Talk:Princess Maria Adelgunde of Hohenzollern

Suggestions

I'm not sure if it does or doesn't, but if the article belongs under the auspices of WP:WikiProject Royalty and/or WP:WikiProject Germany, then tag this page accordingly; those projects' folks may have some feedback on article improvement or be aware of additional resources. There are several ghits at GoogleBooks in German language; WP:ITW project has links to translation tools if someone's looking for translation assistance. Though there isn't an article on Maria Adelgunde at the de wiki (at least not yet), de wiki editors of other Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen articles may be aware of additional resources. --Rosiestep (talk) 18:27, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Titles

As Germany became a republic shortly before she was born I question whether she had any titles at all. PatGallacher (talk) 20:35, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Does this train of thought apply to all European nobility now citizens of republics? Giano (talk) 21:55, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

In 1919, all titles were abolished. But they didn't disappear: They became an integral part of the bearer's name. Those titles which could previously be multiplied by passing to several offspring became inheritable in this way. The others (such as König, i.e. king) got a special rule that made them die out when the last bearer died. (Source: de:Adelstitel.) That's why there are counts and princes in modern Germany, but no kings. Hans Adler 22:11, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

PS: It must have been hell to grow up with such a name in East Germany. Since the titles were part of the names, they were not abolished with the introduction of communism. Hans Adler 22:12, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Titles are generally given as a courtesy however this article should be titled Princess Maria Adelgunde of Hohenzollern as Sigmaringen was dropped when Hohenzollern-Hechingen died out. Indeed one of the refrences (Online Gotha) says the famillies title is just Hohenzollern and I have books saying the same. - dwc lr (talk) 22:03, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

What are the real names?

Nobody except her relatives and the equivalent of stamp collectors is interested in this woman anyway, but as long as we have an article about her, it should be correct.

1. Our two sources contradict each other concerning the second first name. Is it Adelgunde or Adelgonde?
2. One source indicates she was Prinzessin von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Another first suggests the same but then goes on to say: "The present members of this family bear the title Prince[ss] von Hohenzollern (Serene Highness)." Are these sources talking about her legal last name in Germany or about something else? "Present" is very unclear, and she was born in 1922, probably predating such a change.
3. Did she change her name when she married for the first time?
4. Did she change her name when she married for the second time?
5. Did she change her name when she married for the third time?

These are all very basic things that we usually try to document, not because it's the main point of the article but because we want to be correct and complete about these basic details. This article is really a Gotha entry, so these details are all we have – and it turns out we don't even have all of them. We don't even know her name at the time of her death, because nobody found an obituary. Hans Adler 23:37, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

The Almanach itself lists her as Adelgunde and gives the surname/title as Princess of Hohenzollern. [1] ~~ Phoe _talk ~~ 14:52, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

That doesn't solve the problem without knowing the methodology used by the Almanach. Apparently when she was born her last name was "Prinzessin von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen" (not "Princess of ..."; since it's just a name it hardly makes more sense to translate it than to translate mine. – I am currently living in the UK, and I am not called "Hans Eagle" or "John Eagle" here.) Then much later (it seems) the Hohenzollern-Hechingens died out. Did this magically change the name in her passport? Hardly. She would have had to go to the authorities to have her name changed. Did she do that? Hans Adler 15:08, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

I would say Adelgunde is correct as it’s what is used in Almanach de Gotha’s and Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. Her legal surname would have been “Prinzessin von Hohenzollern”. The Hechingen line died out in 1869 and the Sigmaringen branch adopted title “of Hohenzollern” then. So as she was born after fall of the monarhies her legal surname would have been “Prinzessin von Hohenzollern” but royalty are usually referred to with titles as a courtesy whether the German republic recognises it legally or not, and the princely families still use the titles. No idea whether she changed her names when she married. - dwc lr (talk) 16:25, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

(ec) The "Sigmaringen" was already dropped by her great-great-grandfather Charles Anthony, Prince of Hohenzollern in 1869, when the "Hechingen" branch died out, so it was never a component of her title/surname. ~~ Phoe _talk ~~ 16:32, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

If we are referring to people here under names which are not their legal names in the country where they live(d), but rather shortened versions plus a title that only exists abroad, then I think we should make that very clear. E.g. by a footnote with a wiki link to an article that explains what's going on. But this is all very confusing. Who decides about these "titles as a courtesy"? Wikipedia? The "head" of some family? Where do these courtesy titles apply? Just in encyclopedias? For all purposes in the UK? In Canada? In the US?

