The Reuss family

[Robert_Hall]

GDElla mentioned that she gets confused  about this family- Reuss.
Well, join the club. Does ANYONE understand the unique numbering system that this family uses ? I can't figure it out even with the help of several royal genealogical references !
They always show up in royal marriages and such but just who were they ?
Arturo would most likely know, as he understands all the arcane lore of things Gotha, but he is probably very busy  with a Seminar on royalty at the moment.

[grandduchessella]

Ah, so I'm not the only one.    Even Last Courts of Europe by Robert Massie gives up trying to explain it when it had to caption a photo. Basically just says there's a Younger and an Older and leaves it at that. Except for the Kaiser's 2nd wife Hermine I've never had much interest in any of them therefore none in deciphering the 'code'. I guess it helps that they all seem to be 'Heinrich'.    Who on earth ever came up with that and I wonder how the women who married into the family felt about it.

[Svetabel]

Once one prussian princess said that all Princes of Reuss "were stupidly called Heinrich"  . I think The Reuss named their sons in the honour of Emperor Heinrich,had lived in the 14th century.

[Robert_Hall]

The Heinrich bit I can understand, it is the numbering system that gets confusing !

[Martyn]

The numbering thing is quite baffling.....

[Eurohistory]

Not as complicated as some think...one branch of the family started numbering the children from I, II, III, IV, V, etc...beginning with the first born boy at the beginning of a century.  So for example say on January 21, 2000 Princess XYZ Reuß gives birth to a boy, on January 24, 2000 Princess ABC Reuß also gives birth to a boy.

These are the two first Reuß boys in the XXIst century...what number do they get?  The one born on 1/21/00 would therefore be Prince Heinrich I Reuß, while his cousin born three days later would be Prince Heinrich II Reuß...and so on until the last boy born in the XXIst century.

Another branch, which is now extinct, numbered their boys starting from 1 and ending in 50...once they reached 50 they would start with one all over again so you could have two Prince Heinrich I Reuß born in the same century...a bit confusing though.

Eurohistory pulished a study of the Reuß family authored by myself and David mcIntosh last year which includes all the princes and princesses alive today, family trees and history and explanations about the system.

Arturo Beéche

[grandduchessella]

Still seems complicated and rather ridiculous to me.  :-/

[Martyn]

So how did they address each other?  Perhaps thus 'Hello Heinrich I....Good day Heinrich XIV, how are you?'........Bonkers.....

[bluetoria]

Lola Montez, sometime lover of Ludwig I of Bavaria, had a brief fling with one of the princes of Reuss (I think his name was Heinrich !) and described the court in such a way that it sounds exactly like a scene from Citty Chitty Bang Bang or something similar....lots of shaking handkerchiefs & bowing & skipping about. It sounds like Toy Town!  

[Robert_Hall]

Surely they used middle names to differentiate each other. It does seem rather silly though.

[Eurohistory]

Still seems complicated and rather ridiculous to me.  :-/

I am sure they do not see themselves as ridiculous...peculiar certainly, unique, perhaps, but ridiculous?

Arturo Beéche

[Eurohistory]

So how did they address each other?  Perhaps thus 'Hello Heinrich I....Good day Heinrich XIV, how are you?'........Bonkers.....

That I do not know...but they could have had nicknames for each other, which is extremely frequent in royal circles.

Arturo Beéche

[grandduchessella]

I am sure they do not see themselves as ridiculous...peculiar certainly, unique, perhaps, but ridiculous?

Arturo Beéche

I think the system was rather ridiculous--I'm sure the people were quite nice.

Maybe they could do what we do with our Presidents Bush--they're called 41 and 43 (which # president they were). It could be 'hello 33' 'well, hello 19'.

[allanraymond]

The Heinrich bit I can understand, it is the numbering system that gets confusing !

You may find the FAQ for ALT.TALK.ROYALTY  :
http://www.heraldica.org/faqs/atrfaq.htm of some use.

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"How are the Reuss princes numbered and why are they all named Heinrich?"

Allan Raymond

[allanraymond]

Eurohistory pulished a study of the Reuß family authored by myself and David mcIntosh last year which includes all the princes and princesses alive today, family trees and history and explanations about the system.

Arturo Beéche

Arturo

Have you further details of the publication?

Allan Raymond