Deaths on February 25

William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

Died on February 25, 1912

William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1852)

William IV (Guillaume Alexander; French: Guillaume Alexandre; 22 April 1852 – 25 February 1912) reigned as the Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 17 November 1905 until his death. He succeeded his father, Adolphe.

William was a Protestant, the religion of the House of Nassau. He married Princess Marie Anne of Portugal, believing that a Roman Catholic country ought to have a Roman Catholic monarch. Thus his heirs have been Catholic.

At the death of his uncle, Prince Nikolaus-Wilhelm in 1905, the only other legitimate male in the House of Nassau-Weilburg was William's cousin, Georg Nikolaus, Count of Merenberg, the product of a morganatic marriage. So in 1907, William declared the Counts of Merenberg non-dynastic, naming his own eldest daughter Marie-Adélaïde (1894–1924) as heir presumptive to the grand ducal throne. She became Luxembourg's first reigning grand duchess upon her father's death in 1912, and upon her own abdication in 1919, was succeeded by her younger sister Charlotte (1896–1985). Charlotte's descendants reign until the present day.

To date, William is the last monarch of Luxembourg to die whilst still on the throne.

References

William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

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Events on 1912

6 Mar

Airship
Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces become the first to use airships in war, as two dirigibles drop bombs on Turkish troops encamped at Janzur, from an altitude of 6,000 feet.
15 Apr

Sinking of the RMS Titanic
The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,227 passengers and crew on board survive.
14 Oct

Theodore Roosevelt
While campaigning in Milwaukee, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carries out his scheduled public speech.
17 Oct

First Balkan War
Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
26 Oct

Thessaloniki
First Balkan War: The Ottoman occupied city of Thessaloniki, is liberated and unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.

Deaths on February 25

William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

Died on February 25, 1912

References

Choose Another Date

Events on 1912

Airship

Sinking of the RMS Titanic

Theodore Roosevelt

First Balkan War

Thessaloniki