Carlos of Spain and their youngest child, Fleur is actually Juan Carlos' daughter. I don't know the accuracy of this things. But it's wild!
In Germany the titles became part of the surname after World War I. Thus Prince George Friedrich's surname is "Prinz von Preußen" (= prince of Prussia). In Austria all noble titles and prefixes (like "von" or "zu") had been completely abolished. Thus Karl von Habsburg is known as Karl Habsburg in Austria. BTW the house of Württemberg uses the surname "Herzog von Württemberg" (= duke of Württemberg), because all children of this house were dukes and duchesses instead of princes and princesses. And BTW you map of Prussia is very off.
Actually, on his passport it's Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, as Austria puts an emphasis on the branch while Karl himself likes to put emphasis on him being head of the whole house Habsburg.
@@barbarossarotbart Karl only has Austrian citizenship. Otto had German and Austrian (and maybe more) citizenship. Ferdinand has Austrian and Hungarian citizenship.
@@Inzersdorf93 Karl's mother was Regina Prinzessin von Sachsen-Meiningen; he (and siblings) could claim german citizenship any time. his son Ferdinand is rich with citizenships; his maternal line is german hungarian and swiss.
@@Inzersdorf93 House of Habsburg is extinct since 1780. Karl is head of House of Habsburg-lorraine, which itself is only extant branch of house of Lorraine.
The German royal households are completely different than you think. They are never considered common, even to this day. All royals from these separate countries in Germany are still considered royal, and never common, as most of them marry other royals in Germany. They make up 1% of the population of Germany. As they marry other royals, they can keep their title. They are provided with royal welfare, getting a certain amount every month from the German government. They also receive free Medicare, free prescriptions, and are locked into a different tax bracket where they only pay 2% of property and civil tax. The average monthly amount they receive from the government per person is $3,480 euros, which will increase to 4,000 euros per person in 2025. Contracts were signed with the government and the royal households. If one individual marries a German commoner or a foreigner without a royal title, they forfeit these items. So, they will not receive any money from the government, and they will not get free Medicare. They would be put into a different tax bracket. Also, they hold different passports. These passports are a different color and give them different rights in a courtroom. Different rights apply if they get arrested as they cannot be arrested by a police officer without a court warrant. They sort of have diplomatic immunity in their own country. The German royal households can also defend themselves against intruders. They actually have the national right to defend themselves. Now, the German government cannot cancel this order of giving them royal welfare, nor can they buy them out. This contract is signed in gold. There are only two ways of not paying former royal subjects of Germany: one would be to remove Germany and give it to another country, the second one is putting all the royals back into power and removing the government of Germany. The contract is over 300 pages long and cannot be shown to the public, only to government officials in the royal household. So, we do not know what it says inside that contract as it is not open source.
An odd thing about these alternate histories is that at least two of the eldest sons listed here died in war childless after their family was no longer considered royals. However, there's little chance they would have been anywhere near combat had the thrones been intact, meaning they would've had the chance to produce heirs of their own instead of the claims passing over to siblings or cousins.
True. Also, 2 princes of Preußen made themselves (theoretically) ineligible by marrying below their station, which they probably wouldn't have done if royalty still existed. So there are imaginary projections which weren't forced to happen.
Nice! One correction: you put the flag of Austrian Empire under Karl, but by that time (and actually since 1867, the Austrian-Hungarian Reconciliation) the country was called Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the flag was the combination of Austrian and Hungarian flags.
That was not actually the national flag, it’s just used for simplification most of the time and was used by trade ships. Austria Hungary used the Austrian and Hungarian flag, because the Hungarians nominally were not included in the state but rather only the same person as king as was the Austrian emperor.
You know how the British nobility have that numerical system. Like so and so, 3rd Earl of Wherever. Is that a uniquely British phenomenon? It feels wrong, looking at say, Franz, Duke of Bavaria without the number. Is he 1st Duke of Bavaria?
The type of duke is different. I didn’t entirely know either until I looked it up. But a duke of, say, Bavaria would be referred to in a similar manner to a monarch, because he *is* one for his sovereign state, even though in this case it’s a duchy, instead of a kingdom or principality. The duchy of Luxembourg operates this way, as did many European states. For example, one of the forebears of the current Duke of Luxembourg is William IV of Luxembourg. And while William the Conqueror became King of England, one of his sons became Duke of Normandy as Robert II. An English dukedom, meanwhile, is estate-based, not sovereign territory-based. This estate is *within* a larger kingdom, as opposed to its own political entity that may or may not be within a larger empire.
And another thing I forgot: the numbering for most European royal duchies seems to follow the same sequence for each duke with the same first name, because it follows the custom of monarchy. But the British system restarts again each time the title is bestowed, after it had previously died out. For example: Charles Brandon, Henry VIII’s best friend and brother in law was the 1st Duke of Suffolk for that specific creation of the title, and while he did have sons who followed him as the 2nd and 3rd Duke, they died in quick succession of each other of sweating sickness. Henry Grey (father of the doomed Lady Jane Grey) was the next person to be made Duke of Suffolk, the 1st Duke of a new creation, although he did happen to be married to Charles Brandon’s daughter, which likely helped him get the title.
@@cakt1991 Thank you for explaining this. A weird exception to the typical numbering style was (and apparently still is) one or both Principalities of Reuss, roughly in what is today Thuringia in Germany. They named all male children of the family Heinrich and numbered them, starting anew at the beginning of every century. A descendant of that family, Heinrich with some number around twentyish, made the German news not long ago when he was arrested as part of a conspiracy to overthrow the German government and democracy. That's when I was reminded of the curious naming and numbering rules of the Reuss, which I'd read about years ago.
Fun facts! Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria ruled Bulgaria twice: he was Tsar, obviously, as a boy and was deposed after ww2. But, more recently, he also served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria!
Commoners in Germany still keep aristocratic titles as part of their official names. Herr Georg Friedrich Prinz von Preussen (exactly in that order and without any honorifics) is his legal name in Germany.
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out of 8 languages 2 are estonian and finnish that is crazy
As speakly use a USA flag to represent English it can't be any good. Instead of leaning correct English you will end up with a horrible American accent.
You should do a video on the family trees of the microstates of Europe (Liechtenstein, Monaco and Andorra) and Luxembourg
12:39 In terms of the Polish-Lithuanian claim, there was never an institution of morganatic marriage in Poland and in Commonwealth, so if even some prince would marry a peasant it would not disqualify his children from the inheritance as long it was a valid marriage (of course marrying a peasant would not be seen fondly by the nobility, e.g. nobility wasn't happy that Jogaila married Elizabeth Granowska, because she was just nobility without any connections to royalty, had already two husbands and five children before, and wasn't very young, while Jogaila was still heirless, but if they had children they would not be banned from succession). So I don't think that prince Alexander have any claim to Polish-Lithunian throne, while Polish monarchist already ask prince Daniel if he would fancy to be theirs official pretender (he refused).
7:51
(Name in Swazi: Eswatini)
The german former monarchs intermarrying "just in case" is the funniest and most ominous part of this whole video
Oh, come on! They don’t know if they do it “just in case”.
Those people walk in different circles than the general public. They still have generational wealth and businesses and stuff. They just marry who they know.
The _really_ strange thing about Otto von Habsburg is that he actually got a state funeral in Vienna, attended by the chancellor and president of Austria at the time and many, many citizens. He arguably had better attendance than he would've had as an actual emperor of austria. There were a few voices who critizised the police escort and other tax payer expenses, but the overwhelming majority of the by then staunchly republican and democratic austria celebrated the life of the last crown prince of the monarchy they rebelled to overthrow. And in a way, austria has this two-faced relationship with its own history to this day - companies still proudly display having been named "purveyor to the court", titles are still spoken with a tone of defferance, big archievments of monarchs that hold up (like, for example, the inception of mandatory school years) are still celebrated - but monarchistic support meassures in the low promille range... it's fascinating to watch as a non-austrian in austria (especially vienna)
I'm American but always admired von Habsburg for being a bit of what we call a troll now and thumbing his nose at the conventional wisdom. I've joined him in smoking one cigarette per year--on World No Tobacco Day. And I'll always find it funny that he was annoyed at how Willy Brandt attended the European Parliament infrequently so he posted a "for rent" sign on Brandt's spot, which apparently was there for weeks. I can see why Austrians like him!
