Archduke Rudolf | |||||
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Archduke of Austria | |||||
Born |
Prangins, Switzerland |
5 September 1919||||
Died | 15 May 2010 Brussels, Belgium |
(aged 90)||||
Spouse |
Countess Xenia Czernichev-Besobrasov (1953–1968; her death) Princess Anna Gabriele of Wrede (1971–2010; his death) |
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Issue | Archduchess Maria Anna Archduke Karl Peter Archduke Simeon Archduke Johannes Karl Archduchess Catharina-Maria |
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House | Habsburg | ||||
Father | Emperor Charles I of Austria | ||||
Mother | Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma |
Full name | |
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Rudolf Syringus Peter Karl Franz Joseph Robert Otto Antonius Maria Pius Benedikt Ignatius Laurentius Justiniani Marcus d'Aviano |
Archduke Rudolf of Austria (5 September 1919 – 15 May 2010) was the sixth child and youngest son of Emperor Charles I of Austria and Zita of Bourbon-Parma.
He was born in Prangins, Switzerland, where the Austrian Imperial family were staying after they had been sent into exile. He was named after Count Rudolph IV of Habsburg.
Educated with his siblings first in Spain then in Belgium, in 1944 he and his brother Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria secretly entered Austria to join the Austrian resistance, but Rudolf was expelled in 1946 once his membership in the formerly imperial House of Habsburg was exposed. After the war he travelled to the United States, Canada and the Belgian Congo.
Rudolf worked as a Wall Street junior executive and a bank director.
Archduke Rudolf was married by Archbishop Fulton Sheen to Countess Xenia Czernichev-Besobrasov the daughter of Count Sergei Aleksandrovich Chernyshev-Besobrasov and Countess Elizabeta Dmitrievna Cheremeteva, on 22 June 1953 at Tuxedo Park, New York. They had four children. Xenia was killed in a car crash on 20 September 1968, in which Rudolf was also seriously injured.
Rudolf was married secondly to Princess Anna Gabriele von Wrede (11 September 1940) on 15 October 1971 in Ellingen, Bavaria. They have one daughter.
Rudolph was survived by two older brothers; Otto and Felix.