The European Royals Message Board: Re: The Salic Law The Netherlands and Luxembourg

The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg never had the Salic law of succession they started out as semi-Salic.

That is why in 1890 Adolphe succeeded Guillaume III and his granddaughter Marie-Adelaide succeeded her father Guillaume IV.

In the Kingdom of the Netherlands various laws of succession have been applied. From the start of the kingdom in 1814 until now each sovereign who succeeded would also have succeeded under the previous succession laws. The first time a succession that would not have been the same under previous laws will happen is when the current princess of Orange succeeds her father. Under the semi-Salic succession her uncle prince Constantijn and than her cousin count Claus-Casimir of Orange-Nassau would be the only ones in line of succession. Only after they die or are lost for succession would princess Catharina-Amalia have become the heiress under semi-Salic laws. Under every other succession law since than Amalia is the heiress.

Luxembourg has an interesting history of succession laws. Grand Duke Guillaume IV made all of his daughters equal to male dynasts so had Marie-Adelaide married and had a daughter each of her sisters would have been before that daughter in lin of succession.
The gender neutral succession only applies to the offspring of the current Grand Duke. Putting princess Amelie of Nassau in from of her brother prince Liam and princess Alexandra of Luxembourg in front of her brother prince Sebastien.
However the youngest brother of the grand duke, prince Guillaume, precedes his sisters in line of succession and in prince Guillaume's family the younger son is ahead of his sister in the line of succession.

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The controversy surrounding the recent *change* of succession law in the house of Savoy, by Prince Vittorio Emanuele, leads me to ask about the last time the Salic law was applied, in the various dynasties (restricting discussion to the first section of the ALMANACH DE GOTHA).

Obviously one should exclude Spain (and pre-Spain), Portugal, Brazil, England, and Scotland from the discussion, since the Salic law has never applied in any of those places. Of course, King Felipe V attempted to introduce this to Spain, and later on Infante Carlos, Count of Molina tried to claim the throne as the successor to his brother, King Fernando VII. But in the end, Carlism failed in Spain, just as Miguelism failed in Portugal.

Otherwise, I thought of going through the list of houses where the Salic or semi-Salic law applied (at least in the past, whatever might be said about the present) --

Norway: not since 1905, when the country acquired full independence and autonomy

Denmark: not since 1863, since Kings Christian IX, Frederik VIII, and Christian X all produced sons. The constitution was amended during the reign of King Frederik IX, who had only daughters, to permit female succession

Sweden: 1872, when King Carl XV (whose only child was a daughter, Princess Louise) was succeeded by his brother, King Oscar II

The Netherlands: it never applied, since the throne passed laterally (meaning father to son) before the house of Orange became extinct in the male line. All the males genealogically junior to Willem III, the last king, were dead, thereby ensuring that the throne would pass to his daughter, Wilhelmina. The law has since been changed twice.

Belgium: 1909, when King Leopold II (whose only surviving children were daughters) was succeeded by his nephew, King Albert I.

Luxembourg: 1890, when Duke Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg succeeded to the grand ducal throne upon the extinction of the male line in the junior (Ottonian) branch of the house of Nassau. Of course, one could argue that this was really more about the Family Pact, than the Salic law ...

Liechtenstein: 1938, when Prince Franz Joseph II succeeded his great-uncle, Prince Franz I. Although Franz Joseph II was a great-grandson of Prince Aloys II, he claimed the throne by agnatic descent from Prince Johann I.

Monaco: can anybody fill me in on this? If it came to that, I'm not sure if the Salic law has ever really applied in the principality, since it has had one sovereign princess in the past (Louise Hypolite)

Albania: never (to the best of my knowledge)

Austria: 1916, when Archduke Karl succeeded Emperor Franz Joseph I, whose only son had suicided in 1889, leaving behind only a daughter

Prussia: not since the country became a kingdom

Bavaria: not since the country became a kingdom (in 1806)

Bulgaria: never in either the house of Battenburg or Coburg

France: 1926, when Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans (born in 1869, great-grandson of King Louis-Philippe of the French) was succeeded as head of the house by his first cousin Jean, Duke of Guise (who was also his brother-in-law, being the husband of his sister Isabelle)

Please fill me in on information about the Bonaparte and Legitimist successions.

Greece: never (the marriage of King Alexander was morganatic, so the exclusion from the succession of his daughter, Princess Alexandra, doesn't really count)

Hanover: 1837, when the crowns of Hanover and Great Britain got separated because of different succession laws. King William IV was succeeded on the British throne by his niece, Princess Victoria of Kent, and the Hanoverian throne by his brother, Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland

Montenegro: never (to the best of my knowledge)

Serbia/Yugoslavia: never in the house of Karageorgevich (whatever might be said about Obrenovic)

Two Sicilies: Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta (born in 1841) succeeded his older half-brother, Francesco II (the last king), as head of the house, instead of his niece Maria Teresa (daughter of his older brother Luigi)

Romania: 2017, when King Michael died leaving no son; as such, the dynasty is officially extinct

Russia: Czar Nicholas II abdicated the throne in 1917 favor his brother, Grand Duke Michael. In so doing, however, he passed over his own son, the Czarevich Alexis, so I'm not sure how to qualify this ...

Is all this correct? And can anybody fill me in on Baden, Anhalt, Württemberg, Waldeck, Tuscany, Sardinia, Lippe, Schaumburg-Lippe, Reuss, Mecklenburg, Oldenburg, Hesse, Hohenzollern, Schleswig-Holstein, Parma, Saxony, and the smaller Saxon houses?