Konrad, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen

Konrad, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen, Duke of Saxony (Given names: Full name: Johann Friedrich Konrad Carl Eduard Horst Arnold Matthias Prinz von Sachsen-Meiningen Herzog Sachsen; born 14 April 1952) is a German businessman and the current head of the Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen.

Prince of Saxe-Meiningen

Prince Konrad was born in Ziegenberg, Hesse, the younger son of Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Menningen. However, he is the only son by his father’s dynastic second wife, Baroness Vera Schaffer von Bernstein (1914-1994). Although he is his father’s second son, Prince Konrad was heir to the headship of the House of Saxe-Meiningen because his father’s first marriage to commoner Margot Grossler was morganatic; and as such, his older half-brother, Prince Friedrich Ernst (1935-2004), did not have dynastic rights.

Upon the death of his father on 4 October 1984, Prince Konrad succeeded to headship of the House of Saxe-Meiningen. Since becoming head of the house, he is sometimes given the titular title Duke of Meiningen, in addition to the title Duke of Saxony which all male members of the House of Wettin bear. In 1996, Prince Konrad began legal proceedings against the Russian government seeking the rehabilitation of property that had been expropriated after World War II by the Soviet Union.

Education and Career

Prince Konrad studied economics at the University of Heidelberg and business management at the University of Gottingen.

Professionally, Prince Konrad is a qualified banker who has worked for various banks as an analyst. Since 1998, he has been an independent advisor specializing in the restructuring of companies, and has also spent time working in the air and car industries.

Currently, Prince Konrad is a partner in the Rudolf Doring Law Firm; and since 2007, he has been Managing Director of GWP German Wind Power GmbH.

Titles and Styles

14 April 1952-present His Highness Prince Konrad of Saxe-Meiningen, Duke of Saxony, Julich, Cleves and Berg, of Engern and Westphalia, Prince of Saalfeld, Landgrave in Thuringia, Margrave of Meissen, Count of Henneberg, Camburg, of the March and Ravensburg, Lord of Kranichfeld, Ravenstein, etc. Konrad styles himself Duke of Saxe-Meiningen.

Succession

Prince Konrad is unmarried. His closet male relative is his nephew, Constantin Prinz von Sachsen-Meiningen (b. 1980), son of his elder morganatic half-brother, Friedrich Ernst Prinz von Sachsen-Meiningen from his second marriage with morganatic Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a half-sister of Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Constantin has a son, Michael (b. July 2015), with Sophia Lupus, although it is unclear whether the parents are married. In addition to Constantin, additional male line descendants of the House of Saxe-Meiningen can be found in the Barons von Saalfeld, who descend from the morganatic marriage of Ernst, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen with Katharina Jensen. Should Prince Konrad fail to de-morganatise either his nephew or the Barons von Saalfeld then upon his death the House of Saxe-Meiningen will became extinct in the male line. The closet heir will be the first non-morganatic member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

House: Saxe-Meiningen

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