View source for Principality of Reuss-Gera

{{Short description|Former sovereign state in western Europe}}
{{Expand German|topic=hist|Reuß jüngerer Linie|date=August 2012}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Principality of Reuss-Gera<br />{{small|{{nobold|(1806–1848)}}<br />{{lang|de|Fürstentum Reuß-Gera}}}}<hr />Principality of Reuss Junior Line<br />{{small|{{nobold|(1848–1918)}}<br />{{lang|de|Fürstentum Reuß jüngerer Linie}}}}
| common_name            = Reuss-Gera
| image_flag             = Flagge Fürstentum Reuß jüngere Linie.svg
| flag                   = 
| flag_type              = 
| image_coat             = Coat of Arms of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz.svg
| coa_size               = 100px
| symbol                 = 
| symbol_type            = 
| image_map              = Reuss-Gera in the German Reich (1871).svg
| image_map_caption      = Reuss-Gera within the [[German Empire]]
| image_map2             = Locator Counties ruled by Reuss Younger Line (1680).svg
| image_map2_caption     = Reuss-Gera within [[State of Thuringia (1920–1952)|Thuringia]]
| government_type        = [[Principality]]
| year_start             = 1806
| year_end               = 1918
| event_start            = 
| date_start             = 9 April
| event_end              = 
| date_end               = 11 November
| p1                     = Imperial County of Reuss
| flag_p1                = Flag of Reuss-Lobenstein.svg
| s1                     = People's State of Reuss
| flag_s1                = Flagge Fürstentum Reuß ältere Linie.svg
| capital                = [[Gera]]
| national_motto         = {{langnf|de|Ich bau auf Gott |I rely on God|break=yes}}
| national_anthem        = {{lang|de|Heil unserm Fürsten, Heil!}}<br/><small>"Hail to our Prince, Hail!"</small><br /><div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;"></div>
| title_leader           = [[Fürst|Prince]]
| leader1                = [[Heinrich XLII, Prince Reuss of Schleiz|Heinrich XLII]]
| year_leader1           = 1806–1818
| leader2                = [[Heinrich LXII, Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich LXII]]
| year_leader2           = 1818–1854
| leader3                = [[Heinrich LXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich LXVII]]
| year_leader3           = 1854–1867
| leader4                = [[Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich XIV]]
| year_leader4           = 1867–1913
| leader5                = [[Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich XXVII]]
| year_leader5           = 1913–1918
| title_deputy           = [[Minister of State]]
| deputy1                = Gustav von Strauch {{small|(first)}}
| year_deputy1           = 1825–1839
| deputy2                = Paul Ruckdeschel {{small|(last)}}
| year_deputy2           = 1918
| today                  = [[Germany]]
}}

The '''Principality of Reuss-Gera''' ({{langx|de|Fürstentum Reuß-Gera}}), officially called the '''Principality of Reuss Junior Line''' ({{langx|de|Fürstentum Reuß jüngerer Linie}}) after 1848, was a [[sovereign state]] in modern Germany, ruled by members of the [[House of Reuss]].<ref name="ghda">{{cite book | title=Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser, Band XVI.|publisher= C.A. Starke Verlag | year=2001 | location=Glücksburg | chapter=Reuß |pages=127–128, 139–140, 592–593 | language=de| ISBN=978-3-7980-0824-3}}</ref> It was one of the successor states of the [[Imperial County of Reuss]]. The Counts Reuss, with their respective capitals and ''[[Residenz]]en'' at [[Gera]],  [[Schleiz]], [[Reuss-Lobenstein|Lobenstein]], [[Köstritz]] and [[Reuss-Ebersdorf|Ebersdorf]], were all elevated to the title of prince (''[[Fürst]]'') in 1806. Their successor branch heads shared that title, while their [[cadet (genealogy)|cadets]] were also each titled prince (''Prinz'').<ref name="ghda"/>  Thus all males of the family were properly "Prince Heinrich ([[Roman numeral]]) Reuss, ''J.L.''", without use of a [[nobiliary particle]], although for convenience their branch names remained in colloquial use (for example, "Prince Heinrich I Reuss of Köstritz").

==Territory==
The territories of four separate branches of the Junior Line amalgamated between 1824 and 1848, at which time the senior branch of Gera retained sovereignty over the surviving cadet branches, which retained succession rights to the princely throne.<ref name="ghda"/> In 1905, the [[principality]] of Reuss Junior Line had an area of {{convert|827|km2|abbr=in}} and a population of 145,000, with [[Gera]] as its capital.

