List of monarchs of Luxembourg

Coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

The territory of Luxembourg was ruled successively by counts, dukes and grand dukes. It was part of the medieval Kingdom of Germany, and later the Holy Roman Empire until it became a sovereign state in 1815.

Counts of Luxembourg

Elder House of Luxembourg

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Siegfried	922	28 October 998	963 – 28 October 998
	Henry I	964	27 February 1026	28 October 998 – 27 February 1026	his son
	Henry II	1007	16 October 1047	27 February 1026 – 16 October 1047	his nephew
	Giselbert	1007	14 August 1059	16 October 1047 – 14 August 1059	his brother
	Conrad I	1040	8 August 1086	14 August 1059 – 8 August 1086	his son
	Henry III	1070	1096	8 August 1086 – 1096	his son
	William I	1081	1131	1096 – 1131	his brother
	Conrad II	1106	1136	1131 – 1136	his son

House of Luxembourg-Namur

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Henry IV the Blind	1112	14 August 1196	1136 – 14 August 1196	his first cousin

House of Hohenstaufen

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Otto	June/July 1170	13 January 1200	1196 – 1197	his third-cousin once removed

House of Luxembourg-Namur

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Ermesinde	July 1186	12 February 1247	1197 – 12 February 1247	Henry IV's only daughter and Otto's fourth cousin
	Theobald I	1158	13 February 1214	1197 – 13 February 1214	her first husband and co-ruler
	Waleran	1180	2 July 1226	May 1214 – 2 July 1226	her second husband and co-ruler

House of Luxembourg-Limburg

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Henry V the Blond	1216	24 December 1281	12 February 1247 – 24 December 1281	their son
	Henry VI the Condemned	1240	5 June 1288	24 December 1281 – 5 June 1288	his son
	Henry VII	1275/1270	24 August 1313	5 June 1288 – 24 August 1313	his son
	John the Blind	10 August 1296	26 August 1346	24 August 1313 – 26 August 1346	his son
	Charles I	14 May 1316	29 November 1378	26 August 1346 – 1353	his son
	Wenceslaus I	25 February 1337	7 December 1383	1353 – 13 March 1354	his brother

Dukes of Luxembourg

In 1354 the county was elevated to a duchy.

House of Luxembourg-Limburg

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Wenceslaus I	25 February 1337	7 December 1383	13 March 1354 – 7 December 1383	himself as count
	Wenceslas II the Lazy	26 February 1361	16 August 1419	7 December 1383 – 1388	his nephew
	Jobst	December 1351	18 January 1411	1388 – 18 January 1411	his cousin
	Elisabeth I	November 1390	2 August 1451	18 January 1411 – 1443	his heiress & first cousin once removed
	Anthony	August 1384	25 October 1415	18 January 1411 – 25 October 1415	her first husband and co-ruler
	John II the Pitiless	1374	6 January 1425	10 March 1418 – 6 January 1425	her second husband and co-ruler

As Elisabeth had no surviving children, she sold Luxembourg to Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1441 but only to succeed upon her death. Philip captured the city of Luxembourg in 1443, but did not assume the ducal title because of conflicting claims by Anne of Austria, the closest Luxembourg relative.

Claimants

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Elisabeth I	November 1390	2 August 1451	1443 – 2 August 1451
	Ladislaus the Posthumous	22 February 1440	23 November 1457	2 August 1451 – 23 November 1457	her first cousin once removed
	Anne	12 April 1432	13 November 1462	23 November 1457 – 13 November 1462	his sister
	William the Brave	30 April 1425	17 September 1482		her husband and co-pretender
	Elisabeth II	1436	30 August 1505	13 November 1462 – 1467	her sister
	Casimir Jagiellon	30 November 1427	7 June 1492		her husband and co-pretender
	George of Poděbrady	23 April 1420	22 March 1471	1458 – 1471	claimed title as king of Bohemia[1]

House of Valois-Burgundy

In 1467, when Elisabeth II of Austria, last rival claimant to the title, renounced her rights, Philip III's son, Charles, Duke of Burgundy, assumed the title of duke of Luxembourg, making it a subsidiary title of the Duke of Burgundy.

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Philip I the Good	31 July 1396	15 June 1467	1443 – 15 June 1467	Elisabeth I's second cousin once removed and usurper
	Charles II the Bold	10 November 1433	5 January 1477	15 June 1467 – 5 January 1477	his son
	Mary I the Rich	13 February 1457	27 March 1482	5 January 1477 – 27 March 1482	his daughter
	Maximilian I the Last Knight	22 March 1459	12 January 1519		her husband and co-ruler

House of Habsburg

In 1482 Luxembourg passed to the House of Habsburg. After the abdication of Emperor Charles V, the duchy of Luxembourg fell to the Spanish line of the House of Habsburg.

