| Mindaugas II | |
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| Time | 17 July 1869 – 24 March 1928 |
| Predecessor | Wilhelm |
| Successor | Karl Gero |
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| Reign | 11 July 1918 – 2 November 1918 |
| Predecessor | Vacant |
| Successor | Republic declared |
| Spouse | Duchess Amalie in Bavaria Princess Wiltrud of Bavaria |
| Issue | |
| Princess Marie-Gabriele Princess Elisabeth Princess Karola Prince Wilhelm Karl Gero, Duke of Urach Princess Margarete Prince Albrecht Prince Eberhard Princess Mechtilde |
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| House | House of Württemberg |
| Father | Wilhelm, 1st Duke of Urach |
| Mother | Princess Florestine of Monaco |
| Born | 30 May 1864 Monaco |
| Died | 24 March 1928 (aged 63) Rapallo, Italy |
Mindaugas II of Lithuania (born Prince William of Urach, Count of Württemberg; in German Wilhelm Herzog von Urach; May 30, 1864 - March 24, 1928) was elected King of Lithuania, on July 11, 1918. He never assumed the crown, as German authorities declared the election invalid[1] and the invitation was withdrawn in November 1918.
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Early life
Born as HSH Prince Wilhelm Karl Florestan Gero Crescentius of Urach, Count of Württemberg, he was the elder son of Wilhelm, 1st Duke of Urach (the head of a morganatic branch of the Royal House of the then-Kingdom of Württemberg), and his second wife, Princess Florestine of Monaco, occasional acting Regent of Monaco (daughter of Prince Florestan I of Monaco).
At the age of four Wilhelm succeeded his father as Duke of Urach. He was born and spent much of his childhood in Monaco, where his mother Florestine often managed the government while her nephew, Prince Albert I of Monaco, went on long oceanographic explorations. Wilhelm was culturally francophone.
Candidate for various thrones
Through his mother, Wilhelm was the legitimate heir to the throne of Monaco. Wilhelm's cousin Prince Albert I of Monaco had only one son Louis who was unmarried and had no legitimate children. The French Republic, however, was reluctant to see a German prince ruling Monaco. Under French pressure Monaco passed a law in 1911 recognising Louis's illegitimate daughter, Charlotte, as heir; she was adopted in 1918 by her grandfather Prince Albert I. Wilhelm was relegated to third in line to Monaco's throne, behind Louis and Charlotte. Further, in July 1918 France and Monaco signed a treaty requiring that all future princes of Monaco must be French or Monegasque citizens, and must be approved by the French government.[2] After the accession of Prince Louis II in 1922, Wilhelm renounced his rights of succession to the throne of Monaco in favour of distant French cousins, the counts of Chabrillan, in 1924.
In 1913 Wilhelm was one of several princes considered for the throne of Albania[3]; he was supported by Catholic groups in the north. In 1914 Prince William of Wied was selected instead.
In 1917, as a newly-retired general Wilhelm sounded out the possibility of being made Duke of Lorraine after the war was over. In 1918 he accepted the short-lived invitation to reign as Mindaugas II of Lithuania. His claims were published in a 2001 essay by his grandson-in-law, Sergei von Cube.[4]
Military career
Typical of his family, Wilhelm entered the Württemberg army in the 1890s and was a professional general by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, commanding the 26th Infantry Division. Until November 1914 they were part of the German assault on France and then Belgium, where Wilhelm's sister-in-law was queen. In December 1914 the division fought in the battle to cross the Bzura river in Poland. From June to September 1915 the division moved from north of Warsaw to positions close to the Neman River, an advance of hundreds of miles in the campaign in which Poland was taken. In October-November 1915 it took part in the assault on Serbia, moving from west of Belgrade to Kraljevo in less than a month. At Ypres in Belgium from December 1915 to July 1916, the division was largely destroyed in the Somme battles from August to November 1916, holding the Schwaben Redoubt (Württemberg is part of Swabia). Wilhelm retired as a general on January 5, 1917.[5]
King of Lithuania
On June 4, 1918 the Council of Lithuania voted to invite Wilhelm to become the king of a newly independent Lithuania. Wilhelm agreed and was elected on July 11, 1918, taking the name Mindaugas II. His election can be explained by several factors:[6]
- he was Roman Catholic (the dominant religion in Lithuania);
- he was not a member of the House of Hohenzollern, the family to which belonged the German Emperor William II who wanted Lithuania to be a monarchy in personal union with Prussia;
- he had had a successful military career;
- if the Central Powers had won the war, Lithuania could have expected German protection in the event of future intrusions by Russia.
According to Wilhelm's agreement with the Council of Lithuania he had to live in Lithuania and speak its language.
