Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, King of Croatia, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was not really holy since, after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530, no emperors were crowned by the pope or a bishop. It was not Roman but rather German because it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was an empire in name only – the territories it covered were mostly independent each with its own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. A Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him, and his power was severely restricted by the many sovereigns of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Frequently but not always, it was common practice to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans.

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Baptized Carolus Franciscus Josephus Wenceslaus Balthasar Johannes Antonius Ignatius, Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor was born on October 1, 1685, at Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. He was the seventh of the ten children and the third of the three sons of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and his third wife and second cousin Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg. Karl’s paternal grandparents were Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and the first of his three wives who was also his first cousin, Maria Anna of Austria. His maternal grandparents were Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg and his second wife Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Karl had nine siblings but only four survived childhood:

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (1678 – 1711), married Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg, had three children, their only son died of hydrocephalus before his first birthday
Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (born and died 1679), died at birth
Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands (1680 – 1741), unmarried
Archduke Leopold Joseph of Austria (1682 – 1684), died in early childhood
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1683 – 1754) married King João V of Portugal, had six children including two Kings of Portugal and one Queen Consort of Spain
Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria (1684 – 1696), died from smallpox at the age of 12
Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1687 – 1703), died from smallpox at the age of 16
Maria Magdalena of Austria, Governor of Tyrol (1689 – 1743), unmarried
Maria Margaretha of Austria (1690 – 1691), died in infancy

Karl’s parents Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg

Karl’s father Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor had been married twice before to Margarita Teresa of Spain and Claudia Felicitas of Austria. From these two marriages, Leopold had six children, however, all except the oldest daughter from his first wife, had died.

Karl had one surviving half-sister from his father’s first marriage to Margarita Teresa of Spain:

Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (1669 – 1692), married Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, had three sons, none survived childhood

Prince Anton Florian, the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein, had served Karl’s father Leopold I as a member of the Imperial Privy Council and as ambassador to the papal court in Rome. Due to his extensive knowledge, in 1693, Anton Florian became Karl’s governor and was responsible for his education.

The death of the last Spanish Habsburg King, Leopold I’s childless nephew Carlos II resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession in which Leopold and then his son Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I unsuccessfully sought to give Leopold’s younger son Karl the entire Spanish inheritance, disregarding the will of the late Carlos II who had named 16-year-old Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, the second son of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, and the grandson of Carlos’ half-sister Maria Teresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain and her husband King Louis XIV of France, as his successor. However, Philippe of France did reign in Spain as King Felipe V, the first King of Spain from the House of Bourbon that still reigns in Spain.

Karl’s brother Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

Karl’s father Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I died in 1705, in Vienna, and his 27-year-old son Joseph succeeded him in the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor. Before he died in 1705, Leopold I arranged a marriage for Karl with Princess Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the daughter of Ludwig Rudolf, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Princess Christine Luise von Oettingen-Oettingen. However, the Lutheran Elisabeth Christine initially opposed the marriage because she would have to convert to Roman Catholicism. She finally gave in and was tutored in Roman Catholicism by her future mother-in-law, Empress Eleonore Magdalene. Elisabeth Christine officially converted to Roman Catholicism in 1707. At the time of the wedding, Karl was fighting for his claim to the Spanish throne against the French candidate Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, so he was living in Barcelona, Spain. Elisabeth Christine traveled to Barcelona in July 1708 and the couple was married on August 1, 1708, at the Church of Santa María del Mar in Barcelona, Spain.

Karl VI with his wife Elisabeth Christine and their three daughters in 1730; Credit – Wikipedia

Karl and Elisabeth Christine had one son who died in infancy and three daughters, with one dying in childhood:

Archduke Leopold Johann of Austria (born and died 1716), died in infancy
Maria Theresa of Austria, in her own right Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia (1717 – 1780), heir to the Habsburg hereditary lands, married François III Étienne, Duke of Lorraine (reigned 1729 – 1737), also Francesco II Stefano, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1737 – 1765), and Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1745 – 1765), had sixteen children including Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, and Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, better known as Queen Marie Antoinette of France
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands (1718 – 1744), married Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Maria Anna died in childbirth along with her first child, a stillborn daughter
Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria (1724 – 1730), died in childhood

Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein, Karl’s former childhood governor and then his Chairman of the Council of State and Chief Chamberlain until Anton Florian died in 1721; Credit – Wikipedia

The reign of Karl’s brother Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I lasted just six years. During the smallpox epidemic of 1711, which killed Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France, the only surviving child and heir of King Louis XIV of France, Joseph also became ill with smallpox and died on April 17, 1711. Upon the sudden death of his elder brother, Karl automatically succeeded to the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Karl’s former childhood governor, Prince Anton Florian of Liechtenstein, headed the imperial government as Chairman of the Council of State and served as Karl VI’s Chief Chamberlain until he died in 1721.

