Who Would Be the Monarchs of Germany Today? 

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My history teacher in school (in Germany) used to joke around like, the reason why every single european monarchy has so much german royal blood is, because we used to have so damn many royals here, we didn't know what to do with them, so in the end we did what we are still good at today: export.

The _really_ strange thing about Otto von Habsburg is that he actually got a state funeral in Vienna, attended by the chancellor and president of Austria at the time and many, many citizens. He arguably had better attendance than he would've had as an actual emperor of austria. There were a few voices who critizised the police escort and other tax payer expenses, but the overwhelming majority of the by then staunchly republican and democratic austria celebrated the life of the last crown prince of the monarchy they rebelled to overthrow. And in a way, austria has this two-faced relationship with its own history to this day - companies still proudly display having been named "purveyor to the court", titles are still spoken with a tone of defferance, big archievments of monarchs that hold up (like, for example, the inception of mandatory school years) are still celebrated - but monarchistic support meassures in the low promille range... it's fascinating to watch as a non-austrian in austria (especially vienna)

One more technicality: Germany allows to keep titles of nobilities as surnames, but Austria does not. So Otto von Habsburg's civil name was simply "Otto Habsburg", while pretty much all the German members of former monarchies have surnames containing "Duke/Duchess" or "Prince/Princess". Since civil law does not care about morganatic marriages and that there can only be one duke, the number of persons with such fancy surnames is probably larger today than the number of real dukes and princes would have been if the monarchies still existed.

In Germany, former titles are considered part of the surname, so a member of a former noble house would be named "Alfred Prince Coockoo", not "Prince Albert Coockoo"

Fun Fact: Ferdinand Habsburg also works as a presenter for F1 races on the Austrian State TV where I saw him for the first time and was really surprised about the name.

The map shown from min. 3:30 onwards is unfortunately wrong. The southern German states of Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden as well as the southern part of the Grand Duchy of Hesse were not part of the North German Confederation. They joined it only in 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War. This gave birth to the German Empire. Baden which lies to the west of Württemberg, is missing from the map, as is Alsace-Lorraine, which was annexed in 1871 and only reverted to France in 1918. The extent of Prussia for the period after the German War is also incorrectly depicted, as the country annexed not only Hanover in 1866, but also other parts of Germany, e.g. Schleswig-Holstein, the Electorate of Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt.

Otto really had a record-breaking reign snatched from him. Good for him for filling his life with plenty of other successes!

When the head of the house of Baden died (shortly after Queen Elizabeth) the funeral guests were unexpectedly international. Although the King Charles got an invitation none of the British Royal Family actually attended (understandably). They sent I think someone from Hessen in their stead. It's always fascinating to see how former german royals and all European aristocracies are connected to each other. I live in a region where even a distant relative of the Swedish royals owns land and the family sometimes even visits. Thank you for this dive into german history

A small note on German 'noble titles'. It is true that the German state does not recognise noble titles, and their bearers are all commoners. However, the 'titles' are treated as part of the official surname.

I love how the hypothetical Kingdom of Hannover would've had 4 King Ernst August in a row. And people make fun of how many Georges the Brits had!

Jacobites consider the man who calls himself the Duke of Bavaria to be the King of Britain.

11:18 For anyone wondering, Georg’s former fiancé was Duchess Maria Amalia of Württemberg. She died unmarried 2 days before her 26 birthday in 1923

I find the German monarchies, noble houses and such to be incredibly fascinating owing to there not really being any all encompassing, overarching German nation for so much of history for it all to become enveloped into (unlike Great Britain for example, where individual kingdoms on the island were annexed/defunct centuries ago). Any more content exploring this part of European history would be eagerly anticipated!

_Slight_ correction: Hannover, Saxony, Bavaria and Wurttemberg were not established in 1814. On that year, they were elevated to the rank of kingdom. Before the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, no country* was allowed to be called "kingdom of x" because it was seen as an attack on the rank of the emperor, which had the title "king of Germany"**. *Prussia got an exemption for siding with the emperor in the war of the Spanish succession **And king of Italy, and all other titles that he owned.

Unfortunately the maps in the beginning are a bit wrong. The North German confederation did not contain the Southern states, and for the empire, you were missing a chunk of land in the South West.