In the aftermath of [[World War I]], the territory of the Junior Line merged with that of the [[Principality of Reuss-Greiz|Elder Line]] in 1919 as the [[People's State of Reuss]], which became part of the new state of [[State of Thuringia (1920–1952)|Thuringia]] on 1 May 1920.

==The princely house==
The House of Reuss practises a unique system of naming and numbering the male members of the family, every one of whom for centuries has borne the name "Heinrich", followed by a [[Roman numeral]].<ref name="ghda"/> While most royal and noble houses assign a [[regnal number]] only to the ruling head of the house, and that in the sequential order of their [[reign]]s, the Reuss Junior Line ("Reuss, J.L.") used a numbering sequence for all male family members which began afresh with the first son born in each century. The male children within a single nuclear family need not bear sequential numbers, as all members of the larger family share the common numbering system. For example, the sons of Prince Heinrich LXVII Reuss of Schleiz, in order of their births, were named Heinrich V, Heinrich VIII, Heinrich XI, Heinrich XIV, and Heinrich XVI, with their male-line kinsmen holding the numerals in between according to the order of their births. In consequence of this naming system, certain heads of the Reuss Junior Line have had the highest numbers attached to their name of any European ruling families. The designation of "Junior Line" was dropped in 1930; the Elder Line ("Reuss, A.L.") had become extinct as its last male member, Heinrich XXIV, renounced his rights as sovereign in 1918 and died unmarried in 1927.<ref name="ghda"/>

In 1927 [[Heinrich XXIV, Prince Reuss of Greiz]] died and his titles passed to [[Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich XXVII]], who became the 1st Prince Reuss and died the next year. His heir [[Heinrich XLV, Hereditary Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich XLV]] was arrested in August 1945 in Ebersdorf by the Soviet military and disappeared. On 5 January 1962 he was [[declared dead in absentia]] and [[Heinrich IV, Prince Reuss of Köstritz]] inherited his rights.

==Counts of Plauen==
One of the younger sub-lines of the branch which ruled the Reuss, J.L. until 1918, includes the "[[Count]]s of [[Plauen]]" from the late 19th century. When Prince Heinrich XXVI Reuss (1857–1913) married Countess Viktoria von Fürstenstein (1863–1949) in 1885, under the strict marriage rules then enforced by the Reuss dynasty, although he was but a younger son of a minor ruling family, their children were not allowed to bear the dynasty's princely title. They were, instead, designated "[[Count]]s of [[Plauen]]", although they remained in the line of succession to the two thrones of Reuss<ref name="ghda"/> The Fürstensteins lacked ''[[Uradel]]'' status: Viktoria's paternal grandfather, [[Pierre-Alexandre Le Camus]] (1774–1824), son of a minor noble French notary living in [[Martinique]], rose to become [[foreign minister]] in [[Jerome Bonaparte]]'s [[Kingdom of Westphalia]], was ennobled there in 1807 and made a count of the [[Kingdom of France (1814–1830)|Kingdom of France]] in 1817).{{check|date=February 2019}}<ref name="lachaise">{{cite web |website=Les Amis et Passionnés du Père-Lachaise (APPL) |url=http://www.appl-lachaise.net/appl/article.php3?id_article=2855 |title=Le Camus Pierre Alexandre, comte de Furstenstein |date=28 December 2009 |language=fr |access-date=8 February 2019 |archive-date=9 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209180025/http://www.appl-lachaise.net/appl/article.php3?id_article=2855 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

When the [[German Empire]] collapsed at the end of [[World War I]], the reigning Prince Reuss lost his crown along with all the other monarchs whose realms were within Germany. In 1927, Henrich XXVI's son, known as Count Heinrich Harry of Plauen (1890–1951), was adopted by his childless uncle, Prince Heinrich XXX (1864–1939), and the now-deposed dynasty agreed to accept him as "Prince Heinrich Harry Reuß", along with those of his male-line descendants born of unions complying with the family's 1902 rules that permitted marriages to countesses (Heinrich Harry's wife, Huberta von Tiele-Winckler was only a baroness in her own right, but belonged to a family of [[Graf|comital]] rank in [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]).<ref name="ghda"/> Their son Heinrich Enzio was thus accepted by the House of Reuss as a prince, but his own marriage to Baron Gustaf [[Swedish nobility|Peyron's]] daughter in 1949 occurred before the Reuss family conference of 1957 which lowered the marital standard again,<ref name="ghda"/> allowing [[royal intermarriage|dynastic inter-marriage]] with baronial families.