Karl had a long string of titles:

Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, King of Croatia, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria (reigned 1711 – 1740)
King of Naples (reigned 1707 – 1735)
King of Sardinia (reigned 1708 – 1720)
Duke of Teschen (reigned 1711- 1722)
Duke of Brabant, Duke of Limburg, Duke of Lothier, Duke of Milan, Count of Namur, Count of Flanders, Count of Hainaut, Duke of Luxembourg (reigned 1714 – 1740)
King of Serbia (reigned 1718 – 1739)
King of Sicily (reigned 1720 – 1735)
Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Duke of Guastalla (reigned 1735 – 1740)

The fact that Karl did not have a male heir caused many problems. His father Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I had devised the Mutual Pact of Succession, a succession device secretly signed in 1703 by his elder son, the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, and his younger son, the future Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI. The Mutual Pact of Succession stated that the Habsburg hereditary lands would be inherited by both the brothers’ respective male heirs. However, if one should fail to have a son, the other one would succeed him in all the Habsburg hereditary lands. If both brothers died without sons, the daughters of Joseph, the elder brother, would have absolute precedence over the daughters of Karl, the younger brother, and the eldest daughter of Joseph would ascend to the thrones of all the Habsburg hereditary lands. This meant that Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1699 – 1757), the elder of the two daughters of Karl’s elder brother Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, would inherit the Habsburg hereditary lands upon the death of her uncle Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI.

When Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I died, his brother Karl succeeded him as the ruler of all the Habsburg hereditary lands with Joseph’s daughter Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria as his heir. However, Karl decided to amend the Mutual Pact of Succession. Karl VI’s Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 annulled the terms of the Mutual Pact of Succession and made his future daughters (Maria Theresa was not born until 1717) the heirs to the Habsburg hereditary lands instead of his niece Archduchess Maria Josepha.

Tomb of Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – By Welleschik – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3946431

On October 20, 1740, at the age of 55, Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor died at the Palais Augarten in Vienna, Austria, after a ten-day illness. Ten days earlier, Karl had eaten large amounts of a mushroom dish. The following day, he developed severe nausea, vomiting, and episodes of unconsciousness. After a few days of feeling fine, the symptoms returned, accompanied by a high fever, and eventually led to his death. The symptoms are typical of death cap mushroom poisoning but the definitive cause of Karl’s death remains unknown. Karl was interred in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Karl’s daughter Maria Theresa, circa 1744; Credit – Wikipedia

After Karl’s death, his daughter Maria Theresa succeeded to the Habsburg hereditary lands as the Queen of Hungary, Queen of Croatia, Queen of Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria in her own right, the only female to hold those sovereign positions. This led to led to the War of Austrian Succession (1740 – 1748) which led to the eventual confirmation of Maria Theresa’s Habsburg titles. However, Maria Theresa was unable to become the sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire because she was female, and so Karl Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria and Prince-Elector of Bavaria, the husband of Maria Theresa’s first cousin Maria Amalia of Austria, the younger daughter of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, was elected Holy Roman Emperor. He was a member of the House of Wittelsbach, and his reign as Holy Roman Emperor marked the end of three centuries of uninterrupted Habsburg imperial rule. After Karl Albrecht died in 1745, Maria Theresa, via a treaty, arranged for her husband Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine to be elected Holy Roman Emperor, as Franz I. Despite the snub, Maria Theresa wielded the real power.

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Works Cited

Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VI,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 24 August 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of Croatia, Duke of Teschen, King of the Romans, Archduke of Further Austria, and Prince of Transylvania, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-i-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-hungary-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-king-of-croatia-duke-of-teschen-king-of-the-romans-archduke-of-further-austria-and-prince-of-transylv/ (Accessed: 24 August 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2013) Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maria-theresa-archduchess-of-austria-queen-of-hungary-croatia-and-bohemia/ (Accessed: 24 August 2023).
Karl VI. (HRR) (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_VI._(HRR) (Accessed: 24 August 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wilhelmine Luise of Nassau-Weilburg, Princess Reuss of Greiz

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Wilhelmine Luise of Nassau-Weilburg, Princess Reuss of Greiz; Credit – Wikipedia

Note about the Reuss numbering system: All males of the House of Reuss were named Heinrich plus a number. In the Reuss-Greiz, Elder Line, the numbering covered all male children and the numbers increased until 100 was reached and then started again at 1. In the Reuss-Gera, Younger Line, the system was similar but the numbers increased until the end of the century before starting again at 1. This tradition was seen as a way of honoring Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VI (reigned 1191 – 1197) who had benefitted the family. Therefore, the Roman numerals seen after names are NOT regnal numbers.

Principality of Reuss-Greiz: The House of Reuss began their rule circa 1010. Heinrich XI, Count Reuss of Greiz, Lower-Greiz (Untergreiz) and Upper-Greiz (Obergreiz) was elevated to princely status in 1778 and then used the title of Prince Reuss, Older Line, or Prince Reuss of Greiz.

Heinrich XXIV, the last Prince Reuss of Greiz, succeeded his father in 1902 but was unable to rule because of his physical and mental disabilities as a result of an accident in his childhood. Instead, a Regent ruled the Principality of Reuss-Greiz: Heinrich XIV, 4th Prince Reuss of Gera from 1901 – 1913, and then his son Heinrich XXVII, 5th and last Prince Reuss of Gera from 1913 – 1918.

