Coat of Arms of The Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein; Credit – Wikipedia
After the death of his maternal uncle Adolphus VIII, Duke of Schleswig, Count of Holstein in 1459, King Christian I of Denmark succeeded to the titles Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein. From 1459 until 1863, Schleswig and Holstein were under control of the King of Denmark. In 1474, the County of Holstein became the Duchy of Holstein. There were periods of time when Kings of Denmark ruled Schleswig and Holstein alone, ruled jointly with their brothers, and times when they allowed their brothers to rule Schleswig and Holstein. At other times when the House of Holstein-Gottorp, a cadet branch of the Danish House of Oldenburg ruled the duchies. However, from 1766 – 1863, without interruption, the Kings of Denmark reigned over the Duchy of Schleswig and the Duchy of Holstein.
In November 1863, Prince Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg claimed the twin duchies after the death without a direct male heir of King Frederik VII of Denmark. King Christian IX of Denmark, the successor of King Frederik VII, also claimed the duchies.
In 1864, following the Second Schleswig War, the Duchy of Holstein and the Duchy of Schleswig became occupied territories of the German Confederation and two years later, following the Austro-Prussian War, the duchies became part of the Kingdom of Prussia as the Province of Schleswig-Holstein. However, Prussia recognized the head of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg as the *mediatized duke of these two duchies, with the rank and all the titles but without the right to rule as Schleswig-Holstein was a part of the Kingdom of Prussia. After 1918, when the Kingdom of Prussia was abolished, the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein became pretenders. The territory that was once the Duchy of Schleswig and the Duchy of Holstein is now the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.
*mediatize – to annex a state (usually a monarchy) to another state (usually another monarchy), while allowing certain rights to its former sovereign and heirs
Below is an indexed listing with links to biographical articles about the mediatized dukes and the pretenders after 1918. Also listed below are links to the Schleswig-Holstein Content Areas.
House of Oldenburg (1459 – 1863)
See Unofficial Royalty: Kingdom of Denmark Index for articles on the other Kings of Denmark who were also the Duke of Schleswig and the Duke of Holstein.
- LAST REIGNING: Frederik VII, King of Denmark, Duke of Schleswig, Duke of Holstein (1848 – 1863)
House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1864 – present)
Mediatized Dukes
- Friedrich VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (mediatized duke 1864 – 1880)
- Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein (wife of Friedrich VIII)
- Notable Issue: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, German Empress, Queen of Prussia
- Notable Issue: Ernst Gunther, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (see below)
- Ernst Gunther, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (mediatized duke 1880 – 1918, pretender 1918 – 1921)
- Dorothea of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein (wife of Ernst Gunther, no children)
Pretenders to the Throne
- Former: Albert, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (pretender 1921 – 1931)
- Former: Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (pretender 1931 – 1934)
- Former: Wilhelm Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (pretender 1934 – 1965)
- Former: Peter, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (pretender 1965 – 1980)
- Former: Christoph, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein (pretender 1980 – 2023)
- Current: Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein (pretender from 2023)
- Current Heir:
Other Schleswig-Holstein Royals
- Caroline Amalie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Queen of Denmark (daughter of Friedrich Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg)
- Vilhelmine Marie of Denmark, Princess Frederik of Denmark, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (wife of Karl, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg)
- Luise of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont (daughter of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg)
- Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, (son of Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, son-in-law of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom)
- Viktoria Adelheid of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (daughter of Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg)