Fredrick Wilhelm

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TRANSPLANTED MONARCHS OF EUROPE

Through out European history Kings where often placed on the throne of a nation to which was not their nations. For the most part of history this was due to the main royal line dying out, and thus a new monarch was required. When this happened, someone from a secondary or cadet branch of the family was often chosen to be the new monarch and their family became the new royal family. However sometimes the person placed on the throne was not from a secondary branch of the royal family. This person was usually chosen because: i) they were distant blood relations to the past/current monarch and held the best claim to the throne; ii) they were related via marriage - either a present marriage on a past marriage up to hundreds of years ago; iii) they were chosen as a result of an agreement between warring parties to end wars of succession; or iv) in some cases the new monarch had no viable claim over the throne and were chosen either by fellow European Monarchs or the nobles of a particular state.

The last case was the main cause for "new" transplanted monarch's in the late 1800's. New states where being formed, largely in the Balkan areas that were previously under the control of the Ottoman Empire, and monarchy was seen as the best form of government. As these states usually had no local royal/noble house, a new Monarch was usually chosen, or at least approved, by a joint decision of the other major European Crowned Heads.

The choice of a new monarch always involved a lot of politics, and was very important diplomatically. This was especially the case in the late 1700's onwards, as the Monarchs across Europe were moving away from the idea of a absolute rule and towards a more constitutional model of monarchy, hence the some of the odd choices of monarchs. The Great Powers tried to choose monarchs over which they could have a degree of control or influence over.

This list does not include monarchs, who through Personal-Unions of thrones, being vassal states or other similar situations found themselves ruling over a nation that was not from where they were born/from. See below for exclusions under this rule.

The aim of this page is to have a list of all the "transplanted" monarchs of Europe on the one page. There is a bit of background to each of the monarchs, and why they were chosen for their crowns, but for further information on any of them look at their wiki-page (or my references).

Transplanted Monarchs pre-1600

England

William I of England (William the Conqueror) (Ruled 1066-89) - he was a French Prince. He was the Duke of Normandy, a powerful French state. He believed he had a stronger claim to the English throne, than that of Harold of England, and invaded England. At the Battle of Hastings, at Bath, in 1066 he defeated Harold's army, and was proclaimed King of England. This marked the start of a the reign of a series of essentially French rulers of England. France was the language of court, and country, and there started a long-term English involvement in politics and wars of France, so much so that a number of English Kings held claims to be the King of France.

Christopher of Bavaria - King Christian III of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. (Ruled 1439/41/42-48). He was born in 1418, the son of the Count John of the Upper Palatine, today in Germany. He succeeded as the ruler of Denmark, Sweden and Norway in 1440, following the death of his maternal uncle Erik.

Transplanted Monarchs of the 1600's

England, Ireland and Scotland

James I of England, Scotland and Ireland (ruled 1603-25) - was a Scottish prince. His succession to the throne of England marked the start of the Union of Scotland and England, under the one crown. He was born in 1566, at Edinburgh Castle, to Mary, Queen of Scots, and in little over a year found himself ruling, as a one-year old, as King James VI. He was a descendant of King Henry VII, in 1603, after the death of Elizabeth I, found himself ruler of England, as well as Scotland, starting the Stuart dynasty.

William III of England, Scotland and Ireland (ruled 1689-1702) - was a Dutch Prince. He was known as Prince William of Orange, and was the stadtholder of the Seven United Provinces before, and after, his accession to the English throne in 1689. He was invited to rule over England by a group of nobles, due to issues with James II succession and Catholicism, and ruled jointly with James's daughter Mary II, until she died in 1694. It is rightly argued that, in fact, he had invaded and claimed the English throne by force.

Poland

Transplanted Monarchs of the 1700's

Poland

England, Ireland and Scotland

George I, of Great Britain and Ireland (ruled 1714-20) - he was a German prince. He was the Elector of Hanover, a powerful German state, and member of the Holy Roman Empire. He was chosen to succeed to the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland, based on the Act of Settlement 1701. The Act had set down the rules for the future choosing of the Monarchs of England and Ireland, after the death of Anne, sister of Mary II and last Protestant in the Stuart line, and future Queen of England (1702-14). The primary factor was that they were Protestant, not Catholic, thus ending any chance of James II's Catholic children reclaiming the throne for the Stuart House. The closest Protestant in line to the English throne, was Electress Sophia of Hanover, and she was designated as heiress presumptive. She was the granddaughter of James I of England, and a relative of William III. Queen Anne (reign 1702-1714) died just weeks after Sophia had done, so her eldest son, George Louis (German Gorge Ludwig) became King of Great Britain and Ireland.

