Duke Alexander of Württemberg (1804–1881)

Duke Alexander of Württemberg (20 December 1804 – 28 October 1881) was a member of the dynasty which ruled the German kingdom of Württemberg. To marry a daughter of the French king he agreed that their children would be raised in their mother's faith, thereby becoming ancestor of the Roman Catholic branch of his family.

Alexander
Born(1804-12-20)20 December 1804
Riga, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire
Died28 October 1881(1881-10-28) (aged 76)
Bayreuth, Kingdom of Bavaria
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1837; died 1839)​
IssueDuke Philippe of Württemberg
Full name
Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander
HouseWürttemberg
FatherDuke Alexander of Württemberg
MotherPrincess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Biography

He was the son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He was a first cousin of Queen Victoria and of her husband, Prince Albert. As a young man, Alexander was considered a possible marriage candidate for Victoria. In June 1833 he and his brother Ernest visited Kensington Palace. Victoria wrote in her journal, "Alexander is very handsome and Ernest has a very kind expression. They are both extremely amiable."[1]

Marriage

On 17 October 1837 he married Princess Marie d'Orléans (1813–1839), daughter of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French. They had one child:

  • Duke Philippe of Württemberg (30 July 1838-11 October 1917) he married Archduchess Marie-Thérèse of Teschen on 18 January 1865. They had five children.

Alexander of Württemberg belonged to the fifth branch (called the "ducal branch") of the House of Württemberg, descended from the seventh son of Frederick II Eugene, ruler of Württemberg from 1795 to 1797. On the extinction of Württemberg"s direct line of kings in 1921, the ducal branch became the senior dynastic line of the deposed royal family. The House of Württemberg's two morganatic branches - the Dukes of Teck (extinct in the male line in 1981) and the Dukes of Urach - were senior by primogeniture to the ducal branch, but were ineligible to inherit the throne.

Alexander of Württemberg is the direct male line ancestor of Carl, Duke of Württemberg, the current claimant to the kingdom of Württemberg.

Honours

Ancestry

References
  1. Williams, Kate (2010). Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Ballatine Books. p. 261. ISBN 978-0345461957.
  2. Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1837), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 11
  3. H. Tarlier (1854). Almanach royal officiel, publié, exécution d'un arrête du roi (in French). 1. p. 37.
  4. Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern: 1879. Landesamt. 1879. p. 9.
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