On November 11, 1918, the Regent, Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss of Gera (Younger Line) abdicated in the name of the disabled Heinrich XXIV, 6th Prince Reuss of Greiz. After the abdication, Heinrich XXIV retained the right of residence of the Lower Castle in Greiz and lived there until his death. The territory that encompassed the Principality of Reuss-Greiz is now in the German state of Thuringia.

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The wife of Heinrich XIII, 2nd Prince Reuss of Greiz, Princess Wilhelmine Luise of Nassau-Weilburg was born on September 28, 1765, in The Hague, then in the Dutch Republic, now in The Netherlands. She was the fourth of the nine children and the second of the five daughters of Karl Christian, Duke of Nassau-Weilburg and Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau. Wilhelmine Luise’s paternal grandparents were Karl August, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg and Princess Auguste Friederike of Nassau-Idstein (link in German). Her maternal grandparents were Willem IV, Prince of Orange and Anne, Princess Royal (daughter of King George II of Great Britain).

Caroline of Orange-Nassau and her children, circa 1778; Left to Right: Karoline, Caroline of Orange-Nassau, Amalia, Karl, Wilhelmine Luise, Marie, and Friedrich Wilhelm; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelmine Luise had a total of eight siblings but only five survived childhood. Her sister Amalia is an ancestor of the Dutch Royal Family and her sister Henriette is an ancestor of the British House of Windsor through Queen Mary, the wife of King George V of the United Kingdom:

Georg, Hereditary Prince of Nassau-Weilburg (1760 – 1762), died in early childhood
Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Nassau-Weilburg (1761 – 1770), died in childhood
Princess Marie of Nassau-Weilburg (1764 – 1802), unmarried, a deaconess at the secular Protestant abbeys in Quedlinburg and Herford in the Duchy of Saxony
Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg (1768 – 1816), married Louise Isabelle of Kirchberg, had four children
Princess Karoline of Nassau-Weilburg (1770 – 1828), married Karl Ludwig, Prince of Wied, no children
Prince Karl of Nassau-Weilburg (1775 – 1807), unmarried
Princess Amalia of Nassau-Weilburg (1776 – 1841), married (1) Victor II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, had four daughters including Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym who married Georg II, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont – their granddaughter Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont was the second wife of King Willem III of the Netherlands and the mother of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (2) Baron Friedrich von Stein-Liebenstein zu Barchfeld, no children
Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg (1780 – 1857), married Duke Ludwig Friedrich of Württemberg, had four children including Pauline who married her first cousin King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, and Alexander whose morganatic marriage to Claudine Rhedey, a Hungarian countess, caused him to lose his succession rights to the Württemberg throne and his children to lose the right to use the Württemberg name. In 1863, Alexander’s children were elevated by his first cousin and brother-in-law King Wilhelm I of Württemberg to the rank of Princes and Princesses of Teck. One of those children was Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, the father of Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, later Queen Mary, the wife of King George V of the United Kingdom.

The family lived in The Hague, then in the Dutch Republic, now in the Netherlands, mostly because Wilhelmine Luise’s father Karl Christian, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg served in the Dutch army. However, because Carolina of Orange-Nassau, Wilhelmine Luise’s mother, was one of the four successive regents for her only surviving sibling Willem V, Prince of Orange, it was also necessary that the family stay in The Hague. Carolina and Willem V’s father Willem IV, Prince of Orange had died at age 40 and was succeeded by his son Willem (V) who was only three years old. Willem V would not reach his majority for fifteen years, and until then he had four successive regents. In 1769, Wihelmine Luise’s family moved to Weilburg in her father’s Principality of Nassau-Weilburg, now in the German state of Hesse, but in 1773, Wilhelmine Luise’s father Karl Christian was appointed Governor of Maastricht in the Dutch Republic, and so the family once again returned to the Dutch Republic. In 1784, Wilhelmine Luise’s father resigned as Governor of Maastricht and the family moved back to Weilburg.

Heinrich XIII, 2nd Prince Reuss of Greiz, Wilhelmine Luise’s husband; Credit – Wikipedia

Twenty-year-old Wilhelmine Luise married thirty-eight-year-old Heinrich XIII, the heir to the throne of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz, on January 9, 1786, in Kirchheim, Principality of Nassau-Weilburg, now in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Wilhelmine Luise and Heinrich XIII had four sons:

Prince Heinrich XVIII Reuss of Greiz (born and died 1787)
Heinrich XIX, 3rd Prince Reuss of Greiz (1790 – 1836), his father’s successor, married Princess Gasparine of Rohan-Rochefort, had two daughters
Heinrich XX, 4th Prince Reuss of Greiz (1794 – 1859), his brother’s successor, married (1) Princess Sophie of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, no children (2) Princess Caroline Amalie of Hesse-Homburg, had five children

Wilhelmine Luise’s husband Heinrich XIII served in the Austrian Army. He attained the rank of General Feldzeugmeister, commander-in-chief of the artillery, one of the highest officers in the army. Heinrich XIII was a close personal friend of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. In 1789, Heinrich XIII represented the Holy Roman Empire at the court of the Kingdom of Prussia.