Think of the typical school map/province/state assignments given out. So much work to remember what's where. Great info, Matt.

With the German monarchs you could of ended up with a massive video due to all the Grand Duchies, Duchies, Principalities, Counties etc that still have a recognisable pretender

This type of video is how I originally found your channel, and I always appreciate these. Thanks for another video on this subject.

Two major corrections on the map. The south german states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and the southern part of Hessen) were not part of the North German Confederation in 1866. They only joined in late 1870 and thus the empire was formed. Also the aforementioned Großherzogtum Baden was completely forgotten in the map aswell as the annexation of Elsass-Lothringen.

I would like to note that the heir to the House of Hanover has two children which like himself are in the british line of succession. Should he for some reason or other become King of the UK and of Hanover the crowns would split yet again as his daughter (firstborn) would become Queen of the UK and his son (secondborn) King of Hanover. Plus the current head of the House of Hanover has a daughter who is in line to the Throne of Monaco being the youngest child of his second wife a monegasque Princess.

The titles of the German nobility are not actually 'entirely unofficial' today - when the Monarchy was abolished in 1918, these were turned into their actual last names/surnames. So i.e. Georg Friedrich's actual name on his passport is 'Georg Friedrich Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen' - 'Prince of Prussia' being his surname! So he is actually a Prince - it's part of his name! (and his children etc. as well are all Princes/ses because of this, the name is adjusted to each person's gender). Though of course this legally doesn't mean anything, it's just an unusual name. This is different to Austria where titles were completely abolished, so the Habsburg family is actually legally just, for example, 'Karl Habsburg-Lothringen' on their passports (plus a few more given/first names that I've left out here)

Hanover really just went “yep, no name is gonna be better than Ernst August”

Great video! I've always been fascinated by the German royal houses especially Bavaria as I love the place. And as a Scottish native, I find it funny how our rightful king James III was deposed because he was Catholic and the UK ended up choosing a German relative to rule the UK so all the British royal family are descended from him yet the rightful descendant of James III also ended up being German - Franz Duke of Bavaria 😂 German ruler either way... amazing!

One of the advantages of having so many sovereign states is that their monarchies, whether king, prince, grand duke, or duke, were considered royal for the purposes of marriage, because they were sovereign states in a confederation, later empire. Other royal houses made matches with German princesses, so they're all interrelated

0:15 The word "Kaiser" is simply the german translation of emperor. Especially saying that the german emperor was ''called Kaiser'' while not using the german title names for the other monarchs is somewhat misleading. Either call both emperors Kaiser or neither

3:00 There is a little inaccuracy on the map. At the time of the German Confederation, the Austrian Empire still included Lombardy-Venetia, an then just Vetetia.

Little Correction on the Bavarian Kings: King Otto was king until his death in 1916. But because of his mental illness, Ludwig III. was declared King in 1913, so that Bavaria had two kings during this time. Note: Otto never reigned himself, so after 1913 it was only a title, while Ludwig was the reigning king.

You mentioned that the claimant to Emperor of Austria would also be King of Bohemia. Being of Czech descent, I'm wondering if there are any descendants of Czech rulers who could also claim this crown.

Fascinating! Stumbled upon your channel by chance. Nice work!

The death of Kaiser Friedrich was really tragic and I am not even saying that because of his liberal ideas but because Wilhelm I missed his birthday by just two weeks, Friedrich ruled so shortly that he did not have a birthday while on the throne. At their birthday there was celebration and the Kaiser gave out gifts to the children of Berlin and so on but there was no Kaiser birthday for almost two years because of that, hard times man Really interesting video as always Matt! Even as a German I didn’t know that they still use male lines only. I know that they did historically and I never looked into their modern house rules, I guess I just assumed that they would have changed it by now

The german former monarchs intermarrying "just in case" is the funniest and most ominous part of this whole video

Hello Matt Baker! Love your content ♥️

I personally was quite surprised to see the Koháry last name in the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family tree. Since I live in the same locality where the House of Koháry had their estates, properties, etc.

Danke für das video, es war sehr interessant.

The "hi, this is Matt Baker" opening always sounds like you're leaving a voicemail. And then I get a kick out of thinking of the whole thing as a very earnest, infodump-y voicemail just for me :)

VERY interesting video! Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Can you do the minor houses too? Can't leave us hanging with all those dukes, grand or not etc.