Simply listing people with (a) their real name(s) in their country/countries of residence, or (b) the name(s) under which they are known to a wide public seems to be uncontroversial to me. But when it comes to virtually unknown figures whose only appearance in third party sources is in something like a telephone directory, then (b) simply doesn't apply. And we as Wikipedia need to remain neutral and make sure that the fact that only a few fringe sources even mention a person doesn't induce us to put a rubber stamp on illusory claims to non-existent privileges; claims which may not be recognised by any mainstream source.

The bit about 1869 comes unexpected. I simply looked at that Gotha link above and saw members of the -Hechingen branch who died as recently as 1984. Now that I looked again, I even found some who are still alive. Doesn't make much sense to me. Hans Adler 16:44, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

There titles and styles are still given in books like the Genealogiches Handbuch and Almanch de Gotha’s even though the monarchy no longer exists in Germany, also the reference for her “big marriage” uses her and her husband titles. News articles often refer to non reigning royalty with a title. The descendants of the Hechingen line who are alive today are morganatic descendants of the last reigning Prince whose legal surname today will be Graf or Gräfin von Rothenburg. The only people who are generally given a “Prinz/Prinzessin von” surname in wikipeida are the likes of Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt who was adopted as so is not actually a member of a princely family so just has "Prinz von Anhalt" as his surname, . - dwc lr (talk) 17:36, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Not quite true; we do have here, a lady fulfilling all the breeding and marital requirements of an Almanach princess. Giano (talk) 20:52, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Ah, so we actually have an example showing that names are being translated or not depending on the whim of Wikipedia editors or special interest publications with a strong POV? I don't know about you, but for me the idea that Wikipedia supports an anti-republic POV in this way is quite disconcerting. Accurately reporting existing titles is one thing, but making them up out of thin air plus obsolete traditions is an entirely different matter. Is it too much to ask for that Wikipedia respects Germany's status as a republic? Hans Adler 17:55, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

I wouldn’t say Wikipedia promotes an anti-republic pov, titles are still to this day used for non reigning royalty, but the article could note that Germany does not recognise royal/noble titles since 1919. - dwc lr (talk) 23:51, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Succession

Succession to the UK throne is determined by UK statute as well as by genealogy (Royal.gov.uk, official website of the UK Royal Family). The Act of Settlement (and subsequent related Acts) laid down that only Protestant descendants of Princess Sophia - the Electress of Hanover and granddaughter of James I - are eligible to succeed. Parliament, under the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement, also laid down various conditions which the Sovereign must meet. A Roman Catholic is specifically excluded from succession to the throne; nor may the Sovereign marry a Roman Catholic.

Sorry Giano. In this case, the lady isn't in the line of succession, although she is in the line of genealogical descent. Hope this helps. --Elen of the Roads (talk) 12:33, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

This is potentially a BLP article

I had to remove a dubious source. Normally I would trust another editor's claim to have the text of what seems to have been a private paid obituary in the Badische Zeitung. But not if the citation comes with a misleading link to www.badische-zeitung.de (the newspaper's main page) that pretends to go directly to the text of the obituary, a search in the newspaper's stays without result, and the editor in question simply ignores requests to clarify the situation for more than 10 days, while doing other edits in the meantime.

Claims that someone has died are very far-reaching and can have drastic consequences if untrue. We have a high standard for them, and I believe random genealogic websites that are clearly interested only in "titles" rather than the persons behind them (as witnessed by the fact that neither websites mentions the article subject's changes of last name Prinzessin von Hohenzollern -> Hess -> Huber) do not meet this standard. Therefore we cannot claim her death as a fact and this remains potentially a BLP article. Of course a problem of this kind is very unlikely to surface in an article about a notable person. Hans Adler 08:40, 1 September 2009 (UTC)