{"id":87,"date":"2008-05-27T15:51:42","date_gmt":"2008-05-27T20:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=87"},"modified":"2022-02-07T07:19:34","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T12:19:34","slug":"the-last-grand-duchy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/the-last-grand-duchy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Grand Duchy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Luxembourg remains the sole Grand Duchy on the planet. So what exactly is a Grand Duchy? It is a political division led by a Grand Duke or Duchess. This royal position ranks higher than a Duke but lower than a King. A Duke generally controls a province directly below the King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nonetheless, once in awhile a particularly powerful Duke rose to prominence and stood above the ordinary Dukes. Something more meaningful had to be concocted for those cases. Thus, came the title Grand Duke. Think of it as a &#8220;super duke.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"creating-the-luxembourg-situation\">Creating the Luxembourg Situation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d659064.2705820168!2d5.572874458632295!3d49.81483463773738!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x479545b9ca212147%3A0x64db60f602d392ef!2sLuxembourg!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1603485246806!5m2!1sen!2sus\" style=\"border:0;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" aria-hidden=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luxembourg has roots stretching back for centuries. However, the current Grand Duchy situation developed during the political swirl that engulfed Western Europe in the early nineteenth century. The Holy Roman Empire dissolved and Napoleon&#8217;s conquests failed within a few years of each other. Luxembourg sat geographically in a front row seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Congress of Vienna in 1815 set in motion events that created Luxembourg&#8217;s unique situation. It led to a single individual being named both the King of the Netherlands and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The Netherlands gained its independence and Luxembourg became a Dutch dominion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All went well until 1890 when William III died without leaving behind a male heir. The crown of the Netherlands passed to a woman, Queen Wilhelmina. Unfortunately for a whole host of complex reasons dictated by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Salic_law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Salic law<\/a> that I won&#8217;t even attempt to describe, the succession in Luxembourg could only pass to a man. Thus the Netherlands and Luxembourg parted ways amicably. Luxembourg became an independent Grand Duchy governed by a distantly-related male cousin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"modern-luxembourg\">Modern Luxembourg<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"\/blog\/?p=24441\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/lux-1.jpg\" alt=\"Vianden Castle. Photo by howderfamily.com; (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)\"\/><\/a><figcaption>Vianden Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Luxembourg today is a prosperous, sophisticated country strategically placed between Germany, France and Belgium. At 57 by 82 kilometers, it&#8217;s compact but it&#8217;s not &#8220;blink your eyes and you&#8217;ll miss it&#8221; tiny. Indeed there are probably twenty or so countries in the world that are smaller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve traveled to Luxembourg a couple of times and have enjoyed driving through its picturesque countryside and stopping in its towns. Above is a photo I took <a href=\"\/blog\/?p=24441\">during a visit to Vianden Castle<\/a> in the northern part of the country. It conforms to what a castle <i>should<\/i> look like, almost like something from a fairy tale, and has been painstakingly restored in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Last Grand Duchy seems to be doing rather well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luxembourg remains the sole Grand Duchy on the planet. So what exactly is a Grand Duchy? It is a political division led by a Grand Duke or Duchess. This royal position ranks higher than a Duke but lower than a King. A Duke generally controls a province directly below the King. Nonetheless, once in awhile [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,97,96,78],"tags":[565,561,564,562,566,563],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-borders","category-government","category-history","category-international","tag-congress-of-vienna","tag-grand-duchy","tag-grand-duke","tag-luxembourg","tag-salic-law","tag-vianden"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Last Grand Duchy - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Only one Grand Dutchy remains in the world, but what exactly is a Grand Duke? Luxembourg provides the answer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/the-last-grand-duchy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Last Grand Duchy - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Only one Grand Dutchy remains in the world, but what exactly is a Grand Duke? Luxembourg provides the answer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/the-last-grand-duchy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-05-27T20:51:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-07T12:19:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/lux-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheReal12MC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheReal12MC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/the-last-grand-duchy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/the-last-grand-duchy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"headline\":\"The Last Grand Duchy\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-05-27T20:51:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-07T12:19:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/the-last-grand-duchy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":398,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/the-last-grand-duchy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/graphics\\\/lux-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Congress of Vienna\",\"Grand Duchy\",\"Grand Duke\",\"Luxembourg\",\"Salic Law\",\"Vianden\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Borders\",\"Government\",\"History\",\"International\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/the-last-grand-duchy\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/the-last-grand-duchy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/the-last-grand-duchy\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Last Grand Duchy - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/the-last-grand-duchy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/the-last-grand-duchy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/graphics\\\/lux-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-05-27T20:51:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-07T12:19:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"Only one Grand Dutchy remains in the world, but what exactly is a Grand Duke? 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