Sons and Heirs: Succession and Political Culture in Nineteenth-Century Europe(Palgrave Studies in Modern Monarchy)

During the century that followed the defeat of Napoleonic France, Europe experienced its last monarchical age. In spite of profound changes in almost every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life, monarchical systems survived in rude health across the continent and only the First World War would put a dramatic end to many of them. By focusing on the role played by heirs to the throne, this volume offers an original perspective on the ability of monarchies to flourish under the radically altered conditions of the nineteenth century. The contributions consider the place of royal heirs within their families, their education and accommodation, their ability to overcome succession crises, the consequences of the death of an heir and finally the roles royal heirs played during the First World War. Ranging across Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Prussia, Württemberg and Denmark the international team of specialists contributing to this volume paints a portrait that is both analytical and truly European.

Table of Contents:
1. Stabilizing a 'Great Historic System'? Royal Heirs and Succession in the Nineteenth Century; Frank Lorenz Müller PART I: DYNASTIES AS ROYAL FAMILIES 2. Fathers and Sons in the History of the Hohenzollern Dynasty; Christopher Clark 3. Heirs and their Wives: Setting the Scene for Umbertian Italy; Axel Körner 4. Heirs Before the Altar: Hohenzollern Marriages in a Bourgeois Age; Daniel Schönpflug PART II: COURTLY CONTEXTS 5. Education and the Rituals of Monarchy in the Kingdom of Württemberg; Eberhard Fritz 6. Travels With a Camera: The Prince of Wales, Photography and the Mobile Court; Sophie Gordon 7. The Spatial and Architectural Presence of Heirs to the Throne: The Apartments of the Habsburg Crown Princes in the Viennese Hofburg in the Long Nineteenth Century; Richard Kurdiovsky PART III: OVERCOMING SUCCESSION CRISES 8. Domesticating a German Heir to the Danish Throne; Jes Fabricius Møller 9. The Succession of an Unborn King: Constitutional Politics in Spain After the Death of Alfonso XII; Carmina López Sánchez 10. An Italian Heir for the New Century: Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples; Valentina Villa PART IV: THE IMPACT OF DYNASTIC DEATHS 11. 1834 - 1869 - 1891: The Untimely Deaths of Three Heirs to the Belgian Throne; Christoph de Spiegeleer 12. The Impossible Task of Replacing a Model Heir: The Death of Ferdinand-Philippe d'Orléans and the 'New France'; Heidi Mehrkens 13. The Opposition of the Archdukes: Rudolf, Franz Ferdinand and the Late Habsburg Monarchy; Günther Kronenbitter PART V: HEIRS IN THE GREAT WAR 14. A Prince in the Trenches? Edward VIII and the First World War; Heather Jones 15. Wilhelm's War: A Hohenzollern in Conflict 1914-18; Katharine Anne Lerman 16. Germany's Ersatz Kaiser? The Political Opportunities of Max von Baden: Royal Heir and Imperial Chancellor; Lothar Machtan

About the Author :
Frank Lorenz Müller is Professor in Modern History at the University of St Andrews, UK. He works on nineteenth-century Europe and specializes in the history of monarchy. In 2011 he published Our Fritz: Emperor Frederick III and the Political Culture of Imperial Germany. Heidi Mehrkens is Researcher in Late Modern History at the University of St Andrews, UK. She focuses on nineteenth-century European histories of monarchy, media and political cultures. In 2013 she co-edited a volume on German political history, L'espace du politique en Allemagne au XIXe siècle.