Russia

Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia (1729-1796 & reign 1762-1796) - she was a German princess. Catherine was born Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, in the Prussian city of Settin. Her father was Prince Christian August, of Anhalt-Zerbst, and her mother [[Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp]]. On 21 August, 1745 at Saint Petersburg Russia, Catherine as she was now know, married Peter, the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, who later became Peter III of Russia. In 1762 Empress Elizabeth of Russia died, and Peter succeeded to the throne as Emperor Peter III, with Catherine as Queen Consort. Within 6 months, a bloodless palace coup had overthrown Peter III, and placed his wife Catherine on the throne. Her only claim to the throne was through marriage. She ended up becoming one of Russian most successful monarchs, and all future Russian monarchs were descended from her son Paul (future Emperor Paul I).

Sweden

Frederick I of Sweden (ruled 1720-51) - was a German prince. He was the eldest son of the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (Germany), Charles I, and Maria Amalia of the Duchy of Courland. In 1715 he married Ulrika Eleonora, sister of Charles XII of Sweden, and in 1718 she became Queen Ulrika of Sweden. She had relied heavily on the advice of Charles, and was so devoted to him, that she stood down and abdicated the throne. The Swedish parliament then elected Frederick the King of Sweden. His dynasty only ended in 1810-18.

Transplanted Monarchs of the 1800's

Sweden

Charles or Carl XIV John of Sweden (ruled 1818-44) - was a Marshal of French. He was born in France, 1763, as Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, to a family of French bureaucrats. He joined the French army, reaching the rank of Marshall of the Empire, in 1804, fighting in many successful wars for Napoleon. He showed high level administrative skills in governing parts of the new French Empire, and independence in decision making. There was no suitable successor in Swedish royal family, and Charles XIII was getting old. In 1810 he was elected by Sweden parliament to be the Crown Prince, and changed sides fighting sucessfully aginst Napoleon. In 1818, Charles XIII dies, and he was proclaimed King Charles XIV John of Sweden, and he succeded to the dual Swedish-Norwegian Crown.

Belgium

Leopold I of Belgium (ruled 1831-65) - was Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield.

Luxembourg

Norway

Bulgaria

Alexander Joseph of Bulgaria (ruled 1879 - 1886) - a German Prince who became the monarch of Bulgaria. He was the second son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and Countess Julia von Hauke. His previous title was Prince of Battenburg. He was made the Prince of Bulgaria - at the time a newly independent principality, which remained under nominal Ottoman sovereignty until 1908. Prince Alexander took the title of knyaz. The 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, essentially was a Russian victory and ended with the Treaty of San Stefano, after the Russians had occupied most of the eastern Balkans and threaten to occupy Constantinople. This gave the Russians the ability to have a large say in the reshaping of the Balkans region. The Treaty of Berlin replaced the Treaty of San Stefano, and in 1878 an independent Bulgaria was created. The new monarch was to chosen by the Bulgarian nobles and the Great European Powers, who insisted it was not to be a Russian. In a concession to Russia Alexander of Battenburg, a nephew of Tsar Alexander II, was selected to rule the new state.

Ferdinand of Bulgaria (ruled 1887 – 1918) - a German Prince who became the monarch of Bulgaria, after Alexander. He was from the Saxe-Coburg royal family.

Romania

Carol I of Romania (ruled 1866 - 1914) - he was a German prince. Carol I was originally Prince Karl Eitel Friedrich Zephyrinus Ludwig of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. He was elected Domnitor (Prince) of Romania on April 20th 1866, after the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, and proclaimed King of Romania March 26th 1881.

Greece

Otto of Greece (ruled 1832-62) - he was a German prince (Bavarian). He was the second son of [[King Ludwig of Bavaria]] and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. He was chosen by the Great Powers to rule over the newly independent state of Greece, after it's long War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire. He was overthrown in a coup in 1862

George I of Greece (ruled 1863 - 1913) - he was a Danish prince, and was born Prince Christian Wilhelm Ferdinand Adolf Georg of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and was the second son of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel).

Transplanted Monarchs outside Europe

Mexico - Emperor Maximillian of Mexico (ruled 1864-67) - was [[Archduke Ferdinand Maximillian]] of Austria.

Brasil Emperor Pedro I of Brasil (ruled 1822-31) - was a Portuguese Prince. He was the son of King John VI of Portugal. The Portuguese Royal Court fled Europe during the reign of Napoleon and set up court in Brazil.

Iraq -

Transjordan (Jordan) -

Exclusions

Due to the Unions of the Scandinavian thrones in the 1400/1500's, a number of the rulers of Sweden, Norway and Denmark were not born in the nation which they ruled over. However there were rightful heirs to the thrones they held, and lived in other Scandinavian states. James I was King of Scotland