Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

Marie-Adélaïde
Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
Reign	25 February 1912 – 14 January 1919
Predecessor	William IV
Successor	Charlotte
House	House of Nassau-Weilburg
Father	William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Mother	Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal
Born	14 June 1894(1894-06-14)
Died	24 January 1924 (aged 29)

Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Marie Adélaïde Theresia Hilda Antonia Wilhelmina vu Lëtzebuerg; French: Marie Adélaïde Thérèse Hilda Antonie Wilhelmine; Berg Castle, 14 June 1894 – Schloss Hohenburg, 24 January 1924) was a daughter of Grand Duke William IV of Luxembourg and Marie Anne of Portugal. Her maternal grandparents were Miguel of Portugal and Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg.

Eldest of six sisters, she was proclaimed heir presumptive on 10 July 1907, to solve the succession crisis. Thus, when her father died on 25 February 1912, she became the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. She was also the first sovereign of Luxembourg since 1296 to have actually been born within the country.

She was highly interested in politics and took an active part in the government and the political life of the Grand Duchy. During World War I, she enjoyed a rather cordial relationship with the German occupiers, for which she was harshly criticized after the end of the war. Although she had not done anything unconstitutional, voices in Parliament began to demand her abdication in January 1919. At the same time, prominent political figures in both neighbouring France and Belgium espoused annexationist plans towards the Grand Duchy and thus had a vested interest in discrediting Marie-Adélaïde. After consulting with the Prime Minister, she abdicated on 14 January 1919, and was succeeded by her younger sister Charlotte.

Marie-Adélaïde entered a Carmelite convent in Modena, Italy in 1920. Later, she joined the Little Sisters of the Poor in Rome, taking the name "Sister Marie of the Poor". Her worsening health did not allow her to remain a nun, however, and she eventually had to leave the convent. She then moved to Hohenburg Castle in Bavaria, where she died of influenza in 1924. On 22 October 1947, her body was interred in the Ducal Crypt of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in the city of Luxembourg.^[1]

[edit] See also

• German occupation of Luxembourg in World War I

[edit] References

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