Well in Austria his name is/was "Otto Habsburg" without "von"...the aristocratic "von" got abolished in Austria after WW1 for all Aristocrats which was part for abolishing aristocracy..only Germany kept the "von".
They didn’t rebel against the emperor, they wanted to stop the war no matter what. But there was still a huge amount of respect for the emperor
If the Habsburgs did make a return,wouldn't it be just as rulers of a simple ARCHDUCHY rather than an (imperial widespread) EMPIRE ? 🙄
@@MrSinclairn Make a return from what?
Can you explain what you actually mean?
All their crownlands became Republics after WW1.
And do you know what a "crownland" is?
Austria was just one of several Habsburg crownlands
And what is a - simple - Archduchy? An Archduchy is not "simple" ..the Archduchy is the highest ranked princedom in an Empire...
The Habsburgian was Archdukes in Austria but he was King of Bohemia + King of Hungary as well...and had additionally all kinds of other ruler titels for the other regions in that Habsburg Empire and those were all legitimized titels by bloodline and not by conquer.The Habsburgs didn´t gain their titels by waging wars but by marriage and as consequence by inheriting.
So your comment doesn´t make sense.
My history teacher in school (in Germany) used to joke around like, the reason why every single european monarchy has so much german royal blood is, because we used to have so damn many royals here, we didn't know what to do with them, so in the end we did what we are still good at today: export.
@@Iason29 He wrote "used to joke", Klugscheißer
Yeah, it's shocking how many micro Kingdoms existed in Germany. It really kept the German people back. Once they United. They became a serious Player.
Don't forget Victoria and her offspring. A German, married to a German, and their children married into most of Europe's royal families.
Lots of British royals have a significant amount of Germanic ancestry through Germany and Austria but other parts as well.
There is not much separating the Germans, Brits and French. Lots of common ancestors among their royals.
One more technicality: Germany allows to keep titles of nobilities as surnames, but Austria does not. So Otto von Habsburg's civil name was simply "Otto Habsburg", while pretty much all the German members of former monarchies have surnames containing "Duke/Duchess" or "Prince/Princess". Since civil law does not care about morganatic marriages and that there can only be one duke, the number of persons with such fancy surnames is probably larger today than the number of real dukes and princes would have been if the monarchies still existed.
Wrong as a lot of nobles sold there titles including von
Happend to my family after ww1
So no
There aren't more today than there would have ever been
In fact the number is pretty much the same
@@KingJohnMichael You seem to have misunderstood the post.
Titles of nobility DO NOT EXIST under German law.
So all you sold was a useless piece of paper.
What happend was that former nobles were allowed to make their former titles part of their surname.
So Franz Herzog von Bayern isn't _the_ Herzog von Bayern, his NAME is Herzog von Bayern.
It is a bit more complicated: It is true that in Germany, unlike in Austria, the nobility predicates were not abolished in 1918, but were regarded as mere name components without legal relevance. However, in addition to Austrian citizenship, the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary also held German citizenship and, at the end of his life, even Hungarian citizenship again. That is why he was officially called "Dr Otto von Habsburg" in his German passport, but "Dr Otto Habsburg-Lothringen" in his Austrian one. His mandate in the European Parliament was based on his status as a German citizen. He belonged to the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian branch of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
It makes their larp more funny, they are literally just playing pretend
🤣
Fun Fact: Ferdinand Habsburg also works as a presenter for F1 races on the Austrian State TV where I saw him for the first time and was really surprised about the name.
Yes, but not just that. He is also a professional racer, who won Le Mans and other big races.
I could just imagine that conversation. You: "Wait, is that our former Hapsburg emperor presenting the F1 races?" Other person: "I think so? His last name is Hapsburg. How many Hapsburgs are there around?" Then you went to check Google. Pikachu surprised faces all around! LOL.
Nope
En Croatia no en Austria
I czrrent read a series of scify books about an american snall town from 2000 being transporter tjrough time to 1632 germany, and lets just say they change the World they landed into, and the austrian emporer of the time ends up liking sports cars😅😅
The map shown from min. 3:30 onwards is unfortunately wrong. The southern German states of Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden as well as the southern part of the Grand Duchy of Hesse were not part of the North German Confederation. They joined it only in 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War. This gave birth to the German Empire. Baden which lies to the west of Württemberg, is missing from the map, as is Alsace-Lorraine, which was annexed in 1871 and only reverted to France in 1918. The extent of Prussia for the period after the German War is also incorrectly depicted, as the country annexed not only Hanover in 1866, but also other parts of Germany, e.g. Schleswig-Holstein, the Electorate of Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt.
I noticed that too
Vox Populi is right! I love this channel, but this map is so disturbingly wrong. I guess @EmperorTigerstar will add it to his collection of horrible maps!
Was about to comment this, you beat me to it.
@@untruelie2640 Like poor Baden. Grand duke Friedrich personaly proclaiming the emperor Wiliam I, but Baden is left out of Germany. Also Prussia seem to not want all the territories they annexed in 1866 IRL.
Author(s) of this channel repeatedly makes easily avoidable mistakes. If I would want to be mean I could call it like "some north murican superability to mess stuff about royalty and nobility".
Also he sometimes says not that important details (i am ok with that), but imho more important/interesting details are left out.
Like his obsession with queen Elisabeth II, thanks to that he clearly messed/mixed up the succesion systems so it would end with her like he wanted.
My apologies about the map. My intention was to show the North German Confederation at its greatest extent (which, as pointed out, was right before it became the German Empire). But, yeah, I should have been more clear about how the borders evolved. As for the other details - I guess it just goes to show that I'm much better at making charts than maps. I'm definitely no Emperor Tigerstar!
Otto really had a record-breaking reign snatched from him. Good for him for filling his life with plenty of other successes!
This type of video is how I originally found your channel, and I always appreciate these. Thanks for another video on this subject.
When the head of the house of Baden died (shortly after Queen Elizabeth) the funeral guests were unexpectedly international. Although the King Charles got an invitation none of the British Royal Family actually attended (understandably). They sent I think someone from Hessen in their stead. It's always fascinating to see how former german royals and all European aristocracies are connected to each other. I live in a region where even a distant relative of the Swedish royals owns land and the family sometimes even visits.
Thank you for this dive into german history
Wich of them is it? Because a swedish princess with a german mother from saxen-coburg-gotha married prince Hans of Hoenzollern, but Hoenzollern isn't mentioned at all.
A small note on German 'noble titles'. It is true that the German state does not recognise noble titles, and their bearers are all commoners. However, the 'titles' are treated as part of the official surname.
☝🏽😅
_Slight_ correction: Hannover, Saxony, Bavaria and Wurttemberg were not established in 1814. On that year, they were elevated to the rank of kingdom. Before the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, no country* was allowed to be called "kingdom of x" because it was seen as an attack on the rank of the emperor, which had the title "king of Germany"**.
*Prussia got an exemption for siding with the emperor in the war of the Spanish succession
**And king of Italy, and all other titles that he owned.
There was also the Kingdom of Bohemia though not technically German it was within the HRE and many of its kings were also Emperors
Firstly. Prussia started out only as "Kings *in* Prussia" to clarify that the Kingdom of Prussia was only the lands not part of the Empire. The lands within the Empire only became part of the Kingdom of Prussia legally when the empire was dissolved.
