Rüdiger, Margrave of Meissen

Prince Rüdiger Karl Ernst Timo Aldi was born in Mülheim,[1] the only son of Prince Timo of Saxony (1923–1983) and his first wife Margrit Lucas (1932–1957), the daughter of Carl Lucas, a butcher, and his wife Hildegard Stube.[2] Prince Rüdiger's parents were married in Muelheim on 7 August 1952 in what was reported at the time as a "fairytale wedding" between a prince and a butcher's daughter.[3] However, as Lucas was a commoner the marriage was considered morganatic.[4]

Prince Rüdiger had a difficult childhood. His father Prince Timo, who became addicted to morphine after sustaining serious injuries during an autumn 1945 bombing raid on Dresden,[5] had a number of failed jobs. When Rüdiger was aged just 18 months old he was taken by his penniless mother to her father's home in Muelheim. The marriage proved difficult and Rüdiger's mother was in process of divorcing Prince Timo when she found out she was pregnant,[6] later giving birth to a daughter Princess Iris of Saxony (b. 21 de septiembre de 1955).[2]

Having failed to pay child support for his wife and two children, shortly before her death in 1957 the family of Rüdiger's mother had Prince Timo placed under legal guardianship by the courts, meaning that following the death of their mother the children were placed in the care of their maternal grandparents,[3] Rüdiger and his sister's paternal family, grandfather Prince Ernst Heinrich the youngest son of King Frederick Augustus III, and uncles Prince Dedo (1922–2009) and Prince Gero (1925–2003) had emigrated to the Republic of Ireland following the loss of their vast properties in Saxony which became part of communist East Germany.[3]

The widowed Prince Timo's difficulties continued as after residing for a time in homeless shelters and dwellings to escape his creditors, the guardianship court had him admitted into a mental hospital in 1958. He was then treated by psychiatrists for the next seven years until 15 December 1965 when the ruling placing him under legal guardianship was lifted.[3]

After working as a psychologist[1] in 2003 Prince Rüdiger left his home in Westerwald in order to move to Moritzburg, Saxony where he founded with his eldest son Prince Daniel the Wettinische Forstverwaltung (Wettin Forest service).[7] The forest, which is owned as well as run by the royal family, is approximately 1200 hectares in size.[8]

The headship of the Royal House of Saxony is an area of dispute in the Saxon Royal Family. The dispute stems from the fact that the last undisputed head of the house Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, and the other princes of his generation either had no children, or, in the case of Prince Timo, had children who were not recognised as being members of the Royal House of Saxony. The first adopted dynastic heir of Maria Emanuel was his nephew Prince Johannes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, son of his youngest sister Princess Mathilde of Saxony.[9]

After the early death of Prince Johannes, the heirless Maria Emanuel then began to look at his eldest nephew Alexander Afif, the eldest son of Princess Anna of Saxony and her husband Roberto Afif, despite the Afif-Saxony marriage being against the traditional laws of the House of Saxony in the same way as the marriage of Rüdiger's parents was.[9][10] In 1997 the Margrave of Meissen proposed his nephew Alexander Afif as heir and drew up a document that was signed by the other male and female members of the Royal House (including previously morganatic spouses of princes who were now treated as dynasts being attributed the style of Royal Highness; Rüdiger his sons and sister were not involved) setting out that Alexander Afif would succeed on his death. The document was signed by: Anastasia, Margravine of Meissen, Prince Dedo (for himself, his brother Prince Gero and for their stepmother Princess Virginia), Prince Albert and his wife Princess Elmira, the Princesses Maria Josepha, Anna and Mathilde, and Princess Erina the third wife and widow of Prince Timo.[11] Two years later on 1 July 1999 the Margrave adopted his nephew Alexander Afif giving him the family name Prinz von Sachsen Herzog zu Sachsen.[9]

The 1997 agreement proved to be controversial and in the summer of 2002 three of the signatories (Princes Albert, Dedo and Gero, who did not personally sign the document)[12] retracted their support for the agreement.[5] The following year Prince Albert wrote that it is through Prince Rüdiger and his sons that the direct line of the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin will continue, and thus avoid becoming extinct.[13] Prince Rüdiger himself has never accepted the 1997 agreement and when asked for his opinion on who the eventual successor to Maria Emanuel should be he replied that it should be himself.[14]

Following the death of Maria Emanuel in July 2012, Prince Rüdiger recognised Prince Albert (who died three months later) as the new Margrave of Meissen and head of the Royal House of Saxony. The former Alexander Afif citing the 1997 agreement has also assumed those positions.[15] According to the family website prior to his death Albert determined Rüdiger to be his successor and instituted a clear succession plan.[16] On this basis following Albert's death in October 2012 Prince Rüdiger assumed the headship of the house.[17]

Prince Rüdiger has been married twice. His first wife was Astrid Linke (1949–1989), the daughter of Heinz Linke and Elvira Wandke. They were married at Willich on 14 June 1974 and had three sons.[1]

• Prince Daniel of Saxony, Duke of Saxony (b. 1975); married Sandra Scherer, a scientist (b. 1977)[18] and has one daughter, Princess Anna-Catharina Sophie (b. 2013) and one son, Prince Gero (b. 2015).
• Prince Arne of Saxony, Duke of Saxony (b. 1977); married Sarah Schneider (b. 1979) and has two daughters, Princess Rosa (b. 2010) and Princess Frida (b. 2011)
• Prince Nils of Saxony, Duke of Saxony (b. 1978); married Jedida Taborek, a lawyer (b. 1975) and has one son, Prince Moritz (b. 2009) and two daughters, Princess Aurelie (b. 2010) and Princess Felizitas (b. 2015).[19]

After his first wife's suicide, Prince Rüdiger married for a second time in January 2004 to Diana Dorndorf (c. 1959). The marriage was short-lived, however, as the couple divorced in 2008. During his second marriage, Prince Rüdiger placed a lonely hearts advertisement in the German newspaper Bild in the hope of finding a princess to marry.[20]

In 2005 Prince Rüdiger was appointed an honorary knight of the order of Henry the Illustrious.[21]

• Website of the House of Wettin (in German)
• Website of Prince Albert of Saxony (in German)
• Succession in the House of Wettin (in German)
• Wettinische Forstverwaltung (in German)