Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a
Duchy (from
1815 a
Grand Duchy) in northeastern Germany, formed by a partition of the Duchy of
Mecklenburg. Ruled by the
Nikloting dynasty, it was a relatively poor state along the
Baltic littoral. After the fall of the monarchies in
1918, it remained a constituent state of the
Weimar Republic. In
1933, after the onset of
Nazi rule, it was united with the smaller neighboring state of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz to form the united state of Mecklenburg.
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Albrecht II 1352-1379
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Albrecht III 1379-1412
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Magnus I 1379-1385
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Heinrich III 1379-1383
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Albrecht IV 1383-1388
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Johann IV 1385-1390
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Johann II of Mecklenburg-Stargard 1390-1417
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Albrecht V 1417-1423
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Johann V 1423-1442
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Heinrich IV 1423-1477
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Albrecht VI 1464-1483
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Johann VI 1464-1474
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Magnus II 1477-1503
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Heinrich V 1503-1552
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Magnus III (died 1550)
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Albrecht VII 1503-1547
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Johann Albrecht I 1547-1576
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Johann VII 1576-1592
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Sigismund Augustus 1576-1603
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Adolf Friedrich I 1592-1628
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Johann Albrecht II 1592-1610
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Albrecht von Wallenstein 1628-1631
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Johann Albrecht II (restored) 1631-1658
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Christian Ludwig I 1658-1692
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Friedrich Wilhelm 1692-1713
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Karl Leopold 1713-1747
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Christian Ludwig II 1747-1756
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Friedrich II 1756-1785
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Friedrich Franz I 1785-1815
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Friedrich Franz I 1785-1837
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Paul Friedrich 1837-1842
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Friedrich Franz II 1842-1883
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Friedrich Franz III 1883-1897
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Friedrich Franz IV 1897-1918
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Hans Adolf Karl Graf von Bülow 1850-1858
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Jasper Joachin Bernhard Wilhelm von Oertzen 1858-1869
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Henning Carl Friedrich Graf von Bassewitz 1869-1885
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Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow 1886-1901
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Karl Heinrich Ludwig Graf von Bassewitz-Levetzow 1901-1914
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Adolf Ferdinand Helmut August Wilhelm Langfeld 1914-1918
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Hugo Wendorff (
DDP) 1918-1919
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Hugo Wendorff (DDP) 1919-1920
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Hermann Reincke-Bloch (
DVP) 1920-1921
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Johannes Stelling (
SPD) 1921-1924
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Joachim Freiherr von Brandenstein (
DNVP) 1924-1926
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Paul Schröder (SPD) 1926-1929
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Karl Eschenburg (Consortium of National Mecklenburgers) 1929-1932
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Walter Granzow (
NSDAP) 1932-1933
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Hans Egon Engell (NSDAP) 1933
After the loss of the monarchy, the native grand ducal line of Mecklenburg-Schwerin survived incontestably for almost a century, but has recently gone extinct with the death of
Frederick Francis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1910-2001), the eldest son and heir of the last reigning Grand Duke.
The ruling family of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz, collaterals of this Schwerin branch, faced its practical extinction already much earlier, either in 1918 or in 1934: Grand Duke
Adolf Frederick VI made suicide on 23 February 1918, just before the end of the monarchy. The only other surviving agnate of Strelitz, his cousin duke Charles Michael (d 1934), being in Russian service, had in 1914 renounced his rights to succession of Strelitz (though possibly not of Schwerin). Their only living male-line relative was
Count George Alexandrovich Carlow (d 1962),
morganatic son of Charles Michael's elder brother. Thus, there were no dynastic male heirs of the Strelitz line.In the unclear and possibly heirless situation, Grand Duke
Frederick Francis IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (possibly the rightful heir, though the case was yet under adjudication) was in 1918 appointed as the regent of the small grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and the depositions of German monarchs soon ended both these grand duchies.
After the sonless deaths of his great-uncle duke Adolf Frederick of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d 1969) and his only brother duke Christian Ludwig of Mecklenburg (d 1996), the childless hereditary grand duke
Frederick Francis V confirmed the
Count of Carlow's (d 1962) male-line descendants as dynasts of Mecklenburg with rights to succession in Mecklenburg states.
The count of Carlow himself had been adopted by his uncle, duke Charles Michael of Mecklenburg, and thus already became known as
Duke George of Mecklenburg (the title recognized also by
Kiril Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia, the first Head of the Russian Imperial House in exile). Carlow's grandson is the present
George Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg, claimant to the two grand duchies since Fredrick Francis V's death.
Their dynastic status is under dispute, depending on the validity of the act of
Frederick Francis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d 2001) to recognize this family as dynasts of Mecklenburg.
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House of Mecklenburg
