Günther XLIII, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen

by Susan Flantzer

Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen: The County of Schwarzburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1195 to 1595, when it was partitioned into Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The new counties remained in the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution. In 1697, the County of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was elevated to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was elevated to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1710.

The death of Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen without an heir in 1909 caused the Principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen to be united under Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in a personal union. Following his succession in Sondershausen, Prince Günther Victor dropped the name Rudolstadt from his title and assumed the title Prince of Schwarzburg.

At the end of World War I, Prince Günther Victor was the last German prince to renounce his throne, abdicating on November 22, 1918. He made an agreement with the government that awarded him an annual pension and the right to use several of the family residences. The territory that encompassed the Principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen is now located in the German state of Thuringia.

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Credit – Wikipedia

Born on August 13, 1678, Günther XLIII, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was the third but the eldest surviving of the three sons and the third of the seven children of Christian Wilhelm, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and his first wife Antonie Sybille of Barby-Mühlinge.

Günther XLIII had six siblings:

  • Anton Albrecht (1674 – 1680), died in childhood
  • August Wilhelm (1676 – 1690), died in childhood
  • Magdalene Sophie (1680 – 1751), married Count Georg Albert von Schönburg-Hartenstein, had seven children
  • Christiane Emilie (1681- 1751), married Adolf Friedrich II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (third wife), had two children
  • Luise Albertine (1682 – 1765), unmarried
  • Antonie Sibylle (born and died 1684), died in infancy

When Günther was six-years-old, his mother died. Later the same year, Günther’s father married Wilhelmine Christiane of Saxe-Weimar (1658 – 1712). Günther XLIII had eight half-siblings from his father’s second marriage:

  • Johanna Auguste (1686 – 1703), died in childhood
  • Christiane Wilhelmine (1688 – 1749), unmarried
  • Heinrich XXXV, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1689 – 1758), unmarried
  • August (1691 – 1750), married Charlotte Sophie of Anhalt-Bernburg, had six children including Christian Günther III, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
  • Henriette Ernestine (1692 – 1759), unmarried
  • Rudolf (1695 – 1749), unmarried
  • Wilhelm (1699 – 1762), unmarried
  • Christian (1700 – 1749), married Sophie Christine Eberhardine of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, had five children

Elisabeth Albertine of Anhalt-Bernburg; Credit – Wikipedia

On October 2, 1712 in Bernburg, Principality of Anhalt-Bernburg, now in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, Günther married Elisabeth Albertine of Anhalt-Bernburg (1693-1774), daughter of Prince Karl Friedrich of Anhalt-Bernburg and his first wife Sophie Albertine of Solms-Sonnenwalde. Their marriage was happy but the couple had no children.

Günther began to take some governmental responsibility during the reign of his father and by 1720, the government was entirely in his hands. His father died on May 10, 1721, and Günther became the reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. In 1713, a decree had been issued instituting primogeniture. The reigning Prince’s oldest son would be his sole successor, rather than having to share reigning with his younger brother(s) as Günther’s father did.

Jagdschloss zum Possen; Credit – Von Krajo – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1754158

Günther enjoyed hunting and so he built a hunting lodge on the Hainleite, a heavily-wooded ridge of hills near Sondershausen. The name of the hunting lodge, Jagdschloss zum Possen, (Hunting Castle of Antics – link in German) came from a poem written by his half-sister Christiane Wilhelmine.

Günther XLIII, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen died on November 28, 1740, aged 62. His burial site is unknown. Because he had no children, his half-brother succeeded him as Heinrich XXXV, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. His wife Elisabeth Albertine, aged 81, died on July 7, 1774, in Arnstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, now in the German state of Thuringia, surviving her husband by nearly 34 years. Her burial site is also unknown.

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Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Elisabeth Albertine Von Anhalt-Bernburg. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Albertine_von_Anhalt-Bernburg> [Accessed 11 November 2020].
  • De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Günther XLIII. (Schwarzburg-Sondershausen). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_XLIII._(Schwarzburg-Sondershausen)> [Accessed 11 November 2020].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Günther XLIII, Prince Of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_XLIII,_Prince_of_Schwarzburg-Sondershausen> [Accessed 11 November 2020].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/german-royal-burial-sites/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-schwarzburg-sondershausen/> [Accessed 9 November 2020].