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The title of Duke of Urach (German: Herzog von Urach) was created in the Kingdom of Württemberg on 28 March 1867 for Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander Ferdinand, Count of Württemberg, with the style of Serene Highness. The first Duke of Urach was the first head of the House of Urach. Urach is pronounced "Oo-raakh" (IPA /uːrɑːx/).
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Family
Wilhelm, 1st Duke of Urach, was the son of Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg (1761-1830) and his morganatic wife, Baroness (Freiin) Wilhelmine von Tunderfeldt-Rhodis (1777-1822), whom he married at Coswig on 23 August 1800. His paternal grandfather was Friedrich II Eugen (1732-1797), from whom all claimants to the Kingdom of Württemberg are descended. Because of his first marriage to Théodolinde de Beauharnais, the first Duke had converted to Roman Catholicism. His second marriage to Princess Florestine of Monaco gave rise to the Monaco Succession Crisis of 1918.
The 2nd Duke of Urach was briefly chosen as Mindaugas II, King of Lithuania in 1918. The family still owns Lichtenstein Castle, rebuilt by the first duke in the 1840s.
Titles and styles
The head of the ducal house is titled as Herzog von Urach (Duke of Urach), his wife as Herzogin von Urach (Duchess of Urach), each of his sons as Fürst von Urach (Prince of Urach; see here), all male members of the family also as Graf von Württemberg (Count of Württemberg), and female members as Fürstin von Urach and Gräfin von Württemberg (Princess of Urach and Countess of Württemberg).
All members of the family are styled as Durchlaucht (Serene Highness).
Dukes of Urach (1867)
All legal privileges of the nobility were officially abolished in 1919 by the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), and nobility is no longer conferred or recognised by the Federal Republic of Germany, former hereditary titles being allowed only as part of the surname.