Second. The empire was dissolved in 1806 and it was in this year that all the princes were elevated. Thus the electorates of Saxony, Bavaria, Hannover and Württemberg (only been an electorate since 1803) were elevated to Kingdoms.
@@ShadrolGER Correct, they were reinstated in 1814 following the defeat of napoleon. The kingdom of/in Prussia bit doesn't matter, it had nothing to do with the empire. It was the commonwealth that demanded this, because they had a province called ducal Prussia. However, you are correct in the matter that Prussia was not considered a kingdom within the empire.
@@andypham1636 Bavaria was at no point a grand duchy.
@@ThatOneCatto you are correct, the "in" part was because of the commonwealth. I got that mixed up.
Point still stands that only with the empire dissolved the Hohenzollern lands within the empire could become part of Prussia de jure.
Think of the typical school map/province/state assignments given out. So much work to remember what's where. Great info, Matt.
Jacobites consider the man who calls himself the Duke of Bavaria to be the King of Britain.
He doesn't call himself that. This is his legal name
That claim is strangely enough set to pass into the Princely house of Liechtenstein, so that the Jacobite claimant will eventually be an actual reigning monarch.
@@deutschermichel5807(ACTUALLY, I'M WRONG) It's not a legal name, as mentioned in the video there is no legal nobility
@@deutschermichel5807Its not his legal name. There is no nobility in Germany anymore though he would have been the Duke had the nobility not been abolished.
@@deutschermichel5807 Bavaria is no longer an independent entity, one cannot be the ruling Duke of Bavaria. The last ruler of Bavaria was Ludwig III who died in 1921. Franz’s title is a courtesy title, holding no legal authority or legitimacy. His legal name is Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern.
I love how the hypothetical Kingdom of Hannover would've had 4 King Ernst August in a row.
And people make fun of how many Georges the Brits had!
I mean, they are closely related.
European monarchies love naming their children after notable ancestors which means every line has like half a dozen names they cycle through.
Would make things really easy for the people, though. No need to change anything.
They brought them over! All Georges were either Hannovers (George I-IV) or direct descendants from them
To be fair there's still more kings named Louis in France then kings named George in the UK. The last official and undisputed King Louis of France having been King Louis XVI (aka the 16th king named "Louis"), There has been only 7 King Georges in the UK.
I find the German monarchies, noble houses and such to be incredibly fascinating owing to there not really being any all encompassing, overarching German nation for so much of history for it all to become enveloped into (unlike Great Britain for example, where individual kingdoms on the island were annexed/defunct centuries ago). Any more content exploring this part of European history would be eagerly anticipated!
*Holy Roman Empire of German Nation and the Kingdom of Germany check out* following your comment.
@@OogaBooga-tq7jc non l'Allemagne est née en 1871
Hanover really just went “yep, no name is gonna be better than Ernst August”
16:25 Another interesting thing about Bernhard, Margrave of Baden is that his mother (who is still alive), Archduchess Valerie of Austria is a great-granddaughter of Franz Joseph I as her paternal grandmother was one of his daughters, Archduchess Marie Valerie. However, her title comes from paternal ancestry, as her paternal great-grandfather was Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria, a younger son of the penultimate Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II, who was in turn a grandson of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II.
11:18 For anyone wondering, Georg’s former fiancé was Duchess Maria Amalia of Württemberg. She died unmarried 2 days before her 26 birthday in 1923
Yes, i was, Danke ❤️👍.
Two major corrections on the map. The south german states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and the southern part of Hessen) were not part of the North German Confederation in 1866.
They only joined in late 1870 and thus the empire was formed.
Also the aforementioned Großherzogtum Baden was completely forgotten in the map aswell as the annexation of Elsass-Lothringen.
Nur *Süd* baden, bitte 😊
In Germany, former titles are considered part of the surname, so a member of a former noble house would be named "Alfred Prince Coockoo", not "Prince Albert Coockoo"
I knew a German girl with an American passport and her last name was listed as "Prinzessin von Sachsen" (in German). I think she was born in Florida.
@@CallieMasters5000 that's cool af
@@CallieMasters5000 idk about germans, but i think that has a chance of just some family faking royal status
@@HelloOnepiece Some "sold" their title via paid adoption.
@@PinHeadSupliciumwtf Yes, the House of Anhalt comes to mind. The sister of the last Duke of Anhalt adopted an adult commoner (who afterwards called himself Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, husband of the late Zsa Zsa Gabor), who in turn also adopted several adult men, one of whom a brothel owner.
But from what I understand, the rest of the House of Anhalt doesn't consider those as part of the noble house.
With the German monarchs you could of ended up with a massive video due to all the Grand Duchies, Duchies, Principalities, Counties etc that still have a recognisable pretender
You can't really make that correctly though. I know one such pretender to countdom personally and he really doesn't want it to be known. The castle his family used only says that the house supports keeping it repaired, not that he is the head of the house.
Also the line will probably die with him as he doesn't have siblings, lost track of other branches and I doubt he'll marry at all, much less any sort of nobility
@@theultimatefreak666 That's interesting, ik that quite a few of the Grand Duchies, Duchies and Principalities still have pretenders; I assumed there would be some Counts as well my mistake
@@thomasdixon4373 huh? I just said I know a pretender to a county.
It's not that they aren't there, they are just numerous enough to fly under the radar.
Nearly every castle had it's own ruler back during HRE times, let's just say half of them still have their own pretender, many of which deposed by napoleon that's roughly 12k people in the modern German borders alone.
My damn godmother has a noble title (it's just having "von" in their name, but you aren't allowed to add it to your name if it doesn't come from your ancestors and you can reject it a bit differently from having your name changed in other ways) but her family doesn't even remember where it comes from. So being noble really doesn't get looked twice at
@@theultimatefreak666 I apologise, I misunderstood your original comment
@@theultimatefreak666 Though that County ceased to exist during Napoleonic Times? He could still have made a Video for the Monarchies that existed until 1918.
0:15
The word "Kaiser" is simply the german translation of emperor.
Especially saying that the german emperor was ''called Kaiser'' while not using the german title names for the other monarchs is somewhat misleading.
Either call both emperors Kaiser or neither
Similarly do either use the English or the German place names, but not a mixture please. The last one mentioned is German Hannover, which is also not pronounced like the English Hanover.
While this may be true in the native German, in English only the German ruler is referred to as Kaiser. I guess it's just tradition?
"Kaiser" is specifically derived from "Caesar" as is the Russian/Slavic "Tsar" for example, so you could say there is an implied connection to Roman emperors (to be fair most European houses claimed the title in some form). The term emperor (even though too derived from the latin "imperator") seems to be a more broad title, also encompassing the "King of Kings" in Persia or the monarchs of China for example.
But it's true, in German "Kaiser" is used for all kinds of emperors, be it Romans, the current Japanese monarch, the Austrian or Brasilian ones. Frankly, it's a bit silly to refer to the German Empire as the/a "Kaiserreich" with a "Kaiser", but not to refer to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its monarch similarly.
@@Mimi.1001 Yes at the outbreak of World War One there were actually 2 Kaisers -the German one and the Austro-Hungarian one but most people only think of the Kaiser (Wilhelm II) of Germany.
@@Mimi.1001 In Latin as spoken originally the letter C was always a hard C like K, and not soft like S. So Caesar would have been pronounced very similar to Kaiser today. It's quite funny really as the name Caesar was simply a nickname for one of the early members of the family, meaning thick head of hair. More so funny in that Gaius Julius Caesar was quite bald early in his career, and was made fun of by his contemporaries.
The titles of the German nobility are not actually 'entirely unofficial' today - when the Monarchy was abolished in 1918, these were turned into their actual last names/surnames. So i.e. Georg Friedrich's actual name on his passport is 'Georg Friedrich Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen' - 'Prince of Prussia' being his surname! So he is actually a Prince - it's part of his name! (and his children etc. as well are all Princes/ses because of this, the name is adjusted to each person's gender). Though of course this legally doesn't mean anything, it's just an unusual name.
