Monarchy of Luxembourg

Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Groussherzog vu Lëtzebuerg Grand-duc de Luxembourg
Arms of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Incumbent
Guillaume V since 3 October 2025
Details
Style	His Royal Highness
Heir apparent	Prince Charles of Luxembourg
First monarch	William I, King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Residence	Grand Ducal Palace, Berg Castle, Colmar-Berg
Website	monarchie.lu/en

The monarchy of Luxembourg is the institution headed by the grand duke of Luxembourg, ^[a] who is the head of state of the country. Luxembourg has been a grand duchy since 15 March 1815, when it was created from territory of the former Duchy of Luxembourg. It was in personal union with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1890 under the House of Orange-Nassau. Luxembourg is the world's only sovereign grand duchy, and since 1815 there have been ten monarchs, including the incumbent, Guillaume V.

Constitutional role

The constitution of Luxembourg defines the grand duke's position:

The grand duke is the head of state, symbol of its unity, and guarantor of national independence. He exercises executive power in accordance with the constitution and the laws of the country. ^[1]

After a constitutional change (to article 34) in December 2008 resulting from Henri's refusal to assent to a law legalizing euthanasia, laws now no longer require the grand duke's formal assent (implying "approval"), ^[2] but his task of promulgating the law as chief executive remains.

Compensation

The grand duke does not receive a salary, but the grand ducal family receives annually 300,000 gold francs (€281,000) for grand ducal functions. ^[3] In 2017, the Luxembourg budget included €10.1 million for the grand duke's household costs. ^[4]

Succession

Main article: Succession to the Luxembourgish throne

Succession to the throne was governed by Salic law, as dictated by the Nassau Family Pact, first adopted on 30 June 1783. ^[1] The right to reign over Luxembourg was until June 2011 passed by agnatic-cognatic primogeniture within the House of Nassau, as stipulated under the 1815 Final Act of the Congress of Vienna and as confirmed by the 1867 Treaty of London. ^[1] In June 2011, agnatic primogeniture was replaced with absolute primogeniture, allowing any legitimate female descendants within the House of Nassau to be included in the line of succession. ^[5] The Nassau Family Pact itself can be amended by the usual legislative process, having been so on 10 July 1907 to exclude the Count of Merenberg branch of the House, which was descended from a morganatic marriage. ^[6]

An heir apparent may be granted the style "hereditary grand duke" once they reach the age of eighteen. ^[7]

Full titles

The traditional titulatures of the Grand Duke are By the Grace of God, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Nassau, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Count of Sayn, Königstein, Katzenelnbogen and Diez, Burgrave of Hammerstein, Lord of Mahlberg, Wiesbaden, Idstein, Merenberg, Limburg and Eppstein .

It should, however, be noted that many of the titles are held without regard to the strict rules of Salic inheritance and that most, save for Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Duke of Nassau, are simply not used.

List of Grand Dukes

Main article: List of monarchs of Luxembourg

House of Orange-Nassau

Portrait	Name	Lifespan	Reign start	Reign end	Titles	Claim
	Guillaume I	24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843	15 March 1815	7 October 1840 (abdicated)	King of the Netherlands; Grand Duke of Luxembourg	Congress of Vienna
	Guillaume II	6 December 1792 – 17 March 1849	7 October 1840	17 March 1849		Son of Guillaume I
	Guillaume III	17 February 1817 – 23 November 1890	17 March 1849	23 November 1890		Son of Guillaume II

House of Nassau-Weilburg

Under the 1783 Nassau Family Pact, those territories of the Nassau family in the Holy Roman Empire at the time of the pact (Luxembourg and Nassau) were bound by semi-Salic law, which allowed inheritance by females or through the female line only upon extinction of male members of the dynasty. When William III died leaving only his daughter Wilhelmina as an heir in 1890, the crown of the Netherlands, not being bound by the family pact, passed to Wilhelmina. However, the crown of Luxembourg passed to a male of another branch of the House of Nassau: Adolphe, the dispossessed Duke of Nassau and head of the branch of Nassau-Weilburg.

In 1905, Grand Duke Adolphe's younger half-brother, Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau, died, having left a son Georg Nikolaus, Count von Merenberg who was, however, the product of a morganatic marriage, and therefore not legally a member of the House of Nassau. In 1907, Adolphe's only son, William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, obtained passage of a law confirming the right of his eldest daughter, Marie-Adélaïde, to succeed to the throne in virtue of the absence of any remaining dynastic males of the House of Nassau, as originally stipulated in the Nassau Family Pact. She became the grand duchy's first reigning female monarch upon her father's death in 1912, and upon her own abdication in 1919 was succeeded by her younger sister Charlotte, who married Felix of Bourbon-Parma, a prince of the former Duchy of Parma. Charlotte's descendants have since reigned as the continued dynasty of Nassau, and also constitute a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon-Parma.

Portrait	Name	Lifespan	Reign start	Reign end	Titles	Claim
	Adolphe	24 July 1817 – 17 November 1905 (88 years)	23 November 1890	17 November 1905	Grand Duke of Luxembourg; Duke of Nassau	Third cousin of Guillaume III
	Guillaume IV	22 April 1852 – 25 February 1912 (59 years)	17 November 1905	25 February 1912		Son of Adolphe
	Marie-Adélaïde	14 June 1894 – 24 January 1924 (29 years)	25 February 1912	14 January 1919 (abdicated)	Grand Duchess of Luxembourg; Duchess of Nassau	Daughter of Guillaume IV
	Charlotte	23 January 1896 – 9 July 1985 (89 years)	14 January 1919	12 November 1964 (abdicated)		Daughter of Guillaume IV Sister of Marie-Adélaïde
	Jean	5 January 1921 – 23 April 2019 (98 years)	12 November 1964	7 October 2000 (abdicated)	Grand Duke of Luxembourg; Duke of Nassau	Son of Charlotte
	Henri	16 April 1955 (70 years)	7 October 2000	3 October 2025 (abdicated)		Son of Jean
	Guillaume V	11 November 1981 (43 years)	3 October 2025	Incumbent		Son of Henri

Grand ducal consorts

Main article: List of Luxembourgish consorts

• Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia (first wife of Grand Duke William I)
• Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia (wife of Grand Duke William II)
• Princess Sophie of Württemberg (first wife of Grand Duke William III)
• Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont (second wife of Grand Duke William III)
• Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau (wife of Grand Duke Adolphe)
• Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal (wife of Grand Duke William IV)
• Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma (husband of Grand Duchess Charlotte)
• Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium (wife of Grand Duke Jean)
• María Teresa Mestre y Batista (wife of Grand Duke Henri)
• Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy (wife of Grand Duke Guillaume V)

See also

• Grand ducal family of Luxembourg

Notes

1. Luxembourgish: Groussherzog vu Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-duc de Luxembourg, German: Großherzog von Luxemburg

References

1. "Constitution de Luxembourg" (PDF) (in French). Service central de législation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
2. "Luxembourg strips monarch of legislative role". The Guardian. London. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
3. "Le budget | Cour grand-ducale".
4. "Richest royals: what Europe's royal families get from their taxpayers – Business Insider". Business Insider .
5. "New Ducal succession rights for Grand Duchy". Luxemburger Wort. 21 June 2011. Archived from the original on 19 December 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
6. (in French and German) "Mémorial A, 1907, No. 37" (PDF). Service central de législation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2008.
7. "The Constitutional Monarchy". monarchie.lu. Retrieved 3 October 2025.

External links

• Media related to Grand Dukes of Luxembourg at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website of the Grand Ducal Court of Luxembourg