December 18, 1863: Birth of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este

Tags

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, Assassination, Duchess of Teschen, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Gavrilo Princip, Sarajevo, Sophie Chotek, World War I

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (December 18, 1863 – June 28, 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo is considered the most immediate cause of World War I.

Franz Ferdinand was born in Graz, Austria, the eldest son of Archduke Charles Ludwig of Austria (the younger brother of Franz Joseph and Maximilian) and of his second wife, Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, was born in Caserta, the daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and his wife Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, the eldest daughter of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg.

In 1875, when he was eleven years old, his cousin Francisco V, Duke of Modena died, naming Franz Ferdinand his heir on condition that he add the name “Este” to his own.

In 1889, Franz Ferdinand’s life changed dramatically. His cousin Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide at his hunting lodge in Mayerling. This left Franz Ferdinand’s father, Archduke Charles Ludwig, as first in line to the throne. Charles Ludwig died of typhoid fever in 1896. Henceforth, Franz Ferdinand became next in line to succeed to the imperial and royal thrones.

In 1894, Franz Ferdinand met Countess Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen. Franz began to visit Archduke Friedrich’s villa in Pressburg (now Bratislava), and in turn Sophie wrote to Franz Ferdinand during his convalescence from tuberculosis on the island of Lošinj in the Adriatic. They kept their relationship a secret, until it was discovered by Isabella herself.

To be eligible to marry a member of the imperial House of Habsburg, one had to be a member of one of the reigning or formerly reigning dynasties of Europe. The Choteks were not one of these families.

Deeply in love, Franz Ferdinand refused to consider marrying anyone else. Finally, in 1899, Emperor Franz Joseph agreed to permit Franz Ferdinand to marry Sophie, on the condition that the marriage would be morganatic and that their descendants would not have succession rights to the throne.

Sophie would not share her husband’s rank, title, precedence, or privileges; as such, she would not normally appear in public beside him. She would not be allowed to ride in the royal carriage or sit in the royal box in theaters.

The wedding took place on July 1, 1900, at Reichstadt (now Zákupy) in Bohemia; Franz Joseph did not attend the affair, nor did any archduke including Franz Ferdinand’s brothers. The only members of the imperial family who were present were Franz Ferdinand’s stepmother, Princess Maria Theresa of Braganza; and her two daughters.

Upon the marriage, Sophie was given the title “Princess of Hohenberg” with the style “Her Serene Highness.” In 1909, she was given the more senior title “Duchess of Hohenberg” with the style “Her Highness.” This raised her status considerably, but she still yielded precedence at court to all the archduchesses. Whenever a function required the couple to assemble with the other members of the imperial family, Sophie was forced to stand far down the line, separated from her husband

The Archduke and his wife visited England in the autumn of 1913, spending a week with George V and Queen Mary at Windsor Castle before going to stay for another week with the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, where they arrived on November 22. He attended a service at the local Catholic church in Worksop

Franz Ferdinand, like most males in the ruling Habsburg line, entered the Austro-Hungarian Army at a young age. He was frequently and rapidly promoted, given the rank of lieutenant at age fourteen, captain at twenty-two, colonel at twenty-seven, and major general at thirty-one. While never receiving formal staff training, he was considered eligible for command and at one point briefly led the primarily Hungarian 9th Hussar Regiment. In 1898 he was given a commission “at the special disposition of His Majesty” to make inquiries into all aspects of the military services and military agencies were commanded to share their papers with him.

Franz Ferdinand held significant influence over the military, and in 1913 he was appointed inspector general of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces.

On Sunday, June 28, 1914, at about 10:45 am, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The perpetrator was 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized and armed by the Black Hand.

Earlier in the day, the couple had been attacked by Nedeljko Čabrinović, who had thrown a grenade at their car. However, the bomb detonated behind them, injuring the occupants in the following car. On arriving at the Governor’s residence, Franz angrily shouted, “So this is how you welcome your guests – with bombs!”

The assassinations, along with the arms race, nationalism, imperialism, militarism of Imperial Germany and the alliance system all contributed to the origins of World War I, which began a month after Franz Ferdinand’s death, with Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia. The assassination of Ferdinand is considered the most immediate cause of World War I.

After his death, Archduke Charles became the Heir presumptive Austria-Hungary.

Franz Ferdinand is interred with his wife Sophie in Artstetten Castle, Austria.

October 21st, 1911: Marriage of Archduke Charles of Austria-Este and Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma

Tags

Archduke Charles of Austria-Este, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Archduke Otto of Austria, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, House of Habsburg-Lorraine, King of Croatia and Bohemia, King of Hungary, Wedding, World War I, Zita of Bourbon-Parma

Archduke Charles of Austria-Este, the son of Archduke Otto of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony, fifth child of King Georg of Saxony and Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal, herself the eldest surviving daughter of Queen Maria II of Portugal and her King Consort, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Koháry.

Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Koháry was the son Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág who founded the Catholic cadet branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, after their marriage.

Charles became heir presumptive of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary after his uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in 1914. Franz Ferdinand’ assassination was the spark that set off World War I.

Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma, born as the seventeenth child of the dispossessed Roberto I, Duke of Parma, and his second wife, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal, herself the seventh and last child of King Miguel of Portugal and Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. The unusual name Zita was given to her after Zita, a popular Italian Saint who had lived in Tuscany in the 13th century.

In the close vicinity of Schwarzau castle was the Villa Wartholz, residence of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, Zita’s maternal aunt. Archduchess Maria Theresa was born as Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal and the second daughter of Miguel I of Portugal and Princess Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. She was the stepmother of Archduke Otto, who died in 1906, and the step-grandmother of Archduke Charles of Austria-Este, at that time second-in-line to the Austrian throne. Archduchess Maria Theresa’s sister was Princess Zita’s mother, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal.

Archduchess Maria Annunziata and Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie of Austria, were the two daughters of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria were Zita’s first cousins and Charles’ half-aunts. Charles and Zita had met as children but did not see one another for almost ten years, as each pursued their education. In 1909, his Dragoon regiment was stationed at Brandýs nad Labem, from where he visited his aunt at Františkovy Lázně.

It was during one of these visits that Charles and Zita became reacquainted.,Charles was under pressure to marry (Franz Ferdinand, his uncle and first-in-line, had married morganatically, and his children were excluded from the throne) and Zita had a suitably royal genealogy.

Zita later recalled:

We were of course glad to meet again and became close friends. On my side feelings developed gradually over the next two years. He seemed to have made his mind up much more quickly, however, and became even more keen when, in the autumn of 1910, rumours spread about that I had got engaged to a distant Spanish relative, Don Jaime, the Duke of Madrid. On hearing this, the Archduke came down post haste from his regiment at Brandýs and sought out his grandmother, Archduchess Maria Theresa, who was also my aunt and the natural confidante in such matters. He asked if the rumor was true and when told it was not, he replied, “Well, I had better hurry in any case or she will get engaged to someone else.”

Archduke Charles traveled to Villa Pianore and asked for Zita’s hand and, on June 13, 1911, their engagement was announced at the Austrian court.: Zita in later years recalled that after her engagement she had expressed to Charles her worries about the fate of the Austrian Empire and the challenges of the monarchy.

Charles and Zita were married at the Schwarzau castle on October 21, 1911. Charles’s great-uncle, the 81-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph, attended the wedding. He was relieved to see an heir make a suitable marriage, and was in good spirits, even leading the toast at the wedding breakfast. Archduchess Zita soon conceived a son, and Archduke Otto, future Crown Prince of Austria, was born November 20, 1912. Seven more children followed in the next decade.

In 1916, Emperor Franz Joseph died and Charles became Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (as Charles IV), King of Croatia, and King of Bohemia (as Charles III), and the last of the monarchs belonging to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to rule over Austria-Hungary.

At the end of the Great War, on the day of the Armistice of November 11, 1918, Charles issued a carefully worded proclamation in which he recognized the Austrian people’s right to determine the form of the state and “relinquish[ed] every participation in the administration of the State.” He also released his officials from their oath of loyalty to him. On the same day, the Imperial Family left Schönbrunn Palace and moved to Castle Eckartsau, east of Vienna. On November 13, following a visit with Hungarian magnates, Charles issued a similar proclamation—the Eckartsau Proclamation—for Hungary.

Although it has widely been cited as an “abdication”, the word itself was never used in either proclamation. Indeed, he deliberately avoided using the word abdication in the hope that the people of either Austria or Hungary would vote to recall him.

Encouraged by Hungarian royalists (“legitimists”), Charles sought twice in 1921 to reclaim the throne of Hungary, but failed largely because Hungary’s regent, Admiral Miklós Horthy (the last commander of the Imperial and Royal Navy), refused to support Charles’s restoration.

After the second failed attempt at restoration in Hungary, Charles and his pregnant wife Zita were arrested and quarantined at Tihany Abbey. On 1 November 1921 they were taken to the Hungarian Danube harbour city of Baja, were taken on board the monitor HMS Glowworm, and there removed to the Black Sea where they were transferred to the light cruiser HMS Cardiff. On November 19, 1921 they arrived at their final exile, the Portuguese island of Madeira. Compared to the imperial glory in Vienna and even at Eckartsau, conditions there were certainly impoverished.

Charles did not leave Madeira. On March 9, 1922 he had caught a cold in town, which developed into bronchitis and subsequently progressed to severe pneumonia. Having suffered two heart attacks, he died of respiratory failure on April 1, in the presence of his wife (who was pregnant with their eighth child) and nine-year-old former Crown Prince Otto, remaining conscious almost until his last moments. His last words to his wife were “I love you so much.” He was 34 years old. .

After her husband’s death, Zita and her son Otto served as symbols of unity for the exiled dynasty. A devout Catholic, she raised a large family after being widowed at the age of 29, and never remarried.

Zita lived a long life. After a memorable 90th birthday, at which she was surrounded by her now vast family, Zita’s habitually robust health began to fail. She developed inoperable cataracts in both eyes. Her last big family gathering took place at Zizers, in 1987, when her children and grandchildren joined in celebrating Empress Zita’s 95th birthday.

While visiting her daughter, in summer 1988, she developed pneumonia and spent most of the autumn and winter bedridden. Finally, she called Archduke Otto, in early March 1989, and told him she was dying. He and the rest of the family travelled to her bedside and took turns keeping her company until she died in the early hours of March 14, 1989. She was 96 years old, and was the last surviving child of Roberto, Duke of Parma from both his marriages.

Her funeral was held in Vienna on April 1. The government allowed it to take place on Austrian soil providing that the cost was borne by the Habsburgs themselves. Zita’s body was carried to the Imperial Crypt under Capuchin Church in the same funeral coach she had walked behind during the funeral of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1916.

Her funeral was attended by over 200 members of the Habsburg and Bourbon-Parma families, and the service had 6,000 attendees including leading politicians, state officials and international representatives, including a representative of Pope John Paul II.

Following an ancient custom, the Empress had asked that her heart, which was placed in an urn, stay behind at Muri Abbey, in Switzerland, where the Emperor’s heart had rested for decades. In doing so, Zita assured herself that, in death, she and her husband would remain by each other’s side.

Friedrich August III of Saxony: King, Scandal and Abdication

Tags

Abdication, Archduchess Louise of Tuscany, crown princess of Saxony, Dresden, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, German Empire, Grand Duke of Tuscany, King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, King George of Saxony, Kingdom of Saxony

Friedrich August III (May 25, 1865 – February 18, 1932) was the last King of Saxony(1904–1918) and a member of the House of Wettin.

