Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen was Head of the House of Saxony and pretender to the former throne of Saxony from 1968 until he died in 2012. Having no children, his death brought about a dispute over the headship of the family between several of his relatives.

Maria Emanuel, Prince of Saxony was born on January 31, 1926 at Prüfening Abbey in Regensburg, the eldest child of Prince Friedrich Christian of Saxony, Margrave of Meissen, and Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn und Taxis. He had four younger siblings:

  • Princess Maria Josepha (1928) – unmarried
  • Princess Anna (1929) – married Roberto de Afif, had issue
  • Prince Albert, Margrave of Meissen (1934) – married Elmira Henke, no issue
  • Princess Mathilde (1936) – married Prince Johannes Heinrich of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had issue

In 1944, he was arrested due to a letter he wrote against the Nazi regime following the attempted assassination of Hitler. He was transferred to Potsdam to be put on trial. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts and connections of his father, he was charged as a juvenile and avoided the death penalty. Finally, at the end of the war in 1945, he was released and rejoined his family. After studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, Maria Emanuel worked as a painter and graphic artist in Munich, before moving to Switzerland in 1958.

 

On June 22, 1962 in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland, Maria Emanuel married Princess Anastasia of Anhalt. She was the daughter of Prince Eugen of Anhalt and Anastasia Jungmeier. The couple had no children.

Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen died in La Tour-de-Peilz on July 23, 2012. He is buried alongside his parents in the grounds next to the Königskapelle in Karrösten, North Tyrol.

 

SUCCESSION DISPUTE

Having no children, in May 1977 Maria Emanuel named his nephew, Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe, as his heir. Alexander was the son of the Margrave’s eldest sister Anna. A document was drafted, agreed to, and signed by all the other members of the former royal house. Two years later, in September 1999, Maria Emanuel legally adopted Alexander. However, in 2002, three of the family members retracted their agreement. One of them was Maria Emanuel’s younger brother, Albert, who stated that the headship of the family should eventually pass to Prince Rüdiger – the son of their late cousin, Prince Timo of Saxony. Despite this disagreement, Maria Emanuel continued to assert that Prince Alexander was his rightful heir. Following his death in July 2012, both Albert and Alexander claimed the headship of the family. When Albert died just three months later, the dispute intensified. Prince Rüdiger claimed that he was the rightful heir, and assumed the title Margrave of Meissen, just as Prince Alexander had done upon Maria Emanuel’s death.

In 2015, the heads of three Ernestine branches of the House of Wettin – Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Konrad, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen – issued a statement stating that they did not recognize Prince Alexander as Head of the House of Saxony, nor as Margrave of Meissen. It is notable that their statement did not specifically recognize Prince Rüdiger either.

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Saxony Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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