Examples of heir in the following topics:
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- Augustus, originally known as Octavian, was Julius Caesar's great nephew and was adopted by Caesar as his son and heir.
- Augustus and his wife, Livia, never produced a son, so Augustus initially named his grandsons by his daughter Julia as his heirs and adopted them as his own sons.
- The living emperor chose his successor through adoption of a son and heir.
- In many cases the heirs chosen were not sons, but relatives or close comrades who were groomed for the position.
- Unfortunately for Augustus, his chosen heirs, Gaius and Lucius, died young and he was forced to accept his step-son, Tiberius Claudius, by Livia's first husband as his adopted son and heir.
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- Napoleon's marriage to Josephine was based on love and passion and although it did not produce any political gains, it was ended for political reasons when it became clear that Josephine was not able to bear an heir.
- Josephine caught Napoleon in the bedroom of her lady-in-waiting, Elisabeth de Vaudey, and Napoleon threatened to divorce her as she had not produced an heir.
- The final die was cast when Josephine's grandson Napoleon Charles Bonaparte, who had been declared Napoleon's heir, died of croup in 1807.
- In November 1809, he let Josephine know that—in the interest of France—he must find a wife who could produce an heir.
- Despite her anger, Josephine agreed to the divorce so the Emperor could remarry in the hope of having an heir.
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- Southerners viewed the Confederate States of America's claim to independence as heir to the American Revolution.
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- He was adopted by Hadrian as his son and heir under the condition that he, in turn, adopt Lucius Veras and Marcus Aurelius as his sons and heirs.
- Antoninus Pius' heirs, Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius, had a column erected to him on the Campus Martius, the base of which survives today.
- Unlike the previous four emperors, Marcus Aurelius had, and so selected, his own biological son as his heir.
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- It was common for patrician families to adopt, and Roman emperors had adopted heirs in the past: The Emperor Augustus had adopted Tiberius and the Emperor Claudius had adopted Nero.
- Moreover, there was a family connection as Trajan adopted his first cousin once removed and great-nephew by marriage Hadrian and Hadrian made his half-nephew by marriage and heir Antoninus Pius adopt both Hadrian's second cousin three times removed and half-great-nephew by marriage Marcus Aurelius, also Antoninus' nephew by marriage, and the son of his original planned successor, Lucius Verus.
- But as soon as the empire fell once more to the heirs by birth, its ruin recommenced.
- An alternative hypothesis posits that adoptive succession is thought to have arisen because of a lack of biological heirs.
- A revolt by the Praetorian Guard in October 97 essentially forced him to adopt an heir.
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- Alexander had no obvious heir.
- According to Diodorus, an ancient Greek historian, Alexander's companions asked him who his heir should be.
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- This changed the existing line of succession by displacing the heir presumptive.
- His daughter Mary, a Protestant and the wife of William of Orange, a Dutch stadtholder, or steward, was previously the heir to the throne.
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- Hadrian, Trajan's adopted son and heir, peacefully became emperor in 117 CE.
- Antoninus Pius, Hadrian's adopted heir and successor, mimics his predecessor's appearance in his official portraits—thick curly hair and a curly, closely-trimmed beard.
- Unlike the rest of the emperors of the Nervan-Antonine line, Marcus Aurelius fathered a son who became his heir.
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- His grandfather and Louis XIV's son, Louis Le Grand Dauphin (Dauphin being
the title given to the heir apparent to the throne of France), had three sons with his wife Marie Anne Victoire of Bavaria: Louis, Duke of Burgundy; Philippe, Duke of Anjou (who became King of Spain); and Charles, Duke of Berry.
- Many also assumed that the Spanish Infanta, eight years younger than the king, was too young to bear an heir in a timely way.
- To remedy this situation, the Duke of Bourbon set about choosing a European princess old enough to produce an heir.
- In September 1729, in her third pregnancy, the queen finally gave birth to a male child, an heir to the throne, the Dauphin Louis (1729–1765).
- The birth of a long-awaited heir, which ensured the survival of the dynasty for the first time since 1712, was welcomed with tremendous joy and celebration in all spheres of French society and the young king became extremely popular at the time.
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- The Province of Carolina was controlled from 1663 to 1729 by these lords and their heirs.