Born in Dresden, Friedrich August was the first son of King Georg and his wife, Maria Anna of Portugal. Friedrich August served in the Royal Saxon Army before becoming king, He remained in command of the corps until October 1904, when he became king. His military career effectively ended with his accession to the throne, but he was promoted subsequently to Generaloberst and then to Generalfeldmarschall (on September 9, 1912). Following his father’s accession, he was in July 1902 appointed à la suite of the German Marine Infantry by German Emperor Wilhelm II during a visit to Kiel.

Friedrich August married Archduchess Luise, Princess of Tuscany, in Vienna on November 21, 1891. Archduchess Luise, Princess of Tuscany was the second child of Ferdinand IV, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany and his second wife, Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma. Through her mother, she was a great-great-granddaughter of Charles X of France.

Luise fulfilled her royal duties, however, she did not follow etiquette at the strict Dresden court, which resulted in arguments with her father-in-law, King Georg of Saxony, the Interior Minister Georg von Metzsch-Reichenbach and especially with her sister-in-law Princess Mathilde.

They had six children, possibly seven children. Their two eldest sons, Friedrich August and Friedrich Christian were born in the same year, 1893, but were not twins. Friedrich August was born in January 15, while Friedrich Christian was born in December 31.

Archduchess Luise, Princess of Tuscany

Threatened by her father-in-law, King Georg of Saxony, to being interned at Sonnestein Mental Asylum for life, on December 9, 1902 and with the help of two of her maids, sisters Sidonie and Maria Beeger –daughters of the royal court architect Eduard Beeger–, Louise (pregnant with her seventh child) fled from Dresden towards Lake Geneva, where André Giron, her lover, was waiting for her. Crown Princess Luise was supported in her fleeing Saxony by her brother Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of Austria who had fallen in love with a prostitute, Wilhelmine Adamovicz.

The escape of the Crown Princess of Saxony was the first scandal of the German nobility in the 20th century, especially hurtful for the Saxon Royal Family, who were deeply Catholic.

Without consulting his son, King Georg of Saxony officially declared the civil divorce of the Crown Princely couple on February 11, 1903 by a special court, which he had set up on December 31, 1902. One year later, on October 15, 1904, King Georg of Saxony died after demanding his son and new King Friedrich August III to forbade the return of Luise to the Dresden court. In Geneva, the former Crown Princess led a happy life and even dared to show up with her lover in public, but unexpectedly a few days before the divorce was declared she separated from Giron for unknown reasons. Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary refused to recognize the divorce.

Princess Anna Monika Pia of Saxony and her first husband Joseph Franz of Austria

However, the paternity of her daughter Anna Monika Pia, born on May 4, 1903 at Lindau remained unclear. The Saxon court sent the director of the Dresden maternity hospital, Dr. Leopold, to Lindau to examine the newborn and establish her true parentage. Due to her physical appearance and the bright color of eyes and hair, he declared that the Crown Prince was the father of the child. The doctor, however, refused to admit further medical opinions.

In consequence, Anna Monika Pia was recognized by Friedrich August as his own. King Georg gave Luise an allowance and granted her the title of Countess of Montignoso (in allusion of her Tuscan ascendancy) on July 13, 1903; in turn, he demanded that Anna Monika Pia must be returned Dresden to be raised with the other royal children, but Luise adamantly refused. In 1908 King Friedrich August III finally located Anna Monika Pia, and was sent to Dresden to live with her siblings and be raised as a member of the Saxon royal house.

When the German Republic was proclaimed in November of 1918, King Friedrich August III was asked by telephone whether he would abdicate willingly. He said: “Oh, well, I suppose I’d better.” Though well-loved by his subjects, King Friedrich August III voluntarily abdicated as king on November 13, 1918, after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. When cheered by a crowd in a railroad station several years after his abdication, he stuck his head out of the train’s window and shouted “Ihr seid mer ja scheene Demogradn!” (German for “You’re a fine lot of republicans, I’ll say!”)

King Friedrich August III died in Sibyllenort (now Szczodre) in Lower Silesia on February 18, 1932 aged 66 and was buried in Dresden.