From the beginning Wilhelm's reign was controversial. The four socialists of the twenty members of the Council of Lithuania left in protest. The German government did not recognize Wilhelm's selection as king, though the influential Mattias Erzberger supported the claim, being also a Catholic and from Württemberg. Wilhelm never had the chance to visit Lithuania,[7] remaining instead at Lichtenstein Castle his home south of Stuttgart; however he started to learn the Lithuanian language.[8] Within a few months of his election, it became clear that Germany would lose World War I, and on November 2, 1918, the Council of Lithuania reversed its decision.
In the tiny chapel of Lichtenstein Castle is a framed letter from Pope Benedict XV welcoming Wilhelm's selection as the future king of Lithuania.[9]
Marriage and children
Wilhelm was married twice. In 1892, he married Duchess Amalie in Bavaria (1865-1912), daughter of Karl-Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, a niece of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, and a direct descendant of the Lithuanian princess Louise Caroline Radvila of Biržai. Nine children were born of this marriage:
- Princess Marie Gabriele of Urach (1893-1908)
- Princess Elisabeth of Urach (1894-1962) who married Prince Karl of Liechtenstein (1878-1955), an uncle of Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein, and had issue.
- Princess Karola of Urach (1896-1980)
- Prince Wilhelm of Urach (1897-1957), who morganatically married Elisabeth Theurer (1899-1988) and had two daughters, Elisabeth and Marie Christine, neither of whom married.
- Karl Gero, Duke of Urach (1899-1981), 3rd Duke, who married Countess Gabriele of Waldburg of Zeil and Trauchburg (1910-2005). No issue.
- Princess Margarete of Urach (1901-1975)
- Prince Albrecht of Urach (1903-1969). Married first Rosemary Blackadder and second Ute Waldschmidt. Divorced both of them and had issue by both. His daughter Marie-Gabrielle (aka Mariga) was the first wife of Desmond Guinness. A diplomat and artist turned journalist and expert on the Far East. His marriages were also considered morganatic but his descendants can claim titles that pass in the eldest female line.
- Prince Eberhard of Urach (1907-1969), who married Princess Iniga of Thurn and Taxis (1925-2008) and had issue; including Karl Anselm and Wilhelm Albert the current and 5th Duke of Urach. While a notional pretender to the crown of Lithuania, he has not made a formal public claim. Eberhard's descendants inherit the dukedom on the basis of the Salic law principle of Agnatic primogeniture
- Princess Mechtilde of Urach (1912-2001), who married Friedrich Karl, Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst and had issue.
Though Wilhelm's first wife had died in 1912, two of her ancestors had been elected to rule the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 1700s; August III the Saxon and Stanisław Leszczyński. This may have been a contributory factor in his election as king of Lithuania.
In 1924, Wilhelm married Princess Wiltrud of Bavaria (1884-1975), daughter of King Ludwig III of Bavaria. This marriage was childless.
Bypassed for the throne of Wurttemberg
In 1921 the former king Wilhelm II of Wurttemberg died, without leaving a male heir. While the 2nd duke of Urach was technically the senior male descendant in the Wurttemberg royal family, it had already been decided that the succession would pass to his cousins based at Altshausen because of the morganatic marriage of the parents of the first duke of Urach.
See also
- List of Lithuanian rulers
- Mindaugas
- House of Mindaugas
- Väinö I of Finland
- Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria
- Monaco Succession Crisis of 1918
- Florestan I children
- Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg
References
- ^ Holborn, Hajo (1982). A history of Modern Germany. Princeton University Press. p. 429. ISBN 0691007977.
- ^ 1918 Franco-Monegasque Treaty text
- ^ Arben Puto, L'indépendance albanaise et la diplomatie des grandes puissances: 1912-1914 (Tirana: Editions "8 Nëntori", 1982), 456.
- ^ Von Cube Essay, 2000
- ^ Online history o the division
- ^ See von Cube's essay, op.cit.
- ^ Page, Stanley W. (1959). The Formation of the Baltic States. Harvard University Press. p. 94.
- ^ Mindaugas Peleckis and Tomas Baranauskas.Karališkojo kraujo paieškos: Lietuva ir šimto dienų karalius. Retrieved in 2007-06-20
- ^ Stuttgart archives, HStA. GU 117, file 847: copy of letter from Benedict XV dated 24 July 1918.
External links
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Mindaugas II of Lithuania
Born: 30 May 1864 Died: March 24 1928 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant
Title last held by
Stanisław August Poniatowski |
King of Lithuania 1918 |
Succeeded by Republic established |
| German nobility | ||
| Preceded by Wilhelm, 1st Duke of Urach |
Duke of Urach 1869-1928 |
Succeeded by Karl Gero, 3rd Duke of Urach |
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