Mindaugas II of Lithuania

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Mindaugas II
King of Lithuania
Reign 11 July 1918 – 2 November 1918
Titles Duke of Urach
Count of Württemberg
Born 30 May 1864(1864-05-30)
Birthplace Monaco
Died 24 March 1928 (aged 63)
Place of death Rapallo, Italy
Predecessor vacant, Stanisław August Poniatowski
Successor none
Consort i) Duchess Amalie in Bavaria
ii) Princess Wiltrud of Bavaria
Issue Princess Marie-Gabriele
Princess Elisabeth
Princess Karola
Prince Wilhelm of Urach
Karl Gero, Duke of Urach
Princess Margarete
Prince Albrecht
Prince Eberhard
Princess Mechtilde
Royal House House of Württemberg
Father Wilhelm, 1st Duke of Urach
Mother Princess Florestine of Monaco

Mindaugas II of Lithuania (otherwise known as William Charles Florestan Gero Crescentius, 2nd Duke of Urach (Herzog von Urach) and Count of Wurttemberg, May 30, 1864, Monaco - March 24, 1928, Rapallo, Italy) was elected King of Lithuania, on July 11, 1918. He never assumed the crown, as German authorities declared the election invalid.[1]

Contents

[edit] 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 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.

[edit] 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 second in line to Monaco's throne. 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 in 1924.

In 1913 Wilhelm was one of several princes considered for the throne of Albania[2]; 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.[3]

[edit] 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.

[edit] King of Lithuania

William of Urach descended from the Lithuanian Jagiellon dynasty[citation needed], among others kings Casimir IV of Poland, Vladislas Jagello I of Poland and Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary, as well as Lithuanian monarchs Algirdas and Gediminas, and several medieval princes of Polock, Vitebsk and Smolensk.

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:

  • 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. Four of the twenty members of the Council of Lithuania left in protest. Germany did not recognize Wilhelm as king. Wilhelm never had the chance to visit Lithuania,[4] remaining instead at Lichtenstein Castle his home south of Stuttgart, however he started to learn the Lithuanian language.[5] Within several 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.

[edit] Marriage and children

King Mindaugas and the Royal family
King Mindaugas and the Royal family

Wilhelm was married twice. In 1892, he married Duchess Amalie in Bavaria (1865-1912), daughter of Karl-Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, a sister 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 married Elisabeth Theurer (1899-1988) and had two daughters, Elisabeth and Marie Christine.
  • Karl Gero, Duke of Urach (1899-1981), 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.
  • Prince Eberhard of Urach (1907-1969), who married Princess Iniga of Thurn and Taxis (born 1925) and had issue; including Karl Anselm and Wilhelm Albert the current Duke of Urach and pretender to the Crown of Lithuania.
  • 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.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Holborn, Hajo (1982). A history of Modern Germany. Princeton University Press, p.429. ISBN 0691007977. 
  2. ^ Arben Puto, L'indépendance albanaise et la diplomatie des grandes puissances: 1912-1914 (Tirana: Editions "8 Nëntori", 1982), 456.
  3. ^ Von Cube Essay, 2000
  4. ^ Page, Stanley W. (1959). The Formation of the Baltic States. Harvard University Press, 94. 
  5. ^ Mindaugas Peleckis and Tomas Baranauskas.Karališkojo kraujo paieškos: Lietuva ir šimto dienų karalius. Retrieved in 2007-06-20

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Mindaugas II of Lithuania
House of Württemberg
Born: 30 May 1864 Died: March 24 1928
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