Archduke Franz Josef | |
---|---|
Prince of Tuscany | |
Born |
Vienna, Austria |
4 February 1905
Died | 9 May 1975 Hernstein, Austria |
(aged 70)
Spouse |
Marta Baumer (m. 1937; div. 1954) Maria Elena Seunig, Condesa de Basus (m. 1962; his death 1975) |
Issue | Patricia Gräfin von Habsburg-Lothringen |
House | Habsburg-Lorraine |
Father | Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria |
Mother | Infanta Blanca of Spain |
Archduke Franz Josef of Austria- Tuscany German: Franz Josef, Erzherzog von Österreich-Toskana (born in Vienna 4 February 1905 - died Hernstein, Austria 9 May 1975) was the fourth son of Archduke Leopold Salvator, Prince of Tuscany and Infanta Blanca of Spain. At the fall of Habsburg monarchy he moved to Barcelona, where he became a naturalized Spanish citizen. He married morgnatically twice and had a daughter from his second marriage. During World War II he lived in the United States, working in the forestry industry. In 1955 he returned to Austria. He inherited the Carlist pretensions to the Spanish throne of his brother Archduke Karl Pius and called himself Duke of Madrid. He died in 1975.
Archduke Franz Josef of Austria was born on February 4, 1905 in Vienna, the ninth child and fourth son of Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria and Infanta Blanca of Spain. His father, Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria, a member of the Tuscan line of the Habsburg family and thus a descendant of Emperor Leopold II, had been Inspector General of the Austrian Artillery and Commander of the 18th infantry regiment. Franz Josef's mother, Infanta Blanca of Spain, was the eldest daughter of Carlos, Duke of Madrid, who had been as Carlos VII, pretender to the Spanish throne). Archduke Franz Josef was given the baptismal names Franz Josef Karl Leopold Blanka Adelgunde Ignatius Rafael Michael von Habsburg-Lothringen.
Archduke Franz Josef's early years coincided with the last period of the Habsburg monarchy. His childhood was spent in the various properties owned by his parents, enjoying a comfortable and privileged life. The family's main residences were the Palais Toskana in the district of Wiede in Viena and Schloss Wilhelminenberg, on the Eastern slopes of the Gallitzinberg. Due to World War I, Franz Josef was not educated by private tutors like his three eldest brothers had been, but was sent instead to Stella Matutina, a Catholic school for boys run by Jesuits priest in Feldkirch. He shared the same classroom with Prince Gaetan of Bourbon Parma, the youngest brother of Empress Zita.