In 1992, Prince Heinrich Ruzzo of Reuss, Count of Plauen, a prince of the former sovereign House of Reuss, married [[Anni-Frid Lyngstad]], a former lead singer of the popular 1970s Swedish musical group [[ABBA]]. Since her marriage to the prince, she has held the titles of Princess Reuss and Countess of Plauen with the style of Her Serene Highness. Heinrich Ruzzo died of lymphoma on October 29, 1999, leaving her the titles of Dowager Princess and Countess. She currently resides in Genolier in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. She has shared a home since 2020 with her British partner, [[Henry Smith, 5th Viscount Hambleden]].

Since 1999 the House of Reuss has recognized [[Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss of Plauen]] (German: Heinrich Ruzzo, Prinz Reuß von Plauen) by his formal title, though without official membership in the dynasty or entitlement to the traditional style of ''[[Serene Highness]]''.<ref name="ghda"/> Under German law the title has been allowed only as part of the surname since 1919, thus the name "Heinrich Ruzzo Prinz Reuss."    

===Princes of Reuss-Gera and Counts of Plauen===
{{For|the rulers of Reuss-Gera|Imperial County of Reuss #Rulers of Reuss}}
{{Tree list}}
* {{Tree list/final branch}}''Heinrich I, Count of Reuss-Schleiz 1666–1692 (1639–1692)''
** {{Tree list/final branch}}''Heinrich XI, Count of Reuss-Schleiz 1692–1726 (1669–1726)''
*** ''Heinrich I, Count of Reuss-Schleiz 1726–1744 (1695–1744)''
*** {{Tree list/final branch}} ''Heinrich XII, Count of Reuss-Schleiz 1744–1784 (1716–1784)''
**** {{Tree list/final branch}} '''[[Heinrich XLII, Prince Reuss-Schleiz und Gera|Heinrich XLII]]''', 1st Prince of Reuss-Schleiz 1784–1818 (1752–1818), raised to princely status in 1806
***** '''[[Heinrich LXII, Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich LXII]]''', 2nd Prince 1818–1854 (1785–1854)
***** {{Tree list/final branch}} '''[[Heinrich LXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich LXVII]]''', 3rd Prince 1854–1867 (1789–1867)
****** {{Tree list/final branch}} '''[[Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich XIV]]''', 4th Prince 1867–1913 (1832–1913)
******* {{Tree list/final branch}} '''[[Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich XXVII]]''', 1st Prince Reuss 1913–1928 (1858–1928), monarchy abolished in 1918, inherited [[Reuss-Greiz]] in 1927
******** {{Tree list/final branch}} '''[[Heinrich XLV, Hereditary Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich XLV]]''', 2nd Prince Reuss 1928–''1962'' (1895–''1962''), went missing in 1945, [[declared dead in absentia]] in 1962
** {{Tree list/final branch}} ''Heinrich XXIV, Count of Reuss-Köstritz 1692–1748 (1681–1748)''
*** ''Heinrich VI, Count of Reuss-Köstritz 1748–1783 (1707–1783)''
**** ''Heinrich XLIII, 1st Prince of Reuss-Köstritz 1783–1814 (1751–1814)''
***** Heinrich LXI, Hereditary Prince of Reuss-Köstritz (1784–[[Battle of Kulm|1813]])
***** {{Tree list/final branch}}''Heinrich LXIV, 2nd Prince of Reuss-Köstritz 1814–1856 (1787–1856)''
**** {{Tree list/final branch}}Heinrich XLVIII, Prince of Reuss-Köstritz (1759–1825)
***** ''Heinrich LXIX, 3rd Prince of Reuss-Köstritz 1856–1878 (1792–1878)''
*** Heinrich IX, Prince of Reuss-Köstritz (1711–1780)
**** {{Tree list/final branch}}Heinrich XLIV, Prince of Reuss-Köstritz (1753–1832)
***** {{Tree list/final branch}}[[Heinrich LXIII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz|Heinrich LXIII]], Prince of Reuss-Köstritz (1786–1841)
****** ''Heinrich IV, 4th Prince of Reuss-Köstritz 1878–1894 (1821–1894)''
******* {{Tree list/final branch}}''[[Prince Heinrich XXIV Reuss of Köstritz|Henry XXIV]], 5th Prince of Reuss-Köstritz 1894–1910 (1855–1910)''
******** ''Heinrich XXXIX, 6th Prince of Reuss-Köstritz 1910–1946 (1891–1946)''
********* {{Tree list/final branch}}'''[[Heinrich IV, Prince Reuss of Köstritz|Heinrich IV]]''', 3rd Prince Reuss 1946–2012 (1919–2012), took title in 1962
********** '''Heinrich XIV''', 4th Prince Reuss 2012–present (born 1955)
*********** '''(1)''' Heinrich XXIX, Hereditary Prince Reuss (born 1997)
*********** {{Tree list/final branch}}'''(2)''' Prince Heinrich V (born 2012)
********* {{Tree list/final branch}}Prince Heinrich VII (1927–2002)
**********'''(3)''' Prince Heinrich XIX of Köstritz (born 1974)
**********{{Tree list/final branch}}'''(4)''' Prince Heinrich XXII of Köstritz (born 1976)
****** [[Heinrich VII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz|Heinrich VII]], Lord of [[Trzebiechów, Zielona Góra County|Trebschen]] (1825–1906)
******* [[Prince Heinrich XXXII Reuss of Köstritz|Heinrich XXXII]], Lord of [[Trzebiechów, Zielona Góra County|Trebschen]] (1878–1935), died childless
******* [[Prince Heinrich XXXIII Reuss of Köstritz|Heinrich XXXIII]], Lord of [[Trzebiechów, Zielona Góra County|Trebschen]] (1879–1942)
******** {{Tree list/final branch}}Heinrich II, Lord of [[Trzebiechów, Zielona Góra County|Trebschen]] (1916–1993)
******* {{Tree list/final branch}}Heinrich XXXV, Lord of [[Trzebiechów, Zielona Góra County|Trebschen]] (1887–1936)
******** {{Tree list/final branch}}Heinrich V, Lord of [[Trzebiechów, Zielona Góra County|Trebschen]] (1921–1980)
********* {{Tree list/final branch}}'''(5)''' Prince Heinrich XXVIII Ico of [[Trzebiechów, Zielona Góra County|Trebschen]] (born 1964)
****** Heinrich XII, Lord of [[Staniszów|Stonsdorf]] (1829–1866)
******* Heinrich XXVIII, Lord of [[Staniszów|Stonsdorf]] (1859–1924)
******** Heinrich XXXIV, Lord of [[Staniszów|Stonsdorf]] (1887–1956), line extant '''(6–20)'''
********* Heinrich I, Lord of [[Staniszów|Stonsdorf]] (1910–1982), line extant '''(6–18)'''
********** '''(6)''' Heinrich VIII, Lord of [[Staniszów|Stonsdorf]] (born 1944), line extant '''(7–8)'''
********** '''(13)''' [[Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss|Heinrich XIII]], line extant '''(14)'''
****** Heinrich XIII, Lord of Baschkow (1830–1897), childless
****** {{Tree list/final branch}}Heinrich XV, Lord of Klipphausen (1834–1869), died without sons
***** {{Tree list/final branch}}Heinrich LXXIV, Lord of Jänkendorf and [[Kowary|Neuhoff]] (1798–1886)
****** Heinrich IX, Lord of Jänkendorf and [[Kowary|Neuhoff]] (1827–1898)
******* {{Tree list/final branch}}Heinrich XXVI, Count of [[Plauen]] (1857–1913), line extant '''(21–32)'''
****** {{Tree list/final branch}}Heinrich XXV, Lord of Groß-Krauscha (1856–1911), line extinct
*** Heinrich XXIII, Prince of Reuss-Köstritz (1722–1787), line extant '''(33–36)'''
{{Tree list/end}}

