Is Schloss Berleburg not property of the House Sayn-Wittegenstein-Berleburg (Wittgenstein-Berleburg'sche Rentkammer)?
When it would be inherited by Gustav's sister Alexandra Gräfin Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille née Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, it will leave the House and become property of her son (from her first marriage) Richard Graf von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth.
It would surprise me that the Fürsten zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg have done everything to maintain their historic patrimonium and it would then become property of the Grafen von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth...
When the monarchies ended in Germany, with them ended the exixtence of trust that were entailed, meaning the estate and money had to stay together and had to be inherited by the senior member of the family, who then should have cared for the family.
Back then, the contents of the trust became the properity of the current owner, to do with them as he pleased. Since then, you need to have the okay from all potential heirs when you want to leave the majority of your property to one person. Because of that, a lot of properties have been sold and the gain shared. Other families found a way (like the Thurn & Taxis) but the princesses surely got enough money never to be poor in their life.
Prince Gustav's grandfather had only one child, Prince Richard, so he could do what he did: leave the properties to his (unborn) grandson but give prince Richard the right to enjoy the whole property as long as he was alive. To properly inherit, the grandson, Gustav, had to marry properly.
And here lies the problem with the laws: Grandfather dies, Richard gets the control over the property for life. Son Gustav will get it once his father died and the property becomes his private property then.
He could only loose it once he married the wrong woman. Thus - he doesn't. According to German law no testament can force him to marry at all, it can only say if the choice of bride is okay or not.
IIRC the grand-uncle of Gustav claimed that it wasn't proper to not getting married because he lived together with his girlfriend and in doing so, was trying to omit the "wording" of the testament ("Marriage"), but that he fulfilled the testament's "sense" and thus couldn't inherit.
I have yet to read the reasons for the verdicts but as the lawyer of Gustav's granduncle thinks about moving to the Bundesverfassungsgericht, I think the main problem was if the testament meant "marriage" or in a wider sense "all relationships where the woman was actually the chatelaine of the property". For as I stated, you cannot force an heir to marry, if he doesn't want to.
It seems the courts stuck to the traditional meaning of "marriage" and actually married in that sense, Gustav hasn't been and thus inherited.
Hope this helps to understand the problem.
Now Gustav is free to leave the property to whoever he wants. And of course, to marry Carina. To adopt his sister's son and make him the next prince. Or adopt someone else. He is free to do what he wants.
So now what? Certainly a big win for Prince Gustav. Hopefully this is the last Gustav will hear from the aging bad boy great-uncle Prince Ludwig-Ferdinand. Something makes me think Gustav and Carina have been laying very low and now we may see more of Carina at Scloss Berleburg with Gustav. I like happy endings. Of course, there are future inheritance issues to sort out. Hopefully we will continue to see more happy endings, boy gets the girl and the castle!!