The Lower Castle in Greiz, with the Upper Castle in the background; Credit – Von Wolfgang Pehlemann Wiesbaden Germany – Selbst fotografiert, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32945991

Upon his father’s death in 1800, Heinrich XIII succeeded as Prince Reuss of Greiz. On April 6, 1802, a large fire destroyed much of Greiz, the capital of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz, now in the German state of Thuringia. Approximately 430 buildings were destroyed. Many other buildings were demolished to prevent the fire from spreading. Heinrich XIII oversaw the rebuilding of Greiz in the neoclassical style and moved his residence from the Obere Schloss (link in German) (Upper Castle) to the Untere Schloss (link in German) so he could be closer to the people and social life of Greiz.

Stadtkirche St. Marien in Greiz; Credit – Von Tilman2007 – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41473525

Heinrich XIII, 2nd Prince Reuss of Greiz died on January 29, 1817, aged 69, in Greiz, Principality of Reuss-Greiz. He was buried at the Stadtkirche St. Marien (link in German) now in Greiz, Thuringia, Germany. Wilhelmine Luise survived her husband by twenty years, dying on October 10, 1837, aged 72, in Greiz, Principality of Reuss-Greiz. She was buried with her husband.

Works Cited

Charles Christian, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Christian,_Prince_of_Nassau-Weilburg (Accessed: 21 August 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Heinrich XIII, 2nd Prince Reuss of Greiz, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/heinrich-xiii-prince-reuss-of-greiz/ (Accessed: 21 August 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2016) Willem V, Prince of Orange, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/william-v-prince-of-orange/ (Accessed: 21 August 2023).
Louise, Princess Reuss of Greiz (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise,_Princess_Reuss_of_Greiz (Accessed: 21 August 2023).
Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Carolina_of_Orange-Nassau (Accessed: 21 August 2023).
Вільгельміна Луїза Нассау-Вайльбурзька (Luise of Nassau-Weilburg) (2023) Wikipedia (Ukrainian). Available at: https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC%D1%96%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%9B%D1%83%D1%97%D0%B7%D0%B0_%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B0%D1%83-%D0%92%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B7%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B0 (Accessed: 21 August 2023).

Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Holy Roman Empress, wife of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Wilhemine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the wife of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor who was also Archduke of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, and King of Hungary. Born on April 21, 1673, in Hanover, then in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, now in the German state of Lower Saxony, Wilhelmine Amalie was the youngest of the four daughters of Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate. Her paternal grandparents were Georg, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Anna Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt. Wilhelmine Amalie’s maternal grandparents were Edward, Prince Palatine of the Rhine and Anna Gonzaga, from a noble Italian family. Her maternal grandfather Edward, Prince Palatine of the Rhine was a grandson of King James I of England (also James VI, King of Scots), the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Wilhelmine Amalie had three elder sisters but only one survived to adulthood:

Anna Sophie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1670 – 1672), died in early childhood
Charlotte Felizitas of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1671 – 1710), married Rinaldo d’Este III, Duke of Modena, had seven children, died giving birth to her eighth child who also died
Henriette Maria of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1672 – 1687), died in her teens

Although Wilhelmine Amalie’s maternal grandfather Edward, Prince Palatine of the Rhine was born Protestant, he converted to Roman Catholicism, and so her mother Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate was raised Catholic. Wilhelmine Amalie’s father Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg converted to Roman Catholicism after a visit to Italy in 1651, where he met Joseph of Cupertino, an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar and mystic who was canonized a saint in 1767.

In 1679, when Wilhelmine Amalie was six-years-old, her father died without a son to succeed him. His Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg was inherited by his Protestant younger brother Ernst August who was married to Sophia of the Palatinate, Wilhelmine Amalie’s great aunt, better known as Sophia of Hanover. Ernst August and Sophia of Hanover were the parents of George I, the first King of Great Britain from the House of Hanover. Sophia of Hanover’s family was the most junior of the Stuart lines but was the most Protestant. In 1701, Parliament passed the Act of Settlement, giving the succession to the British throne to Sophia and her non-Catholic heirs. This act ensured the Protestant succession and bypassed many Catholics who had a better hereditary claim to the throne.

After her husband’s death, Benedicta Henrietta returned to Paris, France, where she had been raised, with her two surviving daughters Charlotte Felizitas and Wilhelmine Amalie, to live near her sister Anne Henriette who had married Henri Jules, Prince of Condé. Benedicta Henrietta entrusted the education of her two daughters to the nuns of the Cistercian Maubuisson Abbey, where Wilhelmine Amalie’s great aunt Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate was the Abbess. Wilhelmine Amalie did not return to her birthplace Hanover until 1693 when she was twenty years old.

Wilhelmine Amalie, who was considered beautiful, serious, and a pious Catholic, caught the eye of Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress, the third wife of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and the mother of Archduke Joseph, the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I. Joseph began having affairs at the age of 15 with maids and noble women. It was thought that the pious Wilhelmine Amalie, who was five years older than Joseph, would be a positive influence on Joseph and he would then stop having affairs. A marriage was proposed and accepted.

