H.R.H. Grand Duke Adolphe

Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Nassau became the first Grand Duke of Luxembourg of the Luxembourg-Nassau Dynasty on 23 November 1890. He is the eldest son of Duke William of Nassau and Duchess Louise, born Princess of Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

He married Princess Adelheid Marie of Anhalt-Dessau. They had five children, but only two survived to adulthood:

• Crown Prince Guillaume (1852–1912);
• Prince Frederick (1854–1855);
• Princess Marie Bathildis (1857–1857);
• Prince Francis Joseph (1859–1875);
• Princess Hilda (1864–1952).

Grand Duke Adolphe died on 17 November 1905 in Hohenburg in Bavaria.

In order to prepare himself for the role of Duke of Nassau, Adolphe received rigorous training and private lessons. He also studied for two years in Vienna. At the age of 22, on the sudden death of his father, he was propelled to the throne of the Duchy of Nassau in 1839.

Under his reign, the Duchy of Nassau turned into an exemplary and modern state. Duke Adolphe was the first German prince to grant his people freedom of the press, a people's army, a liberal bureaucracy and a constitution by the time of the March 1848 revolution. In 1851, however, these concessions were revoked in the Duchy of Nassau, as in most other member states of the German Confederation.

In 1855, William III, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Adolphe, Duke of Nassau jointly created the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau to commemorate the division of the House of Nassau into two branches (Walramian and Ottonian) in 1255 and to bear witness to their good understanding 600 years later. This order is common to both branches of the House of Nassau.

In 1858, Duke Adolphe created the Ducal Order of Civil and Military Merit of Adolphe of Nassau. These two orders, symbols of the monarchy, are still awarded in Luxembourg today, albeit in a modified form.

With the death of Prince Alexander of Orange in 1884, the Dutch-Luxemburgish heir to the Throne, Duke Adolphe realised that he could lay claim to the Throne of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. In July 1888, he visited the royal family of the Netherlands and consulted the German government on his rights to the Throne of the Grand Duchy. In September 1888, he reconciled with the Hohenzollern family while visiting the German Emperor Wilhelm II on the island of Mainau. Meanwhile, the Luxemburgish Minister of State Paul Eyschen defended Adolphe's interests in Luxembourg.

In April-May 1889 and again in November 1890, he assumed the Regency in Luxembourg for the seriously ill King Grand Duke William III. Upon the latter's death on 23 November 1890, Duke Adolphe acceded to the Throne of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as male heir and head of the Nassau-Weilbourg lineage, in accordance with international treaties and the Luxembourg Constitution.

In 1891, he acquired the late King's estates in Luxembourg, including the Castles of Berg and Fischbach, the ruins of Vianden Castle and the Grünewald forest. He had the 16th-century Grand Ducal Palace of Luxembourg enlarged and refurbished, largely at his own expense.

Grand Duke Adolphe left governing and any political responsibility to the experienced Minister of State Paul Eyschen. He showed himself to be a benevolent and affable gentleman with a pronounced sense of duty and resolutely defended Luxembourg's independence while consolidating the position of the Grand Duchy on the international stage.