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Philip II the Handsome	22 July 1478	25 September 1506	27 March 1482 – 25 September 1506	their son
	Charles III the Golden One	24 February 1500	21 September 1558	25 September 1506 – 16 January 1556	his son
	Philip III the Prudent	21 May 1527	13 September 1598	16 January 1556 – 13 September 1598	his son
	Isabella Clara Eugenia	12 August 1566	1 December 1633	6 May 1598 – 13 July 1621	his daughter
	Albert	15 November 1559	13 July 1621		his son-in-law
	Philip IV the Great	8 April 1605	17 September 1665	31 July 1621 – 17 September 1665	their nephew
	Charles IV the Bewitched	6 November 1661	1 November 1700	17 September 1665 – 1 November 1700	his son

During the War of Spanish Succession, 1701–1714, the duchy was disputed between Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France, from the House of Bourbon and Charles of Austria, son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, from the House of Habsburg. In 1712 Luxembourg and Namur were ceded to Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria by his French allies, but with the end of the war in 1713 with the Treaty of Utrecht Max. Emanuel was restored Elector of Bavaria. In 1713 the duchy fell to the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg.

House of Bourbon

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Philip V Philippe de France	19 December 1683	9 July 1746	1 November 1700 – 1712	his grandnephew

House of Wittelsbach

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Maximilian II Maximilian Emanuel Ludwig Maria Joseph Kajetan Anton Nikolaus Franz Ignaz Felix	11 July 1662	26 February 1726	1712 – 11 April 1713	his uncle

House of Habsburg

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Charles V Karl Franz Joseph Wenceslau Balthasar Johann Anton Ignatius	1 October 1685	20 October 1740	11 April 1713 – 20 October 1740	his second cousin
	Maria II Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina	13 May 1717	29 November 1780	20 October 1740 – 29 November 1780	his daughter

House of Habsburg-Lorraine

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Francis I François Étienne	8 December 1708	18 August 1765	21 November 1740 – 18 August 1765	her husband
	Joseph Joseph Benedikt August Johannes Anton Michael Adam	13 March 1741	20 February 1790	29 November 1780 – 20 February 1790	their son
	Leopold Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard	5 May 1747	1 March 1792	20 February 1790 – 1 March 1792	his brother
	Francis II Francis Joseph Charles	12 February 1768	2 March 1835	1 March 1792 – 1794	his son

Luxembourg was occupied by French revolutionaries between 1794 and 1813. At the Vienna Congress, it was elevated to a grand duchy and given in personal union to William I of the Netherlands.

Grand Dukes of Luxembourg

The Grand Duke of Luxembourg (or Grand Duchess in the event of a female monarch) is the head of state of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is the world's only sovereign extant Grand Duchy, a status to which Luxembourg was promoted in 1815 upon its unification with the Netherlands under the House of Orange-Nassau.

The Luxembourgian constitution 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.[2]

”

House of Orange-Nassau

Image	Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Reign	Relationship with predecessor
	Guillaume I Willem Frederik (Prince William VI of Orange)	24 August 1772	12 December 1843	15 March 1815 – 7 October 1840	Francis' third cousin and Anne's direct descendant
	Guillaume II Willem Frederik George Lodewijk	6 December 1792	17 March 1849	7 October 1840 – 17 March 1849	his son
	Guillaume III Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk	17 February 1817	23 November 1890	17 March 1849 – 23 November 1890	his son

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.

Name	Portrait	Birth	Marriages	Death	Succession right
Adolphe 23 November 1890 – 17 November 1905		24 July 1817 Wiesbaden (Prussia)	(1) Grand Duchess Elizabeth 31 January 1844 [1 child (stillborn)] (2) Grand Duchess Adelheid-Marie 23 April 1851 [5 children]	17 November 1905 Colmar-Berg	17th cousin once removed of William III
Guillaume IV 17 November 1905 – 25 February 1912		22 April 1852 Wiesbaden (Prussia)	Grand Duchess Marie Anne [6 children]	25 February 1912 Colmar-Berg	Son of Adolphe
Marie-Adélaïde 25 February 1912 – 14 January 1919 (abdicated)		14 June 1894 Colmar-Berg	Unmarried [childless]	24 January 1924 Lenggries (Germany)	Daughter of William IV
Charlotte 14 January 1919 – 12 November 1964 (abdicated)		23 January 1896 Colmar-Berg	Prince Felix 6 November 1919 [6 children]	9 July 1985 Fischbach	Daughter of William IV / Sister of Marie-Adélaïde
Jean 12 November 1964 – 7 October 2000 (abdicated)		5 January 1921 Colmar-Berg	Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte 9 April 1953 [5 children]	Living	Son of Charlotte
Henri 7 October 2000 – present		16 April 1955 Betzdorf	Grand Duchess Maria Teresa 4 February/14 February 1981 [5 children]	Living	Son of Jean

See also

• Coat of arms of Luxembourg
• Duchy of Luxembourg
• Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg
• History of Luxembourg
• Line of succession to the throne of Luxembourg
• List of consorts of Luxembourg
• List of Prime Ministers of Luxembourg

Footnotes

1. History of the Bohemian royal titles based on contemporary documents
2. "Constitution de Luxembourg" (PDF) (in French). Service central de législation. Retrieved 1 July 2007.

External links

• History of titles of the counts and dukes of Luxembourg based on contemporary documents (before 1467)
• History of titles of the dukes of Luxembourg based on contemporary documents (1467-1795)
• History of titles of the grand dukes of Luxembourg based on contemporary documents (since 1814)

References

• Thewes, Guy (July 2003). Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg depuis 1848 (PDF) (in French) (Édition limitée ed.). Luxembourg City: Service Information et Presse. ISBN 2-87999-118-8. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
• (French)/(German) "Archives of Mémorial A". Service central de législation. Retrieved 1 July 2007.