Monarchy of

Luxembourg

The Grand Duke of Luxembourg is the monarchical

head of state of Luxembourg. Luxembourg has been a
grand duchy since 15 March 1815, when it was created
from territory of the former Duchy of Luxembourg. It
was in personal union with the United Kingdom of the
Netherlands until 1890 under the House of Orange-
Nassau. Luxembourg is the world's only sovereign grand
duchy and since 1815, there have been nine monarchs,
including the incumbent, Henri.
 Grand Duke of Luxembourg

Coat of arms of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg

Incumbent

Henri
since 7 October 2000

Details

Style His Royal Highness

Heir apparent Guillaume, Hereditary
Grand Duke of Luxembourg
First monarch William I of the
Netherlands (1815, personal
union began)
Adolphe, Grand Duke of
Luxembourg (after 1890)

Formation 15 March 1815

Residence Grand Ducal Palace in

Luxembourg

Constitutional role
The constitution of Luxembourg defines the Grand
Duke's position:
 The Grand Duke is the head of state, symbol of its
unity, and guarantor of national independence. He
exercises executive power in accordance with the
constitution and the laws of the country.[1]

After a constitutional change (to article 34) in

December 2008 resulting from Henri's refusal to assent
to a law legalizing euthanasia, laws now no longer
require the Grand Duke's formal assent (implying
"approval")[2] but his task of promulgating the law as
chief executive remains.

Compensation
The Grand Duke does not receive a salary, but the
royal family receives annually 300,000 gold francs
(€281,000) for grand ducal functions.[3] In 2017, the
Luxembourg budget included €10.1 million for the
Grand Duke's household costs.[4]

Succession
Succession to the throne was governed by Salic law, as
dictated by the Nassau Family Pact, first adopted on
30 June 1783.[1] The right to reign over Luxembourg
was until June 2011 passed by agnatic-cognatic
primogeniture within the House of Nassau, as
stipulated under the 1815 Final Act of the Congress of
Vienna and as confirmed by the 1867 Treaty of
London.[1] The Nassau Family Pact itself can be
amended by the usual legislative process, having been so
on 10 July 1907 to exclude the Count of Merenberg
branch of the House, which was descended from a
morganatic marriage.[5]

An heir apparent may be granted the style

'Hereditary Grand Duke'. The current heir apparent
is Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume. In June 2011,
agnatic primogeniture was dropped in favour of
absolute primogeniture, allowing any legitimate female
descendants within the House of Nassau to be included
in the line of succession.[6]

Full titles
The traditional titulatures of the grand duke are By
the Grace of God, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke
of Nassau, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Count of
Sayn, Königstein, Katzenelnbogen and Diez, Burgrave
of Hammerstein, Lord of Mahlberg, Wiesbaden,
Idstein, Merenberg, Limburg and Eppstein. It should,
however, be noted that many of the titles are held
without regard to the strict rules of Salic inheritance
and that most, save for Grand Duke of Luxembourg
and Duke of Nassau, are simply not used.

List of grand dukes

House of Orange-Nassau …
 Relationship with
Image Name Date of birth Date of death Reign
predecessor

Francis' third
Guillaume I
15 March 1815 cousin
Willem Frederik 12 December
24 August 1772 – and
(Prince William VI of 1843
7 October 1840 Anne's direct
Orange)
descendant

Guillaume II 7 October 1840

Willem Frederik George 6 December 1792 17 March 1849 – Son of William I
Lodewijk 17 March 1849

17 March 1849
Guillaume III
23 November –
Willem Alexander Paul 17 February 1817 Son of William II
1890 23 November
Frederik Lodewijk
1890

House of Nassau-Weilburg …

Under the 1783 Nassau Family Pact, those territories

of the Nassau family in the Holy Roman Empire at
the time of the pact (Luxembourg and Nassau) were
bound by semi-Salic law, which allowed inheritance by
females or through the female line only upon extinction
of male members of the dynasty. When William III
died leaving only his daughter Wilhelmina as an heir,
the crown of the Netherlands, not being bound by the
family pact, passed to Wilhelmina. However, the crown
of Luxembourg passed to a male of another branch of
the House of Nassau: Adolphe, the dispossessed Duke
of Nassau and head of the branch of Nassau-
Weilburg.

