Princess Anna of Saxony (b. 1929)
Encyclopedia
Princess Maria Anna Josepha of Saxony, Duchess of Saxony (Full German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 name: Maria Anna Josepha, Prinzessin von Sachsen, Herzogin zu Sachsen) (born 13 December 1929 in Bad Wörishofen
Bad Wörishofen
Bad Wörishofen is a spa town in the district Unterallgäu, Bavaria Germany known for the water-cure developed by Sebastian Kneipp , a Catholic priest, who lived there for 42 years...

, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

) is a Princess of Saxony and member of the House of Wettin by birth and a Princess of Gessaphe and member of the House of Afif-Gessaphe
Saxe-Gessaphe
Saxe-Gessaphe is the name of a family descended in the female line from former kings of Saxony, a member of which has been recognized by the pretender to that throne as eventual heir to the deposed dynasty's rights...

 by marriage. Mathilde is the third child and second-eldest daughter of Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen
Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen
Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen was the head of the Royal House of Saxony.-Life:He was born at Dresden, the second son of King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony and his wife Archduchess Luise, Princess of Tuscany...

 and his wife Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis
Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis
Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis was a Princess of Thurn and Taxis by birth and a Princess and Duchess of Saxony, Margravine of Meissen, and titular Queen consort of Saxony through her marriage to Friedrich...

 and a younger sister of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen
Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen
Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen is the head of the Royal House of Saxony.Born in Schloss Prüfening, Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany as son of Hereditary Prince Frederick Christian of Saxony, Margrave of Meissen and Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis.He and Princess Anastasia of Anhalt ...

, the current head of the Royal House of Saxony and senior claimant to the defunct throne of the Kingdom of Saxony
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...

.

Marriage and issue

Anna married Roberto de Afif, Prince of Gessaphe, son of Alexander de Afif and his wife Maria Atthye, on 1 May 1953 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Anna and Roberto had three sons:
  • Alexander de Afif, Prince of Saxe-Gessaphe
    Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe
    Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe , is the adopted heir of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, and a businessman with Lebanese, Mexican and German roots....

     (born 12 February 1953 in Munich
    Munich
    Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

    )
  • Friedrich Wilhelm de Afif, Prince of Saxe-Gessaphe (born 5 October 1955 in Mexico City
    Mexico City
    Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

    )
  • Karl August de Afif, Prince of Saxe-Gessaphe (born 1 January 1958 in Mexico City
    Mexico City
    Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

    )


In May 1997, Anna's elder brother Maria Emanuel
Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen
Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen is the head of the Royal House of Saxony.Born in Schloss Prüfening, Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany as son of Hereditary Prince Frederick Christian of Saxony, Margrave of Meissen and Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis.He and Princess Anastasia of Anhalt ...

, who has upheld the dynasty's marital standards despite its deposition and exile, recognized her eldest son Alexander de Afif
Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe
Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe , is the adopted heir of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, and a businessman with Lebanese, Mexican and German roots....

 as his heir. By formally adopting him two years later, Maria Emanuel conferred upon Alexander the legal surname of "Prinz von Sachsen" (Prince of Saxony). Thus was created the family of Saxe-Gessaphe, a cognatic
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...

 offshoot of the royal House of Wettin: With the approval of Maria Emanuel, Alexander, his sons and brothers are also known as Princes of Saxe-Gessaphe.

In the spring of 1997, it was announced that the remaining male dynasts of the Royal House of Saxony (presumably Princes Albert
Prince Albert of Saxony
Prince Albert Joseph Maria Franz-Xaver of Saxony, Duke of Saxony is the fourth child and youngest son of Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen and his wife Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis and a younger brother of Maria...

, Dedo, Gero (1925–2003) had met and consented to the designation of Alexander as dynastic heir in the event that none of them leave sons by dynastically valid marriages.

Titles and styles

  • 13 December 1929 – 1 May 1953: Her Royal Highness Princess Anna of Saxony, Duchess of Saxony
  • 1 May 1953 – present: Her Royal Highness Anna de Afif, Princess of Gessaphe, Princess and Duchess of Saxony

Ancestry

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