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

On January 15, 1699, in the Duchy of Modena, where Wilhelmina Amalie and her mother were staying with her eldest sister Charlotte Felizitas, Duchess of Modena and Reggio, Wilhelmine Amalie and Archduke Joseph of Austria were married by proxy. On February 18, 1699, Wilhelmine Amalie arrived in Tulln an der Donau in the Archduchy of Austria, where she was met by Joseph. The couple were married in person on February 24, 1699, at the Augustinerkirche (Augustinian Church), in Vienna, Austria, adjacent to the Hofburg Palace, the winter palace of the Habsburgs. Wilhelmina Amalie wore a wedding dress encrusted with diamonds and the wedding celebrations continued for eight days.

Joseph and Wilhelmine Amalie had three children but their only son died from hydrocephalus before his first birthday:

Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1699 – 1757), married Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, had fourteen children
Archduke Leopold Joseph of Austria (1700 – 1701), died in infancy
Archduchess Maria Amalie of Austria (1701 – 1756), married Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Prince-Elector of Bavaria, had seven children

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor died, aged sixty-four, on May 5, 1705, and his 27-year-old son Joseph succeeded him in the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor. Joseph’s reign lasted just six years. During the smallpox epidemic of 1711, which killed Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France, the only surviving child and heir of King Louis XIV of France, and three siblings of the future Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, Joseph also became ill with smallpox. He died, aged thirty-two, on April 17, 1711, at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. Joseph had promised his wife that if he survived, he would stop having affairs. Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. Because Joseph did not have any sons, his brother Karl succeeded him as the ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI.

Wilhelmine Amalie as Holy Roman Dowager Empress, 1730; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1722, after both her daughters had married, Wilhelmine Amalie retired to the convent she had founded in 1717 for the Salesian nuns, the Monastery of the Visitation of Mary (link in German) in Vienna. Living in the convent did not mean that Wilhelmine Amalie gave up her social life. As Dowager Empress she participated in the social life of the imperial family and worked with many charities.

Tomb of Wilhelmina Amalie, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – By krischnig – Own work: selbst fotografiert, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48472044

Wilhelmine Amalie survived her husband by thirty-one years, dying on April 10, 1742, eleven days before her sixty-ninth birthday, at the Monastery of the Visitation of Mary in Vienna that she had founded. She was buried in the crypt under the high altar of the monastery’s church where the Salesian nuns are buried. As per her orders, her heart was interred at the foot of her husband’s tomb in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Works Cited

Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedicta_Henrietta_of_the_Palatinate (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of Croatia, King of Hungary, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/joseph-i-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-king-of-croatia-king-of-hungary/ (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Salesianerinnenkirche (Wien) (2022) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesianerinnenkirche_(Wien) (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilhelmine-Amélie de Brunswick-Lunebourg (2023) Wikipedia (French). Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmine-Am%C3%A9lie_de_Brunswick-Lunebourg (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmine_Amalie_of_Brunswick (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Wilhelmine Amalie von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (2022) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmine_Amalie_von_Braunschweig-L%C3%BCneburg (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Вильгельмина Брауншвейг-Люнебургская (2022) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%91%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%83%D0%BD%D1%88%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%B3-%D0%9B%D1%8E%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B3%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen, Princess of Lippe

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Principality of Lippe: Originally called Lippe-Detmold, the Principality of Lippe came into existence in 1789 when it was raised from a County within the Holy Roman Empire to a Principality. Leopold I, Count of Lippe-Detmold became the first Prince of Lippe.

At the end of World War I, Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe, was forced to abdicate on November 12, 1918. However, Leopold negotiated a treaty with the new government that allowed his family to remain in Lippe. Today the territory that encompassed the Principality of Lippe is located in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

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Portrait of Princess Anna by Bernhard Zickendraht, 1924, displayed in Detmold Castle; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen was the second of the two wives of Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe. Anna was born on February 10, 1886, in Büdingen, then in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in the German state of Hesse. Originally, the House of Büdingen, a noble family, held control of Büdingen but in 1816, it was given to the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt, later the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine. Anna was the youngest of the eight children and the youngest of the seven daughters Bruno, 3rd Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen and his second wife Countess Bertha of Castell-Rüdenhausen. Her paternal grandparents were Ernst Casimir II, 2nd Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen and his wife Countess Thekla of Erbach-Fürstenau. Anna’s maternal grandparents were Adolf, Hereditary Count of Castell-Rüdenhausen and Baroness Marie of Thüngen.

