by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Note about the Reuss numbering system: All males of the House of Reuss were named Heinrich plus a number. In the Reuss-Greiz, Elder Line, the numbering covered all male children and the numbers increased until 100 was reached and then started again at 1. In the Reuss-Gera, Younger Line, the system was similar but the numbers increased until the end of the century before starting again at 1. This tradition was seen as a way of honoring Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VI (reigned 1191 – 1197) who had benefitted the family. Therefore, the Roman numerals seen after names are NOT regnal numbers.

Principality of Reuss-Greiz: The House of Reuss began their rule circa 1010. Heinrich XI, Count Reuss of Greiz, Lower-Greiz (Untergreiz) and Upper-Greiz (Obergreiz) was elevated to princely status in 1778 and then used the title of Prince Reuss, Older Line, or Prince Reuss of Greiz.

Heinrich XXIV, the last Prince Reuss of Greiz, succeeded his father in 1902 but was unable to rule because of his physical and mental disabilities as a result of an accident in his childhood. Instead, a Regent ruled the Principality of Reuss-Greiz: Heinrich XIV, 4th Prince Reuss of Gera from 1901 – 1913 and then his son Heinrich XXVII, 5th and last Prince Reuss of Gera from 1913 – 1918.

On November 11, 1918, the Regent, Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss of Gera (Younger Line) abdicated in the name of the disabled Heinrich XXIV, 6th Prince Reuss of Greiz. After the abdication, Heinrich XXIV retained the right of residence of the Lower Castle in Greiz and lived there until his death. The territory that encompassed the Principality of Reuss-Greiz is now in the German state of Thuringia.

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Heinrich XIX, 3rd Prince Reuss of Greiz; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on March 1, 1790 in Offenbach, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, now in Hesse, Germany, Heinrich XIX, 3rd Prince Reuss of Greiz was the second but the eldest surviving of the three sons of Heinrich XIII, 2nd Prince Reuss of Greiz and Princess Wilhelmine Louise of Nassau-Weilburg.

Heinrich XIX had two brothers:

• Prince Heinrich XVIII Reuss of Greiz (born and died 1787)
• Heinrich XX, 4th Prince Reuss of Greiz (1794 – 1859), Heinrich XIX’s successor, married (1) Princess Sophie of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, no children (2) Princess Caroline Amalie of Hesse-Homburg, had five children

Upon the death of his father on January 29, 1817, Heinrich XIX succeeded as the 3rd Prince Reuss of Greiz. He married Princess Gasparine of Rohan-Rochefort (1798 – 1871) in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic, on January 7, 1822. Princess Gasparine was the daughter of Charles Louis Gaspard of Rohan-Rochefort, Viscount of Rohan, Prince of Rochefort, Duke of Bouillon and Princess Marie Louise Joséphine of Rohan-Guéméné. The House of Rohan is a family of viscounts, later dukes and princes in the French nobility, originally from Rohan in Brittany, now in France. Gasparine’s paternal grandparents had left France during the French Revolution.

Heinrich XIX and Gasparine had two daughters:

• Princess Luise Caroline Reuss of Greiz (1822 – 1875), married (1) Prince Eduard of Saxe-Altenburg, had one son and one daughter (2) Prince Heinrich IV Reuss of Köstritz (link in German), had one son and three daughters, their daughter Eleonore was the second wife of Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria
• Princess Elisabeth Reuss of Greiz (1824 – 1861), married Karl Egon III, Prince of Fürstenberg, had one son and one daughter

Rotunda in the Greiz Princely Park; Credit – Von Michael Sander – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2533995

The Reuss family had been Lutheran since the Reformation. However, Heinrich XIX’s wife Gasparine was Roman Catholic. Located within the grounds of the Summer Palace was a rotunda that Heinrich XI, 1st Prince Reuss of Greiz had built for his second wife Alexandrine for her extensive Japanese porcelain collection. In 1822, Heinrich XIX converted the rotunda into a Catholic chapel for his wife Gasparine. After World War I, the rotunda was converted into a war memorial and it remains a war memorial today.

Heinrich XIX died on October 31, 1836, aged 46, in Greiz, Principality of Reuss-Greiz. Because Heinrich XIX and his wife only had two daughters, his brother Heinrich XX became the 4th  Prince of Reuss of Greiz. Heinrich XIX was buried at the Stadtkirche St. Marien (link in German), now in Greiz, Thuringia, Germany, along with his wife Gasparine who survived him by 35 years.

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Reuss-Greiz Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Principality of Reuss-Greiz Index
• Profiles: Reuss-Greiz Rulers and Consorts
• Royal Burial Sites of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. (2020). Heinrich XIX. (Reuß-Greiz). [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_XIX._(Reu%C3%9F-Greiz) [Accessed 2 Mar. 2020].
• De.wikipedia.org. (2020). Rotunde (Greiz). [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porzellanrotunde [Accessed 2 Mar. 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2020). Heinrich XIX, Prince Reuss of Greiz. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_XIX,_Prince_Reuss_of_Greiz [Accessed 2 Mar. 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2020). House of Rohan. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Rohan [Accessed 2 Mar. 2020].