Can you do something on the Monarchs of the Deccan Plateau? The Nizam of Hyderabad was literally the richest man in the world, and his Asaf Jahi dynasty followed the Qutb Shahi Dynasty, who along with 4 other Sultanates were called the Deccan Sultanates, which all ruled land previously ruled by the Bahmani Empire

Nice vid, thanks Matt

You realy make a very interesting video. Thank you for uploading.

Great work in total; the issue with the North German Confederation have been mentioned already. But there is a big lack of knowledge: there is a third Kaiser in Germany. His name is Franz Beckenbauer.

Thank you for the video. Some suggestions: I think you should have put the pictures of the people that followed the head of the house line for each house. Also, I don't understand why you cut so hard a line between kingdoms and duchys, etc. There are many monarchies (Baden, Luxembourg, Monaco, Lietchestein, Milan, Parma, etc) that could make nice content for future videos.

Really great video there Mr Baker! I love your videos they are amazingly presented and you are a fantastic narrator as are all the other people who do these videos as well. Thank you so much for your videos they are amazing! GOD Bless you and all those who you love!

Thank you for this. Ive read about the history of Austria and Germany. The research is good. I like the contemporary link.

You should make some videos on the more recently abolished kingdoms all in 1 video, such as Romania, Bulgaria etc.

You should do the dukes and grand dukes next

Wow, this is incredible research and presentation. It assists even the novice historian to gain a basic understanding of the histories of the monarchies. I am wondering if you retain all of these detailed facts of intricate relationships between the different monarch lines.

Loved this video so much. Very interesting

I was hoping you would do ALL of the parts of the HRE-like the principalities, and say Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Hesse, and all those little ones who had princes or grand dukes or dukes but they did rule their little corner of the HRE. That would be a really fun chart!

My old friend Anton Brzezinski once met a Hapsburg who was grandson of the last emperor of Austria, Ferdinand Hopf; he was a very friendly and generous man who might have been in the Royal family if history had gone different (he was very well off, even offering his new friend use of his Paris apartment; which like most offers he humbly never took them up on.) Personally, anyone who offers to do me a favor; I take into serious consideration.

Very interesting video!

This channel is excellent, good on you.

cool heraldry map at the end. would be cool to see the heirs of the duchies etc and what you say about them. Personally interested as it mentions the former free cities, among them Luebeck my birth place, who sadly lost its status, but has a rich history from being the first town given city right (and others modelled after) over leader of the Hansa League to defying Napoleon's troupes (they only lost due a traitor opening the gates).

Excellent video. I have always been interested in German monarchies since a kid. Not sure why, as a black american kid, I was drawn to it but it's so very interesting.

Great Video!

This truly is one of the most useful of useful charts.

I got this notification while I was writing down the Belgian royal family tree, while watching your other video! 👍🏼

Otto von Hapsburg was a great man who got involved in Democratic politics and during the cold war, I believe towards the end, he had a friendship picnic. Where the borders of Austria, Germany and Czechia meet people from all three countries met and mingled-not crossing each others border. There is actually a table with benches there where if 3 people sit, there is one person in each country. Otto was a wonderful peacemaker. AND, In Hanover, Ernst August was married to Princess Thyra of Denmark, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. Her brothers were the Kings of Denmark, Norway and Greece and her sisters were Queen Alexandra of the UK, Tzarina Dalmar (Maria Feodorova) of Russia-mother of Nicholas II the last Tzar. I'd say those kids married well.

Fascinating!

Very nice presentation! Although you left out Baden and Elsass-Lothringen from the map...

There were a whole lot more kingdoms, duchies, and principalities than that in German-speaking Europe! Not to mention Lichtenstein, which still exists. Look at a map of the German Empire before the Great War. Each of those two dozen bits of territory were internally sovereign with its own crown.

That patchwork is why I am here today. When Bismarck was busily mopping up, or unifying the Germanies one of my great grandfathers was sixteen and about to be drafted. He didn't fancy being cannon fodder so he fled to America, where he already had a brother working a farm. He had no money for the passage so he stowed away, was found, and worked his passage on a ship.