Anna had seven older siblings:

Princess Emma of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1870 – 1944), married Count Otto of Solms-Laubach, had four children
Princess Marie of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1875 – 1952), unmarried
Wolfgang, 4th Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1877 – 1920), married Countess Adelheid of Rechteren-Limpurg, no children
Princess Thekla of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1878 – 1950), married Manfred V, Prince of Collalto and San Salvatore, had four children
Princess Mathilde of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1880 – 1947), married Cornelius, Baron Heyl of Herrnsheim, had five children
Princess Helene of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1881 – 1951), unmarried
Princess Hertha of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1883 – 1972), married Prince Albrecht of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, had one daughter Princess Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg who married Ernst August IV, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, Prince of Hanover – they are the parents of Prince Ernst August (V) of Hanover

Anna had two older half-sisters from her father’s first marriage to Princess Mathilde of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich:

Princess Hedwig of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1863 – 1925), married (1) Botho, 1st Prince of Stolberg-Rossla, had four children (2) Count Kuno of Stolberg-Rossla, no children
Princess Elisabeth of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1864 – 1946), married Rudolf, Baron of Thüngen, had four children

Büdingen Castle where Anna grew up; Credit – Von Sven Teschke – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31460

On November 21, 1911, at Büdingen Castle (link in German) in Büdingen, where Anna grew up, she married Count Ernst of Lippe-Weissenfeld, son of Count Franz of Lippe-Weissenfeld and Baroness Marie von Beschwitz. Less than three years later, Ernst was killed in action at Gołdap, then in the Kingdom of Prussia, now in Poland, on the Eastern Front during World War I, on September 11, 1914.

Anna and Ernst had one daughter:

Princess Eleonore of Lippe-Weissenfeld (1913 – 1964), married Adolph Sweder Hubertus, Count of Rechteren-Limpurg, had two one son and one daughter

On April 26, 1922, in Büdingen, Germany, Anna became the second wife of Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe, the pretender to the throne of the Principality of Lippe. Following the German Empire’s defeat in World War I and the German Revolution of 1918-1919, Leopold IV was forced to renounce the throne on November 12, 1918, by the Lippe People’s and Soldiers’ Council. However, Leopold negotiated a treaty with the new government that allowed his family to remain in Lippe.

Leopold and Anna had one son Armin Leopold Ernst Bruno Heinrich Willa August:

Armin, Prince of Lippe (1924 – 2015) married Traute Becker, had one son

Leopold’s first wife Princess Bertha of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld died in 1919 and upon her marriage to Leopold in 1922, Anna became the stepmother of Leopold’s five children from his first marriage:

Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Lippe (link in German) (1902 – 1987), married (1) Charlotte Ricken, divorced (2) Herta-Elise Weiland, had one son and one daughter
Prince Leopold Bernhard of Lippe (1904 – 1965), unmarried
Princess Karoline of Lippe (1905 – 2001), married Count Hans of Kanitz, had six daughters
Prince Chlodwig of Lippe (1909 – 2000), married Veronika Holl, had one daughter
Princess Sieglinde of Lippe (1915 – 2008), married Friedrich Carl Heldman, had two daughters and one son

During the rise of Nazism in Germany, all three of Leopold’s sons by his first wife Bertha became members of the Nazi Party. The eldest son the Hereditary Prince Ernst is reported to have been the first German prince to join the Nazi Party when he signed up in May 1928. Ernst’s brother Chlodwig joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and the other brother Leopold Bernhard joined in 1932. Hereditary Prince Ernst later became an SS-Major (Schutzstaffel Sturmbannführer) and held a high-ranking post in the SS Race and Settlement Main Office. The SS (Schutzstaffel) was the agency of security, surveillance, and terror in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The SS Race and Settlement Main Office was responsible for safeguarding the racial purity of the SS within Nazi Germany. At the end of World War II, Hereditary Prince Ernst of Lippe was taken prisoner by the Allies and took part in the Nuremberg Trials as a witness. The denazification tribunal in the Detmold administrative district classified Ernst as a Lesser Offender, Category III. He was not imprisoned but rather placed on probation for two-three years with a list of restrictions.

In addition to being pro-Nazi, both Hereditary Prince Ernst and Prince Khlodwig had made unequal marriages. Due to these circumstances, Leopold rewrote his will in 1947, indicating that Armin, his only child with his second wife, would succeed him as the head of the House of Lippe and become the administrator of the princely family’s properties such as the Residenzschloss Detmold (link in German), thereby disinheriting all three of his sons from his first marriage.

Christ Church in Detmold; Credit – Von Daniel Brockpähler – Eigene Fotografie, bearbeitet mit Photoshop von Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8648403

Anna’s husband Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe died, aged 78, on December 30, 1949, in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was buried with his first wife Bertha at the Christ Church in Detmold (link in German). Leopold’s second wife Anna survived him by thirty-one years, dying on February 8, 1980, in Detmold at the age of 94, and was also buried at Christ Church.

Anna and Leopold’s son Armin was head of the House of Lippe from 1949 until his death in 2015. Armin’s only child Stephan, Prince of Lippe (born 1959) succeeded him as head of the House of Lippe. Stephan married Countess Maria of Solms-Laubach and they had three sons and two daughters.

Works Cited

Bruno, Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno,_Prince_of_Ysenburg_and_B%C3%BCdingen (Accessed: 19 July 2023).
De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Leopold IV. (Lippe). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_IV._(Lippe)> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Leopold IV, Prince Of Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_IV,_Prince_of_Lippe> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
Flantzer, S. (2023) Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-iv-prince-of-lippe/ (Accessed: 19 July 2023).
Mehl, Scott, 2018. Lippe Royal Burial Sites. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/former-monarchies/german-royals/principality-of-lippe/lippe-royal-burial-sites/> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
Petropoulos, Jonathan, 2009. Royals And The Reich. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen (2022a) geni_family_tree. Available at: https://www.geni.com/people/Princess-Anna-of-Ysenburg-and-B%C3%BCdingen/6000000009136870908 (Accessed: 19 July 2023).
Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Anna_of_Ysenburg_and_B%C3%BCdingen (Accessed: 19 July 2023).