This is different to Austria where titles were completely abolished, so the Habsburg family is actually legally just, for example, 'Karl Habsburg-Lothringen' on their passports (plus a few more given/first names that I've left out here)
@@hanz3967 No, his legal last name is Prinz von Preussen. As it is for all male members of his family
Yes and no. They're unofficial as titles. They're official as names. Names and titles are fairly different things.
So no, Georg Friedrich Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen is *not* a Prince. He's just _named_ Prinz.
The titles were still completely abolished, the former nobles just got to keep the, now worthless, words.
@@Edmonton-of2ecthat's literally waht he said
@@Llortnerofthat's literally what he said
@@KingJohnMichael No. He said Georg Friedrich is a prince, which is wrong.
Unfortunately the maps in the beginning are a bit wrong. The North German confederation did not contain the Southern states, and for the empire, you were missing a chunk of land in the South West.
Yeah, I know. I couldn’t have landed in a more perfect spot😆
Wow, didn’t expect to see you here.
When’s the next 5 hour video?
Danke für das video, es war sehr interessant.
One of the advantages of having so many sovereign states is that their monarchies, whether king, prince, grand duke, or duke, were considered royal for the purposes of marriage, because they were sovereign states in a confederation, later empire. Other royal houses made matches with German princesses, so they're all interrelated
Plus, since they were mostly very small states, they tended to make good marriage prospects for the royal families of larger states. It avoided the issues of alliances or balance of power that would tend to result from trying to intermarry with royal families from other large states, and also opened up the prospect of potentially absorbing the smaller state at some point in the future if dynastic luck went a certain way.
You make it sound like it was intentional. The fractured nature of the HRE and thus the german states just came to be organically
Hey, the numbers work for me either way✡️
Also lucky for other kingdoms there were katholic kingdoms/duchys, like bavaria and austria, for catholic marriages and protestant kingdoms, who had been eligible partners for marriages for english souverreigns and princes
look up the saxon line that lead to that center of the empire bordergore. And try to understand which line rules of which part of the area at what time.
3:00 There is a little inaccuracy on the map. At the time of the German Confederation, the Austrian Empire still included Lombardy-Venetia, an then just Vetetia.
One may add that while the Kingdom of Hannover was annexed by Prussia, the royal family were also next in succession to the much smaller Duchy of Brunswick when the Duke died without heir (I think sometime in the 1880s). However, due to the Hannover line not accepting the Prussian conquest of their country, the Prussians blocked the succession in Brunswick for decades. I think it was in 1913 when Ernst August III married a Prussian princess (as visible at 15:51) that he was allowed to become Duke of Brunswick. So even if the Kingdom of Hannover would not be resurrected, he and his line would be Dukes of Brunswick.
You mentioned that the claimant to Emperor of Austria would also be King of Bohemia. Being of Czech descent, I'm wondering if there are any descendants of Czech rulers who could also claim this crown.
Short answer: Yes they are. Roughly thousand at least.
Longer answer: Just learn how to use the internet. It is not that hard to find.
How do i know? I am Czech myself.
True last slavic king of Bohemia (Přemyslovci dynasty) was Wenceslaus III, who died in 1306. After that the kings come from various other dynasties. Karl von Habsburg is the current heir, since the last king of Bohemia was Karl I of Austria.
I would argue that the duke of Hohenberg, though from a morganatic line, could actually have a claim to Bohemia. This is because the wife of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, was from a non-sovereing Bohemian noble house. Her rank makes the marriage morganatic, but her origin makes her descendents closer to Bohemia. Furthermore, though morganatic, the Hohenberg line is actually the most senior line of the Habsburg dynasty today, being that the most senior dynasts descend from Francis Ferdinand's younger brother. That being said, Hohenbergs since then are mostly just Austrian.
I would advise against anyone else doing so, given the legend that if anyone who is not the legitimate King of Bohemia is crowned, they will die within 3 years. So much so that there is a rumour that Reinhard Heydrich placed the Crown of St. Wenceslaus on his head in 1941. He was assassinated the next year.
@@ruyfernandez If Bohemia woud be sovereign at the time of accession of Franz Ferdinand then his children could be heirs of throne. No need for equal marriage.
Don't forget there is still two ruling German monarchies ... Liechtenstein and Luxemburg.
And Monaco
Monaco is certainly not German
Fascinating! Stumbled upon your channel by chance. Nice work!
Can you do something on the Monarchs of the Deccan Plateau?
The Nizam of Hyderabad was literally the richest man in the world, and his Asaf Jahi dynasty followed the Qutb Shahi Dynasty, who along with 4 other Sultanates were called the Deccan Sultanates, which all ruled land previously ruled by the Bahmani Empire
I would like to note that the heir to the House of Hanover has two children which like himself are in the british line of succession. Should he for some reason or other become King of the UK and of Hanover the crowns would split yet again as his daughter (firstborn) would become Queen of the UK and his son (secondborn) King of Hanover. Plus the current head of the House of Hanover has a daughter who is in line to the Throne of Monaco being the youngest child of his second wife a monegasque Princess.
The present Hanoverian heir,also has a valid claim to the peerage title of 'Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale',which his father,grandfather and great-grandfather were stripped of,under the 'Titles Deprivation Act 1917' ,due to his grandfather's 1st World War service in the German military.
princess Alexandra of Hanover has been catholic since 2018 so any remote chance of her becoming queen is now gone
@@andypham1636The Monaco Royal family are Catholic.
@@MrSinclairnAs a side note, Augustus had to get permission from QEII to marry Princess Caroline. He had a higher rank and she got the HRH after marriage to him.
@@ukmary1968 yeah
Little Correction on the Bavarian Kings: King Otto was king until his death in 1916. But because of his mental illness, Ludwig III. was declared King in 1913, so that Bavaria had two kings during this time.
Note: Otto never reigned himself, so after 1913 it was only a title, while Ludwig was the reigning king.
The "hi, this is Matt Baker" opening always sounds like you're leaving a voicemail. And then I get a kick out of thinking of the whole thing as a very earnest, infodump-y voicemail just for me :)
I thought you talked about "Ma Baker".... and I had that tune directly in my ears hahahahaha
I personally was quite surprised to see the Koháry last name in the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family tree. Since I live in the same locality where the House of Koháry had their estates, properties, etc.
A junior Saxe-Coburg prince married a wealthy heiress Kohary princess
@@visenyatargaryen9130and this marriage formed the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry
Can you do the minor houses too? Can't leave us hanging with all those dukes, grand or not etc.
Hello Matt Baker! Love your content ♥️
The death of Kaiser Friedrich was really tragic and I am not even saying that because of his liberal ideas but because Wilhelm I missed his birthday by just two weeks, Friedrich ruled so shortly that he did not have a birthday while on the throne. At their birthday there was celebration and the Kaiser gave out gifts to the children of Berlin and so on but there was no Kaiser birthday for almost two years because of that, hard times man
Really interesting video as always Matt! Even as a German I didn’t know that they still use male lines only. I know that they did historically and I never looked into their modern house rules, I guess I just assumed that they would have changed it by now
He does not understand that or he made poor job by being so shallow while explaining that. They did not use nor used strict male-line only during 2nd reich time. Most of them used some form of semi-salic. (most of) Houses with many branches had all house males and then closest female of last ruler and then again her descedants by same rules (it makes sense .. if you are not woke). Only minority of german monarchies had strict male-line only. E.g. Austria was inheritable in male and female line since Babenberger times. Some house (their sole head) in recent years facing extinction (in amle line) changed house rules to absolute primogeniture (which doesn't make sense if there was already provision for female succession). One of claimants to headship of royal family of Sicily did same recently and same applies for one of claimants for kingdom of Italy.
