William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

William IV ( born April 22, 1852 Biebrich Palace in Wiesbaden, † February 25, 1912 at Schloss Berg in Luxembourg ) was 1905-1912 Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Duke of Nassau.

Life

William was the eldest son of the Duke Adolph of Nassau (1817-1905) and his wife Princess Marie Adelheid of Anhalt- Dessau (1833-1916), daughter of Prince Frederick Augustus and his wife Princess Marie Louise Charlotte of Hesse- Kassel.

The later Grand Duke of Luxembourg spent his childhood and teenage years in the ancestral Duchy of Nassau. After the annexation of the country by the crown prince of Prussia defeated the military career in the Imperial and Royal Army, which he left again in 1888 after it emerged the prospect of accession to the throne of the House of Nassau -Weilburg in Luxembourg after the death of Crown Prince Alexander of the Netherlands in 1884.

After the swearing in of his father Adolph as Grand Duke of Luxembourg in November 1890, the new Grand Duke took advantage of various official duties before he was entrusted with the exercise of official duties of Head of State on April 4, 1902.

The Protestant Hereditary Grand Duke Wilhelm married on 21 June 1893, the Portuguese Infanta Maria Anna of Braganza, who was Catholic. The six girls erbgroßherzoglichen pair were therefore raised Catholic, like the majority of the population of Luxembourg.

Through his father's death on 17 November 1905, William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg fifth.

Under the reign of Grand Duke William the succession was changed in favor of his eldest daughter Marie -Adélaïde, since it was clear that the absence of male offspring, all lines of the General House of Nassau would be extinct upon his death.

This new rule was controversial, as there were hereditary claims of Count Georg von Merenberg. The Earl was the son of the half-brother of Grand Duke Adolf, Prince Nicholas of Nassau, from whose morganatic marriage with Nathalie Pushkin.

Drawn by a serious illness, Wilhelm 1908 appointed his wife to the regent of the Grand Duchy, before the Grand Duchess Marie- Anne was determined on 13 November 1908 regent. Served in this office until the Grand Duchess Grand Duke William's death on February 25, 1912, before he pursued a second reign through adolescence her daughter Grand Duchess Marie -Adélaïde.

Progeny

William IV was married on June 21, 1893 Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal; with her he had six daughters:

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