==Other notable figures==
===Reuss zu Köstritz – ''jüngerer Linie''===
* [[Princess Augusta Reuss of Köstritz]] (1822–1862), Grand Duchess of [[Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin|Mecklenburg-Schwerin]]
* [[Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz|Princess Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz]] (1860–1917), [[Tsaritsa consort of Bulgaria|Tsaritsa Consort]] of [[Third Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]]
* [[Princess Magdalena Reuss of Köstritz]] (1920–2009), wife of [[Prince Hubertus of Prussia]]

===Reuss zu Greiz – ''ältere Linie''===
* [[Hermine Reuss of Greiz|Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz]] (1887–1947), widow of Prince Johann of [[Schoenaich-Carolath|Schönaich-Carolath]] and second wife of [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
<references/>

{{Upper Saxon Circle}}
{{States of the Confederation of the Rhine}}
{{States of the German Confederation}}
{{States of the North German Confederation}}
{{States of the German Empire}}
{{Authority control}}
{{coord missing|Thuringia}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reuss-Gera, Principality of}}
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1918]]
[[Category:Imperial County of Reuss|Gera]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1806]]
[[Category:Gera]]
[[Category:States of the Confederation of the Rhine]]
[[Category:States of the German Empire]]
[[Category:States of the German Confederation]]
[[Category:Upper Saxon Circle]]
[[Category:1806 establishments in Europe]]
[[Category:1918 disestablishments in Germany]]
[[Category:19th century in Germany by state]]
[[Category:States of the North German Confederation]]