Status of Schleswig Dukes as Royals?

[Vito M.]

It seems that the various Dukes of Schleswig this and and Schleswig that were accepted for ebenburtig purposes as more or less royal. The daughters and second sons were also princes and princesses. This despite the fact that sometimes they married mere Danish nobles.

Yet if this is is so why were they (the Dukes and their descendants) not also titled Princes of Denmark? Wasn't the whole reason they were accepted as quasi-royal and acceptable marriage partners for various German and other royal families the fact that they were very remote descendants of a Danish King? Then why no princely title?

[Kataryn]

Originally Posted by Vito M.

It seems that the various Dukes of Schleswig this and and Schleswig that were accepted for ebenburtig purposes as more or less royal. The daughters and second sons were also princes and princesses. This despite the fact that sometimes they married mere Danish nobles.

Yet if this is is so why were they (the Dukes and their descendants) not also titled Princes of Denmark? Wasn't the whole reason they were accepted as quasi-royal and acceptable marriage partners for various German and other royal families the fact that they were very remote descendants of a Danish King? Then why no princely title?

Probably political reasons. It was important for the idea of the Holy Roman Empire that it was mainly Germanic, even though the Habsburg-Kaiser possessed non-Germanic countries as well. So the position of Schleswig and Holstein as German countries and part of the Holy Roman Empire had to be set apart from Denmark, the non-Germanic neighbor. But of course the Schleswig-Holstein ducal families were rulers and as such considered equal to the other reigning houses. Later, after the end of the Holy Roman Empire and the formation of the German Bund it was even more important for the leading country of the Bund, Prussia, that Schleswig-Holstein was independant from Denmark.