The death of the 12th Duke of Arenberg



Arenberg Foundation

HSH Prince Jean-Engelbert-Maria-Paul-Werner-Antoine-Guillaume-Gaspard-Joseph, 12th Duke of Arenberg, died on August 15, 2011 at Lausanne, Switzerland.  He was 90 years old.

The Duke of Arenberg was the son of Prince Evrard-Engelbert-Marie-Antoine-Jean-Melchior-Joseph of Arenberg and Countess Anne-Louise de Merode.  He was born at the Hague, the Netherlands, on July 14, 1921.   On January 20, 1955, he married HRH Princess Sophie of Bavaria, the youngest daughter of Crown Prince Rupprecht and his second wife, Princess Antonia of Luxembourg.

The late duke is succeeded by his wife, their five children, Léopold, Charles-Louis, Marie-Gabriele, Henri, and Etienne.  

Prince Léopold succeeds as the 13th Duke of Arenberg.  He is married to Countess Isabel-Juliana zu Stolberg-Stolberg.  They have three children, Princess Natasha, Prince Philippe-Léopold, and Alexandre. 

The late duke was also the 18th Duke of Aarschot, 7th Duke of Meppen and 7th Prince of Recklinghausen.  His eldest son also succeeds to these titles.  The late duke received a Master's of Arts from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.  His dissertation was titled The Lesser Princes of the Holy Roman Empire in the Napoleonic Era.    The dissertation was published in French in 1951 with the title:  Les Princes du St-Empire a l'epoque napoleonienne.