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor was also King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, and King of Croatia from 1705 – 1711, and King of Hungary from 1687 – 1711. Joseph Jacob Ignaz Johann Anton Eustachius was born in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria, on July 26, 1678. He was the eldest of the ten children and the eldest of the three sons of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and his third wife and second cousin Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg. Joseph’s paternal grandparents were Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and the first of his three wives and his first cousin, Maria Anna of Austria. His maternal grandparents were Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg and his second wife Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Joseph had nine siblings but only four survived childhood:

Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (born and died 1679), died at birth
Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands (1680 – 1741), unmarried
Archduke Leopold Joseph of Austria (1682 – 1684), died in early childhood
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1683 – 1754) married King João V of Portugal, had six children including two Kings of Portugal and one Queen Consort of Spain
Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria (1684 – 1696), died from smallpox at the age of 12
Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1685 – 1740), married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, had one son who died in infancy and three daughters, father of Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, the only woman to rule the Habsburg lands in her own right
Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1687 – 1703), died from smallpox at the age of 16
Maria Magdalena of Austria, Governor of Tyrol (1689 – 1743), unmarried
Maria Margaretha of Austria (1690 – 1691), died in infancy

Joseph’s father Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor had been married twice before to Margarita Teresa of Spain and Claudia Felicitas of Austria. From these two marriages, Leopold I had six children, however, all except the oldest daughter from his first wife, had died.

Joseph had one surviving half-sister from his father’s first marriage to Margarita Teresa of Spain:

Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (1669 – 1692), married Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, had three sons, none survived childhood

Joseph at the age of six; Credit – Wikipedia

Joseph was educated by Karl Theodor Otto, Prince of Salm, Leopold I’s Oberhofmeister, the head of the imperial court and household, and also the first privy councilor, a position similar to a prime minister. When Joseph succeeded his father, Karl Theodor Otto remained Oberhofmeister and first privy councilor. Joseph was studious, multi-talented, and very intelligent. In 1687, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor gave his nine-year-old son the Kingdom of Hungary, one of the Habsburg hereditary lands, to rule over. In 1690, Joseph was elected King of the Romans, meaning he would be elected the next Holy Roman Emperor.

Joseph’s wife Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg; Credit – Wikipedia

On February 24, 1699, in Vienna, Joseph married Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, daughter of Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate. Joseph began having affairs at the age of 15 with maids and noble women. Wilhelmine Amalie was very pious and had received a Catholic education from her great-aunt Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate who had converted to Roman Catholicism, became a nun, and later the abbess at the Cistercian Maubuisson Abbey in France. It was thought that the pious Wilhelmine Amalie, who was five years older than Joseph, would be a positive influence on Joseph and he would then stop having affairs.

Joseph and Wilhelmine Amalie had three children but their only son died from hydrocephalus before his first birthday:

Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1699 – 1757), married Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, had fourteen children
Archduke Leopold Joseph of Austria (1700 – 1701), died in infancy
Archduchess Maria Amalie of Austria (1701 – 1756), married Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Prince-Elector of Bavaria, had seven children

Joseph did not stop his affairs, and the affairs combined with the death of his only son took a toll on his marriage. Joseph contracted a venereal disease, probably syphilis, and probably passed the disease to his wife. The venereal disease was most likely the reason for the failure of the couple to produce more children. Without male heirs, a succession crisis developed over who would inherit the Habsburg hereditary lands of Bohemia, Austria, Croatia, and Hungary. The Holy Roman Emperor was not inherited but was elected by the prince-electors, or electors for short, from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Joseph’s father Holy Roman Leopold I was still alive and he devised the Mutual Pact of Succession, a succession device secretly signed by Joseph and his younger brother Karl in 1703. The Mutual Pact of Succession stated that the Habsburg hereditary lands would be inherited by the brothers’ respective male heirs. However, if one brother should fail to have a son, the other one would succeed him in all the Habsburg hereditary lands. If both brothers died without sons, the daughters of Joseph, the elder brother, would have absolute precedence over the daughters of Karl, the younger brother, and the eldest daughter of Joseph would ascend to the thrones of all the Habsburg hereditary lands.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor died, aged sixty-four, on May 5, 1705, in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria, and his 27-year-old son Joseph succeeded him in the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor. His father had left him with the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 – 1715). The death of the last Spanish Habsburg King, Leopold’s childless nephew King Carlos II of Spain resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession in which Leopold and then his son Holy Roman Joseph I unsuccessfully sought to give Leopold’s younger son Karl the entire Spanish inheritance, disregarding the will of the late Carlos II who had named 16-year-old Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, the second son of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France, and the grandson of Carlos’ half-sister Maria Teresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain and her husband King Louis XIV of France, as his successor. However, Philippe of France did reign in Spain as King Felipe V, the first King of Spain from the House of Bourbon that still reigns in Spain.

