A Jacobite King ?

[justjohn]

Act repeal could make Franz Herzog von Bayern new King of England and Scotland

By Richard Alleyne and Harry de Quetteville
Last Updated: 2:48am BST 07/04/2008

Gordon Brown is considering repealing the 1701 Act of Settlement as a way of healing a historic injustice by ending the prohibition against Catholics taking the throne.


But doing so would have the unforeseen consequence of making a 74-year-old German aristocrat the new King of England and Scotland.

Without the Act, Franz Herzog von Bayern, the current Duke of Bavaria, would be the rightful heir to the British Crown under the Stuart line.

The bachelor, who lives alone in the vast Nymphenberg Palace in Munich, is the blood descendant of the 17th-century King Charles I.

"If it [the Act] goes then the whole Catholic line is reinstated," said Prof Daniel Szechi, a lecturer in early modern history at the University of Manchester.

"Franz becomes the rightful claimant to the throne. We would just exchange one German family for another one."

The Act was introduced as part of the power struggle between Parliament, the Christian churches and the monarchy, then dominated by the House of Stuart.

It prohibits any Roman Catholic from having access to the throne, even through marriage. Once a person marries a "Papist" they shall be "for ever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy the Crown", it asserts.

The legislation effectively severed the Stuart line of succession, a family who favoured Catholicism, and switched it to their distant relatives the Hanoverians, from which our current Queen descends. James II, the son of King Charles, fled into exile.
From Charles I to Franz of Bavaria

The Stuarts stopped making claims to the Crown after the death of Henry Benedict Stuart (known to the Jacobites as Henry IX) in 1807, but there remains bitter feeling among many Catholics at their treatment.

The Royal Stuart Society still holds annual vigils at the bronze statue of Charles I in Trafalgar Square.

The Act of Settlement's reach continues today. Prince Michael of Kent renounced his claim to the throne when he married Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, a Catholic divorcee, in 1978.

Next month Peter Phillips, 30, the eldest grandson of the Queen and 11th in line to the throne, will automatically lose his birthright by marrying Autumn Kelly, a Canadian Catholic.
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The Act has recently come under attack from Church leaders and MPs, in particular Scottish MPs, as an unjustifiable discrimination.

In the face of this new pressure, the Prime Minister indicated he would consider abolishing the legislation as it was "antiquated" and discriminatory.

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, whose brief includes constitutional affairs, said the Government was ready to consider repealing the Act, although he added that it was an extremely complicated issue.

Dr Eveline Cruikshanks, the author of The Glorious Revolution and a former president of the Royal Stuart Society, said: "They ought to repeal the Act. The language is particularly offensive to Catholics and should go."

Patrick Cracroft-Brennan, the editor of Cracroft's Peerage, said that while theoretically the Duke's claim was good, it could never be actioned because Parliament now effectively chose the monarch.

"It is a very interesting hypothesis and theoretically he is the head of the House of Stuart," he said. "But the Government effectively chooses the monarch now and it is highly unlikely to remove the Windsors from the throne."

As for the Duke of Bavaria himself, he is a reluctant heir.

The graduate in economics, who values his privacy, has always laughed off pretensions to the British crown and prefers to concentrate on his modern art collection.

Baron Marcus Bechtolsheim, the president of the administration of the Duke of Bavaria, said: "The Duke generally does not comment on this issue because he sees it as an entirely British question which does not concern him. And he regards it as a purely hypothetical issue.

"Even if this change in Britain happens, it won't change his attitude. All this interest in his opinion makes him smile because, really, he is very happy and satisfied with being the Duke of Bavaria."

[justjohn]

Francis II




Francis II
Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria von Wittelsbach was born July 14, 1933, at Lindwurmstrasse 2a (the hospital of the University of Munich). He is the elder son of Hereditary Prince (later Duke) Albert of Bavaria and of his first wife, Countess Maria Draskovich von Traskotjan. From his birth Francis was recognised by the Jacobites as a "Prince of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Prince of Cornwall and Rothesay". Owing, however, to the fact that his parents' marriage was, at the time of his birth, not considered dynastic as regards succession to the Bavarian throne, Francis was not a dynastic "Prince of Bavaria", in spite of the fact that he was commonly addressed as such. When on May 18, 1949, Francis' grandfather Rupert recognised as dynastic the marriage between Francis' parents, Francis officially became a "Prince of Bavaria".

