theroyalfly
Serene Highness
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I am not sure it is a good idea. I know the Royal Decree of 2015 says that the Princes and Princesses can use the titles they hold "by right of ancestry". Germany, however, is now a republic and the titles they are claiming, like Duke of Saxony and Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, are no longer legally recognized.
Apparently, the Belgian government said that, by ceasing to use the Wettin arms, the Belgian Royal House was being hostile to Germany and that wouldn't make sense today 100 years after the Great War. Quite frankly, that is a very odd statement, but, irrespective of suggesting how subservient some EU countries have become to Germany, I don't see how using titles that the Federal Republic of Germany doesn't recognize would be equivalent to extending an olive branch to your neighbors.
Besides, it is also inconsistent. Princess Astrid's children are Princes and Princesses of Belgium who descend in direct female line from King Leopold I. Under Art. 4 of the Royal Decree of 2019, they will use then the new arms of the Princes or Princesses of Belgium who are not the heir, which includes the Saxony arms. However, they are not members of the House of Wettin and are not entitled by ancestry to use the titles of Duke of Saxony or Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as those do not descend in female line. To be consistent with the 2015 decree , they should use the arms of the House of Austria-Este instead.
Please also note that gender equality in the 2019 Royal Decree applies only to the King or reigning Queen. For all other categories in the Royal House, including a monarch who has abdicated, the Duke of Brabant, a generic Prince of Belgium who is not the heir, and a generic Prince who is not a Prince of Belgium, there are differentiated shields for males and females in their respective coats of arms.
The best thing to come out of this Royal Decree in my opinion is that Princess Elisabeth at least got a proper coat of arms as Duchess of Brabant, differentiated from those of her siblings and cousins, which was badly needed. Besides, I personally think that all the proposed designs are quite nice.
Actually, I understand both points. Firstly, I also think it's unnecessary to add anything on the coat-of-arms and the question why it had to wait 6 years for this to happen remains a mystery. Secondly, Albert I decided to change the House name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Belgium in 1920 due to anti-German sentiment so I think, it's pretty unnecessary to include anything about SCG again in the coat-of-arms. Lastly, I think the only coat-of-arms that needs changing is the Duchess of Brabant's. And I'm extremely happy with the result.
But all is well. Philippe might have felt the need to look back on their ancestry. Good thing, they had this recent trip and decided on this.
There's really no problem if we look at the bigger picture.
Well, it is not the coat-of-arms of the House of Saxony, it is the coat-of-arms of the House of Belgium (with an element of Saxony indeed). As the House of Belgium has a gender-neutral titulature, I can understand the use of Arms corresponding with these titles, even while Amedeo is factually an Archduke of Austria, he is still a Prince of Belgium.
The titles of the House Sachsen-Coburg indeed do not exist anymore in the Bundesrepublik Deutschland, but these were part of the official titulature of the princes of the Royal House of Belgium. King Albert's own father Léopold III, his uncle Charles and his aunt Marie-José were all prins (prinses) van België, prins (prinses) van Saksen-Coburg en Gotha, hertog (hertogin) van Saksen. That after WWI King Albert I did interrupt the use of this style, of course does not mean that in 2019 King Philippe, grandson of Léopold III, can not decide to re-use these titles.
Thank you for the clarification, Duc! I also feel that it's unnecessary to reuse their ancestral titles should Philippe decide on this. Ultimately, I think he just felt reconnected to his roots during his trip and decided to act on the coat-of-arms.
All is well.
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