I need to say that absolute primogeniture is just progressive fashion nonsense, that otherwise makes no sense.
Author(s) of this channel repeatedly makes easily avoidable mistakes in his videos.
@@kolomaznik333 Absolute primogeniture is not more nonsense then any other succession law.
@@0000-z4z I do not talk about absolute primogeniture as nonsense like succession system. In that manner I think it would be nicer if it would evolve naturally in some of world monarchies that existed.
I am talking of the "progressive trend fashion in the west to force it ideally everywhere where monarchy cannot be destroyed yet".
Forcing it in the west, especially in countries with long tradition of female succession (like UK or Netherlands) make no other sense to me than progressive fashion trend.
@@kolomaznik333 The 19th century called. They're wondering where you went.
Germany would probably be better of now with a Kaiser 😅
Thank you for the video. Some suggestions: I think you should have put the pictures of the people that followed the head of the house line for each house. Also, I don't understand why you cut so hard a line between kingdoms and duchys, etc. There are many monarchies (Baden, Luxembourg, Monaco, Lietchestein, Milan, Parma, etc) that could make nice content for future videos.
Great video! I've always been fascinated by the German royal houses especially Bavaria as I love the place. And as a Scottish native, I find it funny how our rightful king James III was deposed because he was Catholic and the UK ended up choosing a German relative to rule the UK so all the British royal family are descended from him yet the rightful descendant of James III also ended up being German - Franz Duke of Bavaria 😂 German ruler either way... amazing!
Can you do a video dedicated to the Bavarian royal family?
Us Germans were always hard to avoid.
Everybody knows that Queen Victoria's eldest son was Edward VII, and that her eldest daughter, who was also named Victoria, married the German Emperor Friedrich whom she survived for decades as Dowager Empress of Germany. - But not everyone may know that another son of her and Albert of Saxe-Coburg returned to Germany as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg. Victoria liked to visit both of them in Germany.
And later one of his nephews became his heir. He was the second Duke of Albany and lived in England until he was 15.
He is the infamous grandfather of the Swedish king. Infamous, because he later was a Nazi.
You should do the dukes and grand dukes next
Great work in total; the issue with the North German Confederation have been mentioned already. But there is a big lack of knowledge: there is a third Kaiser in Germany. His name is Franz Beckenbauer.
Kaiser Franz who is ruling over König Fußball.
btw., 'Neuschwanstein' castle (New-Swan-Stone) was created by Ludwig II. from Bavaria. The 'Marienburg castle' close to Hannover was created by Georg V. - that castle became recently famous for being the School in the German series 'Maxton Hall' (most successful 'International' show in Amazon Prime history - Nr. 1 in 110 countries right from the start).
You should make some videos on the more recently abolished kingdoms all in 1 video, such as Romania, Bulgaria etc.
how recent is recent? WWI? WWII? after that?
@@HappyBeezerStudios 19th century to now, I guess?
That's a great idea!
Simple, easy to follow chart. Very well done.
My old friend Anton Brzezinski once met a Hapsburg who was grandson of the last emperor of Austria, Ferdinand Hopf; he was a very friendly and generous man who might have been in the Royal family if history had gone different (he was very well off, even offering his new friend use of his Paris apartment; which like most offers he humbly never took them up on.) Personally, anyone who offers to do me a favor; I take into serious consideration.
Fun fact: ABBA member Anni-Frid Lyngstad was married to Heinrich Ruzzo Prinz Reuss von Plauen who was the head of house of the Principality of Reuss-Gera, until his death in 1999
Plauen, my hometown
16:30 Funfact to Hamburg as a free Reichstadt the Mayor of the City was on the same level as a Duke. And there is even a saying "A Hamburg mayor kneels or bows the head to no one, neither to an emperor nor to the church" It is also customary for the mayor to stop on the last step to greet his guests, the Only exception was Queen Elizabeth II but only due to that our Mayor helped her up the staris
That patchwork is why I am here today. When Bismarck was busily mopping up, or unifying the Germanies one of my great grandfathers was sixteen and about to be drafted. He didn't fancy being cannon fodder so he fled to America, where he already had a brother working a farm. He had no money for the passage so he stowed away, was found, and worked his passage on a ship.
Bismarck is still considered a German hero here
@@KingJohnMichael Bismarck also has the capital of North Dakota named after him. He sent them a nice thank you note (though IIRC, they were actually trying to entice him into investing in a railroad they wanted to build.)
*Denise*, that is a wonderful story, thanks for sharing. And thank god he fled, otherwise you
maybe would not be writing here.
I was hoping you would do ALL of the parts of the HRE-like the principalities, and say Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Hesse, and all those little ones who had princes or grand dukes or dukes but they did rule their little corner of the HRE. That would be a really fun chart!
me lives in Baden, a former Grand Duchy. such a title would be posh as eff :D
The whole saxon bordergore is absolute chaos. There were like 8 territories and 5.3 lines that ruled over some of it, then split, got together, gave territory, etc. At one point one line died out, another line took over the territory and gave up their previous lands, which was then incorporated into a third land, but none of them changed their name.
@@HappyBeezerStudios. Sounds very confusing?!?
6:00 The use of the title "Prince of Prussia" is actually not unofficial in Germany today. After WW1, nobility and royalty were indeed abolished in Germany, however former members of noble and royal houses were allowed to officially keep their rank by including it in their surnames. So, technically, the official names and surnames of the current heads of german houses are Georg Fridrich Prinz von Preussen, Max Hertzog in Bayern etc.. This however is not the case in Austria, where not only was noble titles were abolished but also surname noble particles. So the official, legal name the head of the house of Habsburg in Austria today is not Karl Erherzog von Österreich (as would be the case in Germany), and not even Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, but just Karl Habsburg-Lothringen.
I think Austria's decision was better
@@ramirosotto Dictating what people can have as a surname isn’t better.
@@katherinegilks3880 well, you're right, I meant Austria's decision make more sense to me if you want to install a republican culture. Both German and Austrian ways were wrong if you see it that way. But let's go even further. Weren't the German or Austrian empires (or any other monarchy in general for that matter) wrong when they dictate who can and who can not "hold a title" in their name?
Given the differences between the Weimar Republic and the modern German government, I do wonder if that still holds true? I'm genuinely curious, not trying to argue.
Well, if you want to be all "well, ackchually..." about it...
The royal houses were NOT allowed to officially keep their rank! They were allowed to use the _former_ rank (and no new rank was allowed to be bestowed!) as a family name, which thereafter was passed on _like a family name_ (with the exception of being allowed to gender the name - i.e. the daughter of "Franz Herzog von Bayern" was allowed to be "Anna Herzogin von Bayern" instead of "Anna Herzog von Bayern"). So while you are correct in saying that "Herzog von Bayern" is their legally official surname (as printed in their passports), they did NOT keep their rank. There is no nobility in germany, legally speaking.
FYI, Georg Friedrich’s marriage to Sophie is technically also a morganatic marriage, not because of standing, but Sophie is a Catholic. Our house rules do not permit a marriage to a Catholic raised spouse even if this spouse converts to the Prussian Lutheran faith.
But, this is 2024 and I am glad Georg and Sophie are happy and have beautiful children.
There is an error in your explanations: The Kingdoms of Bavaria and Würtemberg did not belong to the North-German Federation between 1866 and 1871. They were integrated with the German Reich from 1871 after they had joined the Franco-Prussian War becoming the Franco German War of 1870/71.
Small correction for the map at 3:30: The North German Federation of 1866 actually didn't include Bavaria and Württemberg (and some other southern states) - these only joined when the Empire was founded 5 years later (during the franco-german war). (Also, the German Emperor stayed King of Prussia in Personal Union, didn't abolish this title.)
I'm waiting for the family trees of all the other german monarchies (grand duchies, duchies, principalities) too.
