Amsberg (german: von Amsberg, nl, van Amsberg) is the name of a German noble family from

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

. A great-grandson of a blacksmith, parish pastor August Amsberg (1747–1820) started calling himself "

von The term ''von'' () is used in German language surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means ''of'' or ''from''. Nobility directories like the ''Almanach de ...

Amsberg" in 1795 and the family's right to use this name was confirmed by the

Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin This list of dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg dates from the origins of the German princely state of Mecklenburg's royal house in the High Middle Ages to the monarchy's abolition at the end of World War I. Strictly speaking, Mecklenburg's ...

in 1891. By this permission to use a noble privilege, the family effectively became part of the untitled lower nobility of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The present King of the Netherlands,

Willem-Alexander Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born ) is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht as the oldest child of Princess Beat ...

, is an agnatic member of this family. Members of the family live in the Netherlands and in Northern Germany. Its most notable member is the family's current head (i.e. senior male line descendant), King

Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born ) is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht as the oldest child of Princess B ...

. King Willem-Alexander, his brothers and his brothers’ children hold the title "

Jonkheer (female equivalent: ; french: Écuyer; en, Squire) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used by the untitled nobility. In Belgium, this is the ...

(or female Jonkvrouw) van Amsberg," and have the surname "van Oranje-Nassau van Amsberg."

History

The line traces back to one Jürgen Amtsberg (d. 1686), master

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

in the village of Schwichtenberg near

Borrentin Borrentin is a municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. Seat of the ''Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but fo ...

, then part of

Swedish Pomerania Swedish Pomerania ( sv, Svenska Pommern; german: Schwedisch-Pommern) was a dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held ...

. His great–grandson Johann David Theodor ''August'' Amsberg (1747–1820),

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

pastor at the parish church of

Kavelstorf Kavelstorf is a village and a former municipality in the district of Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Since 7 June 2009, it has been part of the Dummerstorf Dummerstorf is a municipality in the Rostock district, in Mecklenburg-Vorp ...

near

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, from about 1795 styled himself ''

Amsberg'' without objection. The Amsbergs had been commoners at first, and the preposition probably was used to signify the family from the name of their ancestors, rather than from the name of a place they originated from. A notable member was his son Philipp August von Amsberg (1788–1871), who initiated the establishment of the

Duchy of Brunswick State Railway The Duchy of Brunswick State Railway (''Herzoglich Braunschweigische Staatseisenbahn'') was the first state railway in Germany. The first section of its Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway line between Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel opened on 1 Decembe ...

inaugurated in 1838. The family received the official approval to hold the noble title by decree of the

Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a territory in Northern Germany held by the House of Mecklenburg residing at Schwerin. It was a sovereign member state of the German Confederation and became a federated state of the North German Con ...

in 1891. On 10 March 1966 Claus von Amsberg married the

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

to the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

throne, Princess Beatrix of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, and from 1980 until his death in 2002 was prince consort of the

Queen of the Netherlands The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...

. He is the father of

, King of the Netherlands and

van Amsberg. Willem-Alexander's younger brother Prince Friso van Oranje-Nassau van Amsberg, due to his marriage with Mabel Martine Wisse Smit, lost his status as a Prince of the Netherlands but retained for himself royal status as prince of Orange-Nassau and for his children received the title of count/countess of Orange-Nassau. The marriage of the third-born son Prince Constantijn so far has produced the only male heir of the main Amsberg line, Claus-Casimir van Oranje-Nassau van Amsberg born in 2004. In 2001 it was established by Decree that children born in the marriage of Prince Constantijn will hold the hereditary noble title and honorific Count (Countess) van Oranje-Nassau, Jonkheer (Jonkvrouw) van Amsberg and have the surname Van Oranje-Nassau van Amsberg. In 2004 the same regulation was established for Prince Friso and the children born in his marriage. When Willem-Alexander became king in 2013 the House of Amsberg did not become the ruling House of the Netherlands however and stayed as the house of his mother as is tradition in the Netherlands . Several members of the family, mainly descendants of Philipp August von Amsberg and of Prince Claus' great–uncle Joachim von Amsberg (1869–1945), still live in Northern Germany. The Dutch branch of the family, i.e. Prince Claus, the former Claus von Amsberg, has some distant Dutch/Flemish ancestors who left the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

during Spanish rule, such as the Berenberg merchant family and other prominent families of Antwerp. Other notable family members include colonel Joachim von Amsberg, general Joachim von Amsberg and banker Joachim von Amsberg.

Heads of the family

This is a list of the heads, i.e. the senior male line members, of the Amsberg family, as well the patrilineal line of the current Dutch royal family. Before the 1891 ennoblement, being the senior male descendant did not have any legal relevance, and such the term "head" is anachronistic before the family's rise as a noble and eventually royal family. The headship of the family since its recognition as noble in 1891 has some historical legal relevance prior to the formal abolition of the nobility's privileges in 1918. #Jürgen Amtsberg, ca. 1640–1686, master blacksmith #Jürgen Amtsberg, 1680–1756, master baker #Georg Amtsberg, 1717–1772 #Johann David Theodor August Amsberg, who started calling himself "von Amsberg" from 1795, 1747–1820, pastor in

#Joachim Karl Theodor von Amsberg, 1777–1842 #Gabriel Ludwig Johann von Amsberg, 1822–1899, received permission from the Grand Duke to use the particle "

" in 1891, effectively an ennoblement #Wilhelm von Amsberg, 1856–1929 # Claus Felix von Amsberg, 1890–1953 #

Prince Claus of the Netherlands Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Jonkheer van Amsberg (born Klaus-Georg Wilhelm Otto Friedrich Gerd von Amsberg; 6 September 1926 – 6 October 2002) was Prince consort of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until his death in 2002 as the husband ...

, Jonkheer van Amsberg, né Klaus von Amsberg, 1926–2002, a former diplomat of Germany # King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Jonkheer van Amsberg, b. 1967.

Line of succession to the headship of the Amsberg family

Since German aristocracy practice agnatic primogeniture, the

to the headship, and the ones next in line, are #''

Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands (''Constantijn Christof Frederik Aschwin''; born 11 October 1969) is the third and youngest son of the former Dutch queen, Beatrix, and her husband, Claus von Amsberg, and is the younger brother of the rei ...

, Jonkheer van Amsberg'', the King of The Netherlands' younger brother #''

Count Claus-Casimir of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg Count Claus-Casimir of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg (Claus-Casimir Bernhard Marius Max; born 21 March 2004), is the second child of Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands and their only son. He is a member of the ...

'', Constantijn's son #''Dirk von Amsberg'' (b. 1961), a grandson of

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Joachim von Amsberg #''Paul von Amsberg'' (b. 2002), Dirk's son

Literature

Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels The ''Almanach de Gotha'' (german: Gothaischer Hofkalender) is a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First published ...

, ''Adelslexikon'' Band I, Band 53 der Gesamtreihe, C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1972, * ''Die Ahnen Claus Georg von Amsberg (Euler) - Nassau und die Niederlande (Heck)'', Starke Verlag 1966, Sonderdruck aus Archiv für Sippenforschung Heft 21 {{Royal houses of the Netherlands German noble families Mecklenburgian nobility Lower Saxon nobility