Luxembourg · 100th anniversary of the death of Wilhelm IV

Guillaume IV, known in German as Wilhelm IV, was born in 1852 as the son of the future Grand Duke Adolph. After the Luxembourg ruling house passed in 1890 from the Dutch line of the House of Orange-Nassau (Haus Oranien-Nassau) to the Nassau-Weilburg line, Guillaume succeeded his father to the throne in 1905. His reign lasted until his death and coincided with a period in which Luxembourg underwent economic and social change through the expansion of the iron and steel industry.

Guillaume IV was married to Maria Anna of Portugal from the House of Braganza. The couple had six daughters but no son. This presented the dynasty with a succession issue, as the applicable house rules fundamentally provided for male succession. A regulation adopted in 1907 recognized the eldest daughter, Marie-Adélaïde, as heir to the throne. This prepared, for the first time, for a woman to succeed to the Luxembourgish throne within the dynasty itself. Because of Guillaume’s serious illness, his wife assumed the regency from 1908. After his death, Marie-Adélaïde succeeded him.

The further connection to Henri runs through Guillaume’s second daughter, Charlotte. She became Grand Duchess in 1919 after Marie-Adélaïde had abdicated. Charlotte’s son Jean reigned from 1964 to 2000; he was succeeded by his son Henri. Guillaume IV is therefore Henri’s great-grandfather. The joint depiction thus refers not only to two officeholders but also to the genealogical continuity of the Luxembourgish grand ducal house through female succession.

The specific occasion for the issue was the centenary of Guillaume IV’s death. The coin places this anniversary within a series in which Luxembourg addresses members of its grand ducal dynasty and their relationships with the respective reigning head of state. At the same time, the occasion commemorates the reorganization of the succession to the throne at that time, which enabled the dynasty to continue.