In 1939, Francis' father Albert took his family to Hungary where they spent most of the war years. In October 1944, however, Francis and his family were arrested by the Nazis. They were imprisoned for seven months in several concentration camps including Dachau. After the war, Francis was educated by the Benedictines at Ettal. He then studied business management at the University of Munich and in Zurich.

At the death of his grandfather Rupert, August 2, 1955, Francis' father Albert succeeded to all of his father's British rights. Francis was henceforward recognised by the Jacobites as "Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland". He now used the title "Hereditary Prince of Bavaria".

At the death of his father Albert, July 8, 1996, Francis succeeded to all of his British rights. He was henceforward recognised by the Jacobites as "King Francis II". As Head of the House of Bavaria he uses the title "Duke of Bavaria". He lives in an apartment in Schloss Nymphenburg.

Francis is Grand Master of the Order of St. Hubertus, of the Military Order of Maximilian-Joseph, and of the Order of St. George. He is also a Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and (since 1960) a Knight of the (Austrian) Order of the Golden Fleece.

Francis takes an active interest in numerous educational, cultural, and charitable organisations. Among the many offices he holds are the following:

* Hereditary Senator of the University of Munich
* Honorary Senator of the "Technische Universität München" (since 1993)
* Member of the Kuratorium of the "Ludwig-Maximilians Universität"
* Honorary Member of the "Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften" (the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities; since 1999)
* Member of the Allgemeiner Rat (since 1984) and of the Akademieleitung (since 1989) of the "Katholische Akademie in Bayern"
* Member of the Kuratorium of the "Hochschule für Philosophie" (the Jesuit School of Philosophy in Munich)
* Member of the Kuratorium of the "Studienseminar Albertinum" (a private Catholic high-school in Munich)
* Honorary Member of the "Katholische Bayerische Studentenverbindung Rhaetia" (a university student organisation)
* Member of the Ehrenkommitee of the "Karl Böhm Stiftung" (an educational organisation for exceptional young musicians)
* Member of the Kuratorium of the "Bayerische Volksstiftung" (a cultural organisation)
* Chairman of the Association of Promoters of the "Alte Pinakothek München" (the Bavarian collection of 14th to 18th century paintings)
* Honorary President of the Friends of the "Ägyptischen Sammlung München" (the Egyptian Museum in Munich)
* Member of the Kuratorium of the Friends and Promoters of the "Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek München" (the Bavarian state museum)
* Patron of the "Stiftung Pinakothek der Moderne" (the foundation supporting the National Bavarian Museum of Modern Art)
* Member of the International Committee of the Museum of Modern Art (New York)
* Honorary President of the "Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung" (an art museum in Munich)
* President of the Kuratorium of the "Stiftung Kunstakademie München"
* Deputy Chairman of the "Galerievereins München" (the association of Munich art galleries)
* Member of the Kuratorium of the "Kunstpreis der Kulturstiftung der Stadtsparkasse München" (an art prize established by a Munich bank)
* Honorary Member of the "Indien-Institut e.V. München" (the Munich association for Indian studies)
* Member of the Kuratorium of the "Europäisches Jugend- Musik-Festival Passau" (the European Festival for Young Musicians Passau)
* President of the Stiftungsrat and Member of the Kuratorium of the "Europäischen Stiftung Kaiserdom zu Speyer" (the foundation supporting the Cathedral of Speyer)
* Co-Patron (with The Archduchess Rudolf) of "Aider Autrui" (a Belgian organisation which builds hospitals in the Balkans)
* National Councillor of the "Malteser Hilfsdienstes" (the German service organisation of the Knights of Malta)
* Protector of the "Bayerischen Sport-Schützen-Bundes" (the Bavarian sports federation)
* Patron of the "Bayerischer Dachshundklub" (the Bavarian Dachshund Club)

In 1996 Francis received an honorary doctorate from Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He speaks English, French, German, and Hungarian.