In 1905, Grand Duke Adolphe's younger half-brother,

Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau, died, having left
a son Georg Nikolaus, Count von Merenberg who was,
however, the product of a morganatic marriage, and
therefore not legally a member of the House of
Nassau. In 1907, Adolphe's only son, William IV,
Grand Duke of Luxembourg, obtained passage of a law
confirming the right of his eldest daughter, Marie-
Adélaïde, to succeed to the throne in virtue of the
absence of any remaining dynastic males of the House
of Nassau, as originally stipulated in the Nassau
Family Pact. She became the grand duchy's first
reigning female monarch upon her father's death in
1912, and upon her own abdication in 1919, was
succeeded by her younger sister Charlotte, who married
Felix of Bourbon-Parma, a prince of the former
Duchy of Parma. Charlotte's descendants have since
reigned as the continued dynasty of Nassau, and also
constitute a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon-
Parma.
 Succession
Name Portrait Birth Marriages Death
right

(1) Grand Duchess

Elizabeth
Adolphe
31 January 1844 Third
23 November
24 July 1817 [1 child (stillborn)] 17 November 1905 (88) cousin of
1890 –
Wiesbaden (Prussia) (2) Grand Duchess Colmar-Berg William
17 November
Adelheid-Marie III
1905
23 April 1851
[5 children]

Guillaume IV
Grand Duchess Marie 25 February 1912 (59
17 November 22 April 1852 Son of
Anne years)
1905 – Wiesbaden (Prussia) Adolphe
[6 children] Colmar-Berg
25 February 1912

Marie-Adélaïde
Daughter
25 February 1912 24 January 1924 (29
14 June 1894 Unmarried of
– years)
Colmar-Berg [childless] William
14 January 1919 Lenggries (Germany)
IV
(abdicated)

Daughter
Charlotte
of
14 January 1919
Prince Felix William
– 23 January 1896 9 July 1985 (89 years)
6 November 1919 IV /
12 November Colmar-Berg Fischbach
[6 children] Sister of
1964
Marie-
(abdicated)
Adélaïde

Jean
Grand Duchess
12 November 23 April 2019 (98
5 January 1921 Joséphine Charlotte Son of
1964 – years)
Colmar-Berg 9 April 1953 Charlotte
7 October 2000 Luxembourg City
[5 children]
(abdicated)

Henri 16 April 1955 Grand Duchess Maria Living (65 years) Son of
7 October 2000 Betzdorf Teresa Jean
– 4/14 February 1981
present [5 children]

Grand ducal consorts

Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia (first wife of
Grand Duke William I)
Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia (wife of
Grand Duke William II)
Princess Sophie of Württemberg (first wife of
Grand Duke William III)
Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont (second
wife of Grand Duke William III)
 Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau (wife
of Grand Duke Adolphe)
Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal (wife of Grand
Duke William IV)
Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma (husband of Grand
Duchess Charlotte)
Princess Joséphine Charlotte of Belgium (wife of
Grand Duke Jean)
María Teresa Mestre y Batista-Falla (wife of
Grand Duke Henri)

See also
Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg

References
1. "Constitution de Luxembourg" (PDF) (in
French). Service central de législation. Archived
from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2016.
Retrieved 3 April 2016.
2. "Luxembourg strips monarch of legislative role" .
The Guardian. London. 12 December 2008.
Retrieved 4 May 2010.
3. http://www.monarchie.lu/fr/monarchie/finances/in
dex.html
4. "Richest royals: what Europe's royal families
get from their taxpayers - Business Insider" .
5. (in French and German) "Mémorial A, 1907, No.
37" (PDF). Service central de législation.
Archived from the original (PDF) on 26
February 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2008.
 6. "New Ducal succession rights for Grand
Duchy" . Luxemburger Wort. 21 June 2011.
Archived from the original on 19 December
2012. Retrieved 11 July 2011.

External links
Media related to Grand Dukes of Luxembourg at
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