Excellent video. I have always been interested in German monarchies since a kid. Not sure why, as a black american kid, I was drawn to it but it's so very interesting.
>since a kid
>as a kid
There's your answer
@@mappingshaman5280 don't be petty, sometimes our brain jumps. I'm sure he wanted to write since childhood,
but his brain was already by his wondering why he was interested.
@@juttaweise I'm making fun of the fact that most of these monarchists at the very least on the internet, seem to be teenagers. No pettiness involved.
@@mappingshaman5280 no harm meant!
@@mappingshaman5280 I’m in my 50s now. Teen years were long ago.
There were a whole lot more kingdoms, duchies, and principalities than that in German-speaking Europe! Not to mention Lichtenstein, which still exists. Look at a map of the German Empire before the Great War. Each of those two dozen bits of territory were internally sovereign with its own crown.
Great video! Looking forward for part 3 about the reigning princess.
8:22 no, he wouldn't be automatically Emperor of the HRE, since this title was not inherited, but awarded thruogh an election among the electoral princes.
I was about to say that, plus the HRE was more or less dissolved after prussia became the leading German nation.
Thank you for sharing Who Would Be the Monarchs of Germany 🇩🇪 Today?
3:35 - The maps presented are really a bit of a mess! Firstly, you simply forgot to integrate the dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein, Hesse, Nassau and Frankfurt into Prussia. Why do you change the borders in the case of Hanover but not in the case of the other states? They have been an integral part of the Kingdom of Prussia from that point on.
Secondly, it is presented as if Baden had not been part of the empire. Pay close attention to 3:31. The red line retreats behind Baden, although with the founding of the Empire in 1871, the borders on the contrary even extended to Alsace-Lorraine.
Baden is not presented as not being part of the empire. It is clearly said that all the monarchies shown at the end were part of the german empire, and Baden is just one of them.
@@ruyfernandez It would be beneficial to this discussion if you read my comment in full. I explicitly asked that you look closely at 3:31.
There you can see that the red line, which previously represented the German Confederation, is now supposed to show the borders of the Empire. At this point, the line shifts to the east and excludes the borders of Baden. This is clear and cannot be interpreted in any other way!
I therefore do not understand your point.
@@marten8148 sorry. I had not paid attention to the time code, I though you were talking about the armorial shown at the end. You are right indeed.
Honey wake up new Useful Charts banger
cool heraldry map at the end. would be cool to see the heirs of the duchies etc and what you say about them. Personally interested as it mentions the former free cities, among them Luebeck my birth place, who sadly lost its status, but has a rich history from being the first town given city right (and others modelled after) over leader of the Hansa League to defying Napoleon's troupes (they only lost due a traitor opening the gates).
I got this notification while I was writing down the Belgian royal family tree, while watching your other video! 👍🏼
Ahh, yet another house where the ernestine saxon line sits, right besides the british royal line... And now, that is not the line of the kingdom of saxony, but of about half a dozen saxon duchies.
There is a little mistake at 3:30. The borderline does not include the south of the Grand Duchy of Baden. And after 1871 Alsace Lorraine was part of the German Empire as well. So the border in the German southwest is a little bit off.
Nice vid, thanks Matt
Nice video but i missed a bit the fact that the current Duke of Bavaria spend the most time of his childhood in a Nazi-concentration camp since the bavarian Royal Family was also against the regime.
While the Hohenzollern heir who would have become Wilhelm III was an ally of Hitler and a big fan of the SA and the SS. He deluded himself into believing that Hitler would put him on the throne and played an important role in getting Hitler to power through the conservative-nationalist coalition.
@@finneogan I wouldn't say a ally hitler and crown prince wilhelm used each other for their own goals
In Private they couldn't stand each other crown prince wilhelm even had some contacts in the German Resistance and knew of coup plots like the oster conspiracy in 1938 and operation valkyrie in 1944
Had he actually been a Nazi then he would have reported this to the authority's but he didn't
He even called the nazis dangerous and that His son's should stay away from these poeple
(Just like his father wilhelm II said to him)
To sum it up They where never actually allies the crown prince was no nazi and hitler and crown prince wilhelm hated each other
@@palastofhistory4026But he made propaganda for the Nazis. Thatcis fact. And other people went to prison after WWII and lost their reputation, and work for the state... Men like Gottfried Benn, He did nothing but didn't go to Exile. He was never in knowlege of secrets of the German underground. It was all found out after the current leader of the family claimed back the fully restored Cäcilienhof in Berlin. Which was an awkward idea in my opinion. But rich people always try to get more and more. The same as the Markgraf von Baden. He asked back a lot of parts of the antiques collection of Baden-Württemberg. Now luckily a man made a research in the archives and it was found out, nothing belonged to the Markgrafs family. It was all written down in a legal contract between Baden and the Markgrafs grandfather or great grandfather after the Revolution of 1918. This man has studied in Harvard and is an fincial expert but not a Patriot at all. I detest him for saying if our country Baden has no money for keeping the antiques, we shall sell out our Nibelungenlied. The Nibelungenlied is our eldest Epos in German language. Would the English sell the Magna Carta? The contract from 1066? Or America 0:00 ns the bill of rights? No good idea....
Really great video there Mr Baker! I love your videos they are amazingly presented and you are a fantastic narrator as are all the other people who do these videos as well. Thank you so much for your videos they are amazing! GOD Bless you and all those who you love!
Maybe you can do a series charting the Family trees of the different German Royal Houses! Some of them actually had an influence far beyond Germany. For example, as you have stated, the Hanoverian state was once in a personal Union with Great Britain and later the UK. Also, the first King of Greece was Otto from the House of Wittelsbach (but he was eventually deposed and the former Greek Royal Family is from the House of Glucksburg). Also, a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern once sat on the throne of Romania and the Royal Family of Bulgaria is actually part of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (he even had a brief stint as Bulgaria’s prime minister).
Literally every single european land has had a german royal dynasty with a german monarch at the helm of the country at some point of their history. And there are several very big german royal houses that had been very influential far beyond Germany. So that could be a long video. The Glucksburgs are also from Germany btw.
I tried making a map of the saxe-coburg territorial ownerships. That alone took hours.
@@OogaBooga-tq7jc "Literally every single european land has had a german royal dynasty with a german monarch at the helm of the country at some point of their history."
Really? Please name the German royal dynasties of Venice (the republic), Malta, Andorra and Monaco.
Let’s go Useful Charts pumping out these 4K Remakes
The German word for 'Emperor' is Kaiser which is what both countries called their respective monarchs. I am perplexed as to how anyone could refer to the Kaiser von Österreich (Austria) as anything other than Kaiser.
In Hungary he would be called King.
The same way we say Emperor instead of Tianzi
Austria had a lot of languages (and still has as minorities), so it's only natural their would be translations for "Kaiser" in use.
@@magentacyan6086 We would call him King, because in 1848 we threw the Habsburgs out of the window in a rebellion. Which was later crushed by the help of Russia, but the hate still remained.
Over the years things softened and in 1867 the two nations came into a Reconciliation, and Hungary accepted back the Habsburgs by crowning Franz Joseph as King of Hungary.
So there was this interesting situation where FJ (and all his successors) was Kaiser of the Empire but King of Hungary.
Edit: and that meant 2 coronation ceremoni for a ruler :D
@@magentacyan6086 The Emperor of Austria-Hungary was always and only from German-Austria and a Habsburg. And they basically created the whole thing and called themselves *Kaiser*
As seen in the first map there is a hole in the middle of germany, where Hessen is today. But Hessen had a monarch and that monarch still exists as they are the monarchy of Luxemburg the monarchy of Nassau. That is why a part of Luxemburg has a tiny enclave in the heart of germany.
The crypt below the castle church is that enclave of luxemburg, as it hosts the bones of prior monarchs.
