Editing Royal House of Saxe-Gessaphe (section)

==Designated heir==
Prince Johannes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1969-1987), of the [[Ernestine duchies|Ernestine branch]] of the [[House of Wettin]], was killed in a mountain climbing accident while still a youth, leaving his maternal uncle, Margrave Maria Emanuel, without a dynastic heir in the next generation of Wettins. However the eldest son of his sister Anna, [[Alexander de Afif|Alexander Afif]] (b. [[Munich]] 12 February 1954), had married Princess Gisela of Bavaria (b. 10 September 1964) in 1987. In May 1997 the Margrave, who has upheld the dynasty's marital standards, recognized Alexander Afif as his heir. By formally adopting him two years later, the Margrave conferred upon Alexander the legal surname of ''Prinz von Sachsen'' (literally "Prince of Saxony"). Thus was created the family of ''Saxe-Gessaphe'', a [[cognate|cognatic]] offshoot of the royal [[House of Wettin]], with the approval of the Margrave Maria Emanuel and his siblings, making Alexander, his sons and his brothers, dynastically entitled and henceforth known as ''Prinzen von Sachsen-Gessaphe'' (Princes of Saxe-Gessaphe).<ref>{{cite book|last= Willis|first= Daniel|title= The Descendants of Louis XIII|year= 1999|publisher= Clearfield|location= Baltimore|isbn= 0-8063-4942-5|pages= 327–328, 766|chapter= The Ducal Family of Parma}}</ref>

In the spring of 1997 it was announced that the surviving male dynasts of the royal House (presumably Princes [[Albert, Margrave of Meissen (1934–2012)|Albert]], [[Prince Ernst Heinrich of Saxony#Marriages and issue|Dedo and Gero]]) 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.<ref>{{cite web| last = Velde| first = François| title = Laws of the Kingdom of Saxony| work = Heraldica.org| url = http://www.heraldica.org/topics/royalty/HGSachsen-K.htm#Introduction| access-date = 2008-04-18}}</ref><ref name="Welt">''Die Welt'', 20 May 1997</ref>