The title of Duke of Urach ( German: ''

Herzog (; feminine ; masculine plural ; feminine plural ) is a German hereditary title held by one who rules a territorial duchy, exercises feudal authority over an estate called a duchy, or possesses a right by law or tradition to be referred to ...

von Urach'') was created in the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg ( ) was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Electorate of Württemberg, which existed from 1803 to 1806. Geogr ...

on 28 March 1867 for Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander Ferdinand, Count of Württemberg, with the style of

Serene Highness His/Her Serene Highness (abbreviation: HSH, second person address: Your Serene Highness) is a style (manner of address), style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Thailand. Until 1918, it was also associated with the p ...

. The first Duke of Urach was the first head of the House of Urach.

Family

Wilhelm, 1st Duke of Urach, was the son of Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg (1761-1830) and his

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

wife, Baroness (

Freiin (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

) Wilhelmine von Tunderfeldt-Rhodis (1777-1822), whom he married at Coswig on 23 August 1800. His paternal grandfather was Duke Friedrich II Eugen (1732-1797), from whom all claimants to the

are descended. Because of his first marriage to Théodolinde de Beauharnais, the first Duke had converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. His second marriage to Her

Princess Florestine of Monaco in 1863 led in part to Wilhelm's elevation in 1867 from being a Count of Wurttemberg to Duke (

) von Urach. He had served the Kingdom well in his career, and the dukedom of 1867 elevated him to his wife's rank of Serene Highness. The 2nd Duke of Urach was briefly chosen as Mindaugas II, King of Lithuania in 1918. In the same year the Monaco Succession Crisis of 1918 ended his claim through his mother to the throne of Monaco. The family still owns Lichtenstein Castle, rebuilt by the first duke in the 1840s.

Dukes of Urach (1867)

All legal privileges of the nobility were officially abolished in 1919 by the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

(1919-1933), and nobility is no longer conferred or recognized by the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

, former hereditary titles being allowed only as part of the surname.

External links

Website of the Urach family

The von Urach family's archive in Stuttgart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urach, Duke of

Family

Dukes of Urach (1867)

See also

External links