One may add that while the Kingdom of Hannover was annexed by Prussia, the royal family were also next in succession to the much smaller Duchy of Brunswick when the Duke died without heir (I think sometime in the 1880s). However, due to the Hannover line not accepting the Prussian conquest of their country, the Prussians blocked the succession in Brunswick for decades. I think it was in 1913 when Ernst August III married a Prussian princess (as visible at 15:51) that he was allowed to become Duke of Brunswick. So even if the Kingdom of Hannover would not be resurrected, he and his line would be Dukes of Brunswick.

Always like a update

Small correction for the map at 3:30: The North German Federation of 1866 actually didn't include Bavaria and Württemberg (and some other southern states) - these only joined when the Empire was founded 5 years later (during the franco-german war). (Also, the German Emperor stayed King of Prussia in Personal Union, didn't abolish this title.) I'm waiting for the family trees of all the other german monarchies (grand duchies, duchies, principalities) too.

I can’t believe there was a cousin marriage on this chart and it was NOT in the house of Habsburg

Really interesting!

Great video

The German word for 'Emperor' is Kaiser which is what both countries called their respective monarchs. I am perplexed as to how anyone could refer to the Kaiser von Österreich (Austria) as anything other than Kaiser.

16:30 Funfact to Hamburg as a free Reichstadt the Mayor of the City was on the same level as a Duke. And there is even a saying "A Hamburg mayor kneels or bows the head to no one, neither to an emperor nor to the church" It is also customary for the mayor to stop on the last step to greet his guests, the Only exception was Queen Elizabeth II but only due to that our Mayor helped her up the staris

Thank you for sharing Who Would Be the Monarchs of Germany 🇩🇪 Today?

Fascinating.

Duly done! This is of extreme importance.

There is an error in your explanations: The Kingdoms of Bavaria and Würtemberg did not belong to the North-German Federation between 1866 and 1871. They were integrated with the German Reich from 1871 after they had joined the Franco-Prussian War becoming the Franco German War of 1870/71.

Useful indeed

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Maybe you can do a series charting the Family trees of the different German Royal Houses! Some of them actually had an influence far beyond Germany. For example, as you have stated, the Hanoverian state was once in a personal Union with Great Britain and later the UK. Also, the first King of Greece was Otto from the House of Wittelsbach (but he was eventually deposed and the former Greek Royal Family is from the House of Glucksburg). Also, a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern once sat on the throne of Romania and the Royal Family of Bulgaria is actually part of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (he even had a brief stint as Bulgaria’s prime minister).

Nice video but i missed a bit the fact that the current Duke of Bavaria spend the most time of his childhood in a Nazi-concentration camp since the bavarian Royal Family was also against the regime.

Most interesting!

Let’s go Useful Charts pumping out these 4K Remakes

This is inaccurate. The electors of Saxons were also dukes. The issue is that the title “Duke of Saxony” was used by many divided parts due to gavelkind succession in one branch of the House of Wettin. Incidentally the Albertine and Ernestine branches of the Wettins and their many many Saxonies would be a fun topic for this channel.

There is a little mistake at 3:30. The borderline does not include the south of the Grand Duchy of Baden. And after 1871 Alsace Lorraine was part of the German Empire as well. So the border in the German southwest is a little bit off.

Good job Matt

Thanks

I would love a video on the various major chassidic dynasties and their family trees (e.g. Lubavitch, Satmar, Ger, Bobov, Izhbitz, Vizhnitz, Karlin, Belz, Sanz, etc.). There is a ton of interesting history there, at the intersection of geopolitics, philosophy, and religious studies that I'm sure your subscribers would be interested in.

6:00 The use of the title "Prince of Prussia" is actually not unofficial in Germany today. After WW1, nobility and royalty were indeed abolished in Germany, however former members of noble and royal houses were allowed to officially keep their rank by including it in their surnames. So, technically, the official names and surnames of the current heads of german houses are Georg Fridrich Prinz von Preussen, Max Hertzog in Bayern etc.. This however is not the case in Austria, where not only was noble titles were abolished but also surname noble particles. So the official, legal name the head of the house of Habsburg in Austria today is not Karl Erherzog von Österreich (as would be the case in Germany), and not even Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, but just Karl Habsburg-Lothringen.

You briefly mentioned Electors, and how they are different from Dukes, etc. It would be really interesting (from this Lutheran's point of view) for you to do a video on the Holy Roman Empire in the lead-up to and conclusion of the Smalkald Wars.