Actually in Germany your title from prince on down, is part of your name, unlike as in Austria where even the use of the "von" is restricted.
Already know😎
15:37
Basically, George V of the UK was the grandnephew of George V of Hanover. Thus, making Prince Ernst August (the Heir Apparent of the House of Hanover) and Charles III fifth-cousins.
George V was also grandson of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and grandson of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg who became Christian IX, King of Denmark, grandfather of Nicholas II of Russia.
The descendents of Christian IX were not only Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Phillip, but also the current Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, King Harald V of Norway, King Michael I of Romania, King Constantine II of the Hellenes, (and his wife, the sister of Margarethe II of Denmark), and King Felipe VI of Spain.
Christian IX and Victoria also share a great-great-grandfather, which means everything goes back to George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, son of George I from the house of Hannover. Who had toes to the english throne themselves.
@@HappyBeezerStudiosWhich George V were you referring to? UK or Hanover?
This is inaccurate. The electors of Saxons were also dukes. The issue is that the title “Duke of Saxony” was used by many divided parts due to gavelkind succession in one branch of the House of Wettin.
Incidentally the Albertine and Ernestine branches of the Wettins and their many many Saxonies would be a fun topic for this channel.
well put james, i like this channel, and even if makes an error, he is happy to correct things for his listeners. great information, presented with a kind tone in his voice
Agreed all the Electors kept their temporal and spiritual titles. The title Elector was only relevant when they sat in the House of Electors in the Imperial Diet.
Fun fact i am friends of the decendants of Archduke Franz Ferdinad. They are lovely people and it was very interesting getting to know the family.
About the Saxonian claim: There's actually a third claimant today. Since neither the descendants of princess Anna (including Alexander) nor the descendants of Prince Timo (including Daniel) would have a claim according to the house laws, the claim would - if we adhered strictly to this house laws - actually pass through a more distant and more senior line of the house of Wettin all the way to prince Michael-Benedict of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach who is the current head of the House of Wettin alltogether. This would mean that the division of the house of Wettin into an Ernestine line and an Albertine line has ended after 500 years. Although the pronce of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach has not yet announced a claim on Saxony, he and the heads of the remaining Wettin branches have all proclaimed that Alexander is not a member of the house of Wettin with no claims on the specific titles.
Why Maria Emmanuel of Saxony has the right to choose his heir, but Albrecht Mat think not? There is no dispute! Rudiger is the male heir of the house and as every royal house these days its allright the morgonatic marriage if is allowed from the head of the family. And Albrecht he was allowed that.Prince Alexander is next in line only if the male line extinc...
@@dimkyrio1333True, most princess and princesses in the last decades married commoners without being disowned, but I think the difference between them and Timo of Saxony is that they aquired the consent of the head of their respective houses to marry. Basically they all asked the heads of their houses to make an exception for them regarding the house laws. Since Timo of Saxony and his descendants didn't do this, the old house laws apply to them.
It is important to note that the reign of Blessed Karl of Austria was predicted by 4 very holy people, and one saint.
1. A Holy Nun said (while Karl was still a child) that Karl needed prayers because he would be the special attack of hell, and would be emperor one day. (He was far from the throne at this time).
2. Pope St. Pius X offered mass for Karl’s newly betrothed future spouse, Zita. It was there where he said Karl would become Emperor and would be special in the hearts of his people but that it would not be known until after this death.
3. The Hungarian Bishop to the family had a dream of Archduke Franz and his wife Sophie. There a letter in black on his desk said that he had been killed in a political assassination with his wife. The bishop woke at 3:15am. It wasn’t until that afternoon reports came in that Franz and his wife were murdered.
4. Lastly, December of 1913, Franz told Karl that he knew he would die soon. And that everything he needed would be in his desk for when he was Emperor.
Blessed Karl was a man of peace and Holy will. May he pray for us!
5:10 I would like to point out that even though prince Wilhelm fought in ww2 he most definitely was not a nazi In fact he was opossed to the nazis and he was involved in a coup against them
(the Oster Conspiracy)
This truly is one of the most useful of useful charts.
Otto von Hapsburg was a great man who got involved in Democratic politics and during the cold war, I believe towards the end, he had a friendship picnic. Where the borders of Austria, Germany and Czechia meet people from all three countries met and mingled-not crossing each others border. There is actually a table with benches there where if 3 people sit, there is one person in each country. Otto was a wonderful peacemaker. AND, In Hanover, Ernst August was married to Princess Thyra of Denmark, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. Her brothers were the Kings of Denmark, Norway and Greece and her sisters were Queen Alexandra of the UK, Tzarina Dalmar (Maria Feodorova) of Russia-mother of Nicholas II the last Tzar. I'd say those kids married well.
"Otto von Hapsburg was a great man" - you beat me to saying this. I'd only add that he was also a great European. Of course, he could not get a State funeral, but the ones he did receive honoured a man who made an enormous contribution to Europe.
A very excellent explanation of Important families of Germany !!
One thing I had wondered was who'd be Poland's monarch today (whether that be the partition never happening, the November 11th Act being fulfilled or the proposal to restore the Polish Crown in 1989 had been carried out) but then I thought, I'm not sure if that would be possible given Poland was an elected monarchy.
I do not know if Matt has done that Polish one in an earlier vid,might have to look through the online archive,but if not,that def. one for future work ! 👌👍
@@MrSinclairn Thanks, I'll have to go back through the videos and see if I missed it.
I believe the kings of Poland were elected from various leading families: Sobieski and Poniatowski spring to mind.
@@bewareofpigeons Interesting, and these families can be traced from 1792. Which would allow an interesting video, since it would provide a candidacy range for the "who'd be the monarch of Poland?".
Constitution of 1791 stated that it WOULD BE king of Saxony
At 3:40, when there is an outline of the German Empire you forgot to include the Grand Duchy of Baden. Does this mean it’s from an alternate timeline where Friedrich Hecker’s rebellion won?
And down the rabbit I go as i know so little. Cheers.
As a proud Württemberg monarchist, I'll present a few interesting facts about the Württembergers for those who are interested:
- King Wilhelm II was regarded by the citizens as a beloved and popular king. He was greeted by the inhabitants of Stuttgart when walking through the city with his dogs with the words: "Grüß Gott, Herr König" (Greetings, King), and Wilhelm II would then doff his hat in return and give the children sweets.
- Duke/Crown Prince Albrecht of Württemberg became commander-in-chief of the 4th Army on the Western Front at the start of WWI on 2 August 1914. He was instrumental in the victory at the Battle of Neufchateau in the Ardennes. Under his command, the infamous attack by semi-trained war volunteers at Langemarck in the First Battle of Flanders (transfigured into the myth of Langemarck) and the first poison gas attack on 22 April 1915 at Ypres in the Second Battle of Flanders also took place. He was considered one of the most capable German army commanders of the World War. Due to his military merits, Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded him the Order Pour le Mérite on 22 August 1915 and the Oak Leaves on 25 February 1918. He also appointed him Prussian Field Marshal on 1 August 1916. From 7 March 1917, he commanded the entire southern section of the Western Front from Verdun to the Swiss border as Commander-in-Chief of Army Group "Duke Albrecht". In contrast to the Prussian Crown Prince Wilhelm and the Bavarian Crown Prince Rupprecht, he remained at his post after the outbreak of the November Revolution until immediately before Christmas 1918 and led the troops of the army group under his command safely back home.
He was also critical of National Socialism (as was much of the Catholic nobility in Germany) and no high-ranking National Socialist appeared at his funeral in October 1939. Adolf Hitler merely sent a wreath. There were also no Nazi banners.
- Duke Carl of Württemberg had been a Familiare of the Teutonic Knights since 1979, and on 21 May 2009 he was made an Honorary Knight of the Commandery of Tauber, Neckar and Lake Constance. He was a very good friend of King Juan Carlos I of Spain and on 31 May 2002 Pope John Paul II presented him with the Commander's Cross of the Pontifical Order of Knights of St Gregory the Great.
- Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg, the current head, is directly related to the last King of Württemberg. He is a direct descendant of the last Crown Prince, Albrecht Duke of Württemberg. The last King of Württemberg, Wilhelm II, had only one daughter, Princess Pauline (1877-1965), who married Prince Friedrich Hermann zu Wied (1872-1945), who had been Prince zu Wied since 1907. But Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg is a great-great-great-grandson of King Wilhelm II of Württemberg on his mother's side through Princess Pauline zu Wied and thus also a descendant of the royal line of Württemberg.
That was very interesting, thank you for sharing your encyclopedic knowledge of the topic with us!
Swabian Monarchy = best Monarchy.
About Carl of Wurttemberg. There is a rumour that his wife, Diane d'Orleans had affair with Juan Carlos of Spain and their youngest child, Fleur is actually Juan Carlos' daughter.
I don't know the accuracy of this things. But it's wild!
Ser amigo de Juancar...no es ningún mérito@@visenyatargaryen9130
You realy make a very interesting video. Thank you for uploading.
In Germany the titles became part of the surname after World War I. Thus Prince George Friedrich's surname is "Prinz von Preußen" (= prince of Prussia). In Austria all noble titles and prefixes (like "von" or "zu") had been completely abolished. Thus Karl von Habsburg is known as Karl Habsburg in Austria. BTW the house of Württemberg uses the surname "Herzog von Württemberg" (= duke of Württemberg), because all children of this house were dukes and duchesses instead of princes and princesses.
And BTW you map of Prussia is very off.
Actually, on his passport it's Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, as Austria puts an emphasis on the branch while Karl himself likes to put emphasis on him being head of the whole house Habsburg.
@@Inzersdorf93 I am sure that he has more than one passport ... ;)
@@barbarossarotbart Karl only has Austrian citizenship. Otto had German and Austrian (and maybe more) citizenship. Ferdinand has Austrian and Hungarian citizenship.
@@Inzersdorf93 Karl's mother was Regina Prinzessin von Sachsen-Meiningen; he (and siblings) could claim german citizenship any time. his son Ferdinand is rich with citizenships; his maternal line is german hungarian and swiss.
@@Inzersdorf93 House of Habsburg is extinct since 1780. Karl is head of House of Habsburg-lorraine, which itself is only extant branch of house of Lorraine.
The German royal households are completely different than you think. They are never considered common, even to this day. All royals from these separate countries in Germany are still considered royal, and never common, as most of them marry other royals in Germany. They make up 1% of the population of Germany. As they marry other royals, they can keep their title. They are provided with royal welfare, getting a certain amount every month from the German government. They also receive free Medicare, free prescriptions, and are locked into a different tax bracket where they only pay 2% of property and civil tax. The average monthly amount they receive from the government per person is $3,480 euros, which will increase to 4,000 euros per person in 2025.
Contracts were signed with the government and the royal households. If one individual marries a German commoner or a foreigner without a royal title, they forfeit these items. So, they will not receive any money from the government, and they will not get free Medicare. They would be put into a different tax bracket. Also, they hold different passports. These passports are a different color and give them different rights in a courtroom. Different rights apply if they get arrested as they cannot be arrested by a police officer without a court warrant. They sort of have diplomatic immunity in their own country.
The German royal households can also defend themselves against intruders. They actually have the national right to defend themselves. Now, the German government cannot cancel this order of giving them royal welfare, nor can they buy them out. This contract is signed in gold. There are only two ways of not paying former royal subjects of Germany: one would be to remove Germany and give it to another country, the second one is putting all the royals back into power and removing the government of Germany. The contract is over 300 pages long and cannot be shown to the public, only to government officials in the royal household. So, we do not know what it says inside that contract as it is not open source.
An odd thing about these alternate histories is that at least two of the eldest sons listed here died in war childless after their family was no longer considered royals. However, there's little chance they would have been anywhere near combat had the thrones been intact, meaning they would've had the chance to produce heirs of their own instead of the claims passing over to siblings or cousins.
true
True. Also, 2 princes of Preußen made themselves (theoretically) ineligible by marrying below their station, which they probably wouldn't have done if royalty still existed. So there are imaginary projections which weren't forced to happen.
That's why the video is about "what if monarchy got reinstated now" instead of "what if monarchy wasn't abolished".
@@HenryLoenwind good point
Thank you for this. Ive read about the history of Austria and Germany. The research is good. I like the contemporary link.
I can’t believe there was a cousin marriage on this chart and it was NOT in the house of Habsburg
The one in Würtemberg?
Very nice presentation! Although you left out Baden and Elsass-Lothringen from the map...
Nice!
One correction: you put the flag of Austrian Empire under Karl, but by that time (and actually since 1867, the Austrian-Hungarian Reconciliation) the country was called Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the flag was the combination of Austrian and Hungarian flags.
That was not actually the national flag, it’s just used for simplification most of the time and was used by trade ships. Austria Hungary used the Austrian and Hungarian flag, because the Hungarians nominally were not included in the state but rather only the same person as king as was the Austrian emperor.
This channel is excellent, good on you.
You know how the British nobility have that numerical system. Like so and so, 3rd Earl of Wherever. Is that a uniquely British phenomenon? It feels wrong, looking at say, Franz, Duke of Bavaria without the number. Is he 1st Duke of Bavaria?
The type of duke is different. I didn’t entirely know either until I looked it up. But a duke of, say, Bavaria would be referred to in a similar manner to a monarch, because he *is* one for his sovereign state, even though in this case it’s a duchy, instead of a kingdom or principality. The duchy of Luxembourg operates this way, as did many European states. For example, one of the forebears of the current Duke of Luxembourg is William IV of Luxembourg. And while William the Conqueror became King of England, one of his sons became Duke of Normandy as Robert II. An English dukedom, meanwhile, is estate-based, not sovereign territory-based. This estate is *within* a larger kingdom, as opposed to its own political entity that may or may not be within a larger empire.
And another thing I forgot: the numbering for most European royal duchies seems to follow the same sequence for each duke with the same first name, because it follows the custom of monarchy. But the British system restarts again each time the title is bestowed, after it had previously died out. For example: Charles Brandon, Henry VIII’s best friend and brother in law was the 1st Duke of Suffolk for that specific creation of the title, and while he did have sons who followed him as the 2nd and 3rd Duke, they died in quick succession of each other of sweating sickness. Henry Grey (father of the doomed Lady Jane Grey) was the next person to be made Duke of Suffolk, the 1st Duke of a new creation, although he did happen to be married to Charles Brandon’s daughter, which likely helped him get the title.
@@cakt1991 Thank you for explaining this.
A weird exception to the typical numbering style was (and apparently still is) one or both Principalities of Reuss, roughly in what is today Thuringia in Germany. They named all male children of the family Heinrich and numbered them, starting anew at the beginning of every century.
A descendant of that family, Heinrich with some number around twentyish, made the German news not long ago when he was arrested as part of a conspiracy to overthrow the German government and democracy. That's when I was reminded of the curious naming and numbering rules of the Reuss, which I'd read about years ago.
Fun facts! Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria ruled Bulgaria twice: he was Tsar, obviously, as a boy and was deposed after ww2. But, more recently, he also served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria!
Prime Minister Sakskoburgotsky - which was how Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was turned into a Bulgarian surname.
Commoners in Germany still keep aristocratic titles as part of their official names. Herr Georg Friedrich Prinz von Preussen (exactly in that order and without any honorifics) is his legal name in Germany.
"Herr" is not a part of his name. It's the German equivalent of the English "Mr."
I love all of them! How sad that the people lost their history! Thank you!
Most of the smaller german states were also monarchies(duchies, principalities, etc.).
me lives in Baden and a _Großherzog_ would be posh :D