Duke Philipp of Württemberg

Duke Philipp of Württemberg (July 30, 1838, Neuilly-sur-Seine – October 11, 1917, Stuttgart) was a German prince, head of the Roman Catholic cadet branch of the dynasty which ruled the Kingdom of Württemberg. He was the son of Duke Alexander and of Princess Marie d'Orléans, a daughter of Louis Philippe, King of the French.
Upon the death of his cousin Duke Nicholas of Württemberg in 1903, he became heir presumptive to the royal throne of Württemberg. He never succeeded to the crown because on 29 November 1918, when Württemberg's monarchy was abolished in the collapse of the German Empire following World War I, his kinsman of the senior branch of the dynasty, Wilhelm II, was still king (and lived, after his abdication, until 2 October 1921).

Marriage and issue

In 1865 Philip of Württemberg married Archduchess Marie-Thérèse of Teschen (1845–1927) (daughter of Archduke Albert, Duke of Teschen and Princess Hildegard of Bavaria). They had five children:

• Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg (1865–1939), who succeeded as Head of the House of the Royal House; married and left issue
• Duchess Marie Amélie of Württemberg (1865–1883)
• Duchess Maria Isabella of Württemberg (1871–1904); married, in 1894, Prince Johann Georg of Saxony
• Duke Robert of Württemberg (1873–1947); married, in 1900, Archduchess Maria Immakulata of Austria (1878–1968); no issue
• Duke Ulrich of Württemberg (1877–1944)

Ducal branch of the royal dynasty

Philip of Württemberg belonged to the fifth branch (called the "Ducal branch") of the House of Württemberg, descended from the seventh son of Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg. On the extinction of the eldest branch in 1921, the Catholic ducal line remained the only dynastic branch of the formerly reigning family. The House of Württemberg's two morganatic branches - that of the Dukes of Teck (extinct in the male line in 1981), and of the Dukes of Urach - were genealogically senior to the Ducal branch, but had been ineligible to succeed to the throne.

Philip is the direct ancestor of the current claimant to the Kingdom of Württemberg: Carl, Duke of Württemberg.

Ancestry