by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2023
Archduke Giuseppe Ferdinando of Austria was the Pretender to the Grand Ducal Throne of Tuscany from 1908 until 1921 when he married unequally and was forced to renounce his rights.
Archduke Giuseppe Ferdinando of Austria – source: Wikipedia
Archduke Giuseppe Ferdinando of Austria was born in Salzburg on May 24, 1872, the second son of Ferdinando IV, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his second wife Princess Alicia of Bourbon-Parma. He was given the names Giuseppe Ferdinando Salvatore Maria Francesco Leopoldo Antonio Alberto Giovanni Battista Carlo Ludovico Roberto Maria Ausiliatrice. He had 9 siblings:
- Archduke Leopoldo Ferdinando (1868) – married 3 times, no issue
- Archduchess Luisa (1870) – married (1) Crown Prince Friedrich August of Saxony, had issue; (2) Enrico Toselli, had issue
- Archduke Pietro Ferdinando, Prince of Tuscany (1874) – married Princess Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies, had issue
- Archduke Enrico Fernando (1878) – married Maria Ludescher, had issue
- Archduchess Anna Maria (1879) – married Johannes, Prince of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein, had issue
- Archduchess Margherita (1881) – unmarried
- Archduchess Germana (1884) – unmarried
- Archduke Roberto Ferdinando (1885) – died in childhood
- Archduchess Agnese (1891) – unmarried
He also had an older half-sister from his father’s first marriage to Princess Anna of Saxony:
- Archduchess Maria Antonietta (1858) – unmarried
Giuseppe Ferdinando attended the Oberrealschule at Hranice and the Maria Theresa Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt. He was then commissioned in the Austrian military and served in various regiments. During World War I, he held several command positions but was forced to retire in June 1916 after suffering devastating losses during the Brusilov Offensive. He later served as Inspector General of the Imperial Air Force from July 1917 until September 1918.
Giuseppe Ferdinando was fascinated with aviation, especially hot air balloons. He made several attempts to incorporate both into his military service, with little success. He did, however, arrange for a balloon flight from his home in Linz, landing in Dieppe, France 16 hours later.
Giuseppe was married twice. His first marriage, on May 2, 1921, was to Rosa Kaltenbrunner. The couple divorced in 1928 with no issue. He married again on January 27, 1929 to Gertrude Tomanek von Beyerfels-Mondsee. The couple had two children:
- Claudia von Habsburg-Lothringen (1930) – unmarried
- Maximilian von Habsburg-Lothringen (1932) – married to Doris Williams, had issue
He had become his father’s heir in 1902 when his elder brother renounced his membership in the Imperial House to marry. Giuseppe also lost his claim to the former throne in 1921, when he also renounced his membership in the Imperial House and his claim to the throne. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Pietro Ferdinando.
In 1938, Giuseppe Ferdinando was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Dachau Concentration Camp. After three months, he was released but remained under constant observation by the Gestapo. He settled in Vienna, where he died on August 28, 1942.
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