Oh wow i searched this up yesterday and realized you didn’t have a video on germans and then you upload this

Actually in Germany your title from prince on down, is part of your name, unlike as in Austria where even the use of the "von" is restricted.

As a proud Württemberg monarchist, I'll present a few interesting facts about the Württembergers for those who are interested: - King Wilhelm II was regarded by the citizens as a beloved and popular king. He was greeted by the inhabitants of Stuttgart when walking through the city with his dogs with the words: "Grüß Gott, Herr König" (Greetings, King), and Wilhelm II would then doff his hat in return and give the children sweets. - Duke/Crown Prince Albrecht of Württemberg became commander-in-chief of the 4th Army on the Western Front at the start of WWI on 2 August 1914. He was instrumental in the victory at the Battle of Neufchateau in the Ardennes. Under his command, the infamous attack by semi-trained war volunteers at Langemarck in the First Battle of Flanders (transfigured into the myth of Langemarck) and the first poison gas attack on 22 April 1915 at Ypres in the Second Battle of Flanders also took place. He was considered one of the most capable German army commanders of the World War. Due to his military merits, Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded him the Order Pour le Mérite on 22 August 1915 and the Oak Leaves on 25 February 1918. He also appointed him Prussian Field Marshal on 1 August 1916. From 7 March 1917, he commanded the entire southern section of the Western Front from Verdun to the Swiss border as Commander-in-Chief of Army Group "Duke Albrecht". In contrast to the Prussian Crown Prince Wilhelm and the Bavarian Crown Prince Rupprecht, he remained at his post after the outbreak of the November Revolution until immediately before Christmas 1918 and led the troops of the army group under his command safely back home. He was also critical of National Socialism (as was much of the Catholic nobility in Germany) and no high-ranking National Socialist appeared at his funeral in October 1939. Adolf Hitler merely sent a wreath. There were also no Nazi banners. - Duke Carl of Württemberg had been a Familiare of the Teutonic Knights since 1979, and on 21 May 2009 he was made an Honorary Knight of the Commandery of Tauber, Neckar and Lake Constance. He was a very good friend of King Juan Carlos I of Spain and on 31 May 2002 Pope John Paul II presented him with the Commander's Cross of the Pontifical Order of Knights of St Gregory the Great. - Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg, the current head, is directly related to the last King of Württemberg. He is a direct descendant of the last Crown Prince, Albrecht Duke of Württemberg. The last King of Württemberg, Wilhelm II, had only one daughter, Princess Pauline (1877-1965), who married Prince Friedrich Hermann zu Wied (1872-1945), who had been Prince zu Wied since 1907. But Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg is a great-great-great-grandson of King Wilhelm II of Württemberg on his mother's side through Princess Pauline zu Wied and thus also a descendant of the royal line of Württemberg.

This amazing because i was born in germany but moved to england aged 7 with my family. This is amazing to learn about more about my home country since i learned about england and the uk in history

Georg Friedrich looks strikingly like Kaiser willhelm

3:35 - The maps presented are really a bit of a mess! Firstly, you simply forgot to integrate the dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein, Hesse, Nassau and Frankfurt into Prussia. Why do you change the borders in the case of Hanover but not in the case of the other states? They have been an integral part of the Kingdom of Prussia from that point on. Secondly, it is presented as if Baden had not been part of the empire. Pay close attention to 3:31. The red line retreats behind Baden, although with the founding of the Empire in 1871, the borders on the contrary even extended to Alsace-Lorraine.

One thing I had wondered was who'd be Poland's monarch today (whether that be the partition never happening, the November 11th Act being fulfilled or the proposal to restore the Polish Crown in 1989 had been carried out) but then I thought, I'm not sure if that would be possible given Poland was an elected monarchy.

Moin aus Celle, sehr interessant. 👍👍👌👌

12:38 Damn Daniel look at that succession dispute!

This guy has no clue, the emperor is Franz Beckenbauer.

5:10 I would like to point out that even though prince Wilhelm fought in ww2 he most definitely was not a nazi In fact he was opossed to the nazis and he was involved in a coup against them (the Oster Conspiracy)

Great video can you make a video of who will be the monarch of Mexico