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Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a Duchy (from 1815 a Grand Duchy) in northeastern Germany, formed by a partition of the Duchy of Mecklenburg. Ruled by the Nikloting dynasty, it was a relatively poor state along the Baltic littoral. After the fall of the monarchies in 1918, it remained a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. In 1933, after the onset of Nazi rule, it was united with the smaller neighboring state of Mecklenburg-Strelitz to form the united state of Mecklenburg.

Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1352-1815

Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1815-1918

Presidents of the State Ministry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1850-1919

Minister-Presidents of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1919-1933

Hereditary Grand Dukes and claimants

After the loss of the monarchy, the native grand ducal line of Mecklenburg-Schwerin survived incontestably for almost a century, but has recently gone extinct with the death of Frederick Francis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1910-2001), the eldest son and heir of the last reigning Grand Duke.

The ruling family of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, collaterals of this Schwerin branch, faced its practical extinction already much earlier, either in 1918 or in 1934: Grand Duke Adolf Frederick VI made suicide on 23 February 1918, just before the end of the monarchy. The only other surviving agnate of Strelitz, his cousin duke Charles Michael (d 1934), being in Russian service, had in 1914 renounced his rights to succession of Strelitz (though possibly not of Schwerin). Their only living male-line relative was Count George Alexandrovich Carlow (d 1962), morganatic son of Charles Michael's elder brother. Thus, there were no dynastic male heirs of the Strelitz line. In the unclear and possibly heirless situation, Grand Duke Frederick Francis IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (possibly the rightful heir, though the case was yet under adjudication) was in 1918 appointed as the regent of the small grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and the depositions of German monarchs soon ended both these grand duchies.

After the sonless deaths of his great-uncle duke Adolf Frederick of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d 1969) and his only brother duke Christian Ludwig of Mecklenburg (d 1996), the childless hereditary grand duke Frederick Francis V confirmed the Count of Carlow's (d 1962) male-line descendants as dynasts of Mecklenburg with rights to succession in Mecklenburg states.

The count of Carlow himself had been adopted by his uncle, duke Charles Michael of Mecklenburg, and thus already became known as Duke George of Mecklenburg (the title recognized also by Kiril Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia, the first Head of the Russian Imperial House in exile). Carlow's grandson is the present George Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg, claimant to the two grand duchies since Fredrick Francis V's death.

Their dynastic status is under dispute, depending on the validity of the act of Frederick Francis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d 2001) to recognize this family as dynasts of Mecklenburg.

See also

States in Weimar Republic | States of the German Empire | States of the German Confederation | States of the Confederation of the Rhine | States of the Holy Roman Empire | Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Mecklenburg-Schwerin | 메클렌부르크-슈베린 | Mecklenburg-Schwerin | Mecklenburg-Schwerin | Mecklenburg-Schwerin | Мекленбург-Шверин

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Mecklenburg-Schwerin".

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