Tomb of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I; Credit – By PaulT (Gunther Tschuch) – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=132637549

Joseph’s reign lasted just six years. During the smallpox epidemic in 1711, which killed Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France, the only surviving child and heir of King Louis XIV of France, and three siblings of the future Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, Joseph also became ill with smallpox. He died, aged thirty-two, on April 17, 1711, at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. Joseph had promised his wife that if he survived, he would stop having affairs. Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. His tomb, designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, is decorated with images of various battles from the War of Spanish Succession.

Joseph’s brother and successor Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

Joseph’s brother Karl succeeded him as the ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI. However, Karl’s only son had died in infancy and upon his death, the Habsburg hereditary lands should have gone to Joseph’s daughter Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria as declared in the Mutual Pact of Succession. However, Karl VI’s Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 annulled the Mutual Pact of Succession and made his daughter Maria Theresa the heir to the Habsburg hereditary lands instead of Joseph’s daughter Maria Josepha. When Karl died in 1740, Maria Theresa’s succession to the Habsburg hereditary lands led to the War of Austrian Succession (1740 – 1748), resulting in the eventual confirmation of Maria Theresa’s Habsburg titles.

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of Croatia, Duke of Teschen, King of the Romans, Archduke of Further Austria, and Prince of Transylvania, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-i-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-hungary-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-king-of-croatia-duke-of-teschen-king-of-the-romans-archduke-of-further-austria-and-prince-of-transylv/ (Accessed: 19 July 2023).
Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 19 July 2023).
Joseph I. (HRR) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_I._(HRR) (Accessed: 19 July 2023).
Mutual Pact of Succession (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_Pact_of_Succession (Accessed: 19 July 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bertha Louise of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, Princess of Lippe

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

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Bertha Louise of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, Princess of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Bertha Louise of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld was the first of the two wives of Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe. Born on October 25, 1874, in Burgsteinfurt, a city under the control of the noble Bentheim-Steinfurt family, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bertha Louise was the eldest of the four children and the only daughter of Wilhelm, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, a rear admiral in the Prussian and German Imperial Navy, and his second wife Princess Juliane of Bentheim-Steinfurt.

Bertha Louise had three younger brothers but two died in infancy:

Chlodwig, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (1876 – 1954), married Karoline of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, had five children
Prince Eduard of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (1878 – 1879), twin of Julian, died in infancy
Prince Julian of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (born and died 1878), twin of Eduard, died in infancy

When Bertha Louise was three-and-half years old, her mother Juliane, age thirty-six, died eight days after giving birth to twin boys, probably from childbirth complications. The twin boys both died before their first birthday.

Bertha Louise had five half-siblings from his father’s first marriage to Princess Maria von Hanau und zu Hořowitz which ended in divorce. Maria was the daughter of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm I of Hesse-Kassel and his morganatic wife Gertrude Falkenstein, later Countess of Schaumburg and Princess of Hanau und zu Hořowitz. Maria took her title from her mother and because of her parents’ morganatic marriage, her children were not given the title Prince/Princes of Hessen-Philippsthal but rather Prince/Princess of Ardeck, and they did not have succession rights.

Prince Friedrich of Ardeck (1858 – 1902), married Anne Hollingsworth Price, no children
Prince Carl of Ardeck (1861 – 1938), married Anne Elise Strehlow, no children
Princess Elisabeth of Ardeck (1864 – 1919), married Count Ferdinand of Ysenburg-Büdingen-Philippseich, had four children
Princess Marie of Ardeck (1867 – 1868), died in infancy
Princess Luise of Ardeck (1868 – 1959), married Prince Rudolf of Lippe-Biesterfeld, had three children

Bertha Louise’s father married for a third time in 1879 to Princess Adelheid of Bentheim and Steinfurt, the sister of his second wife, but the marriage was childless and Adelheid died in 1880. In 1884, Bertha Louise got another stepmother when her father married Princess Auguste of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, the daughter of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Princess Adelheid of Schaumburg-Lippe. Bertha Louise had one half-brother from this marriage.

Prince Christian of Hessen-Philippsthal (1887 – 1971), married (1) Elizabeth Reid Rogers, had four children (2) Anne Pearl Everett, no children

Bertha Louise’s husband Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 16, 1901, in Rotenburg an der Fulda, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Hesse, Bertha Louise married the future Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, the son of Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld and Countess Karoline Friederike Cecilia of Wartensleben. Leopold’s father Ernst was the head of the non-reigning Lippe-Biesterfeld line of the House of Lippe, the most senior line of the princely house after the reigning Lippe-Detmold line.

Bertha Louise and Leopold with their three eldest children; Credit – Wikipedia

Bertha Louise and Leopold had five children:

Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Lippe (link in German) (1902 – 1987), married (1) Charlotte Ricken, divorced (2) Herta-Elise Weiland, had one son and one daughter
Prince Leopold Bernhard of Lippe (1904 – 1965), unmarried
Princess Karoline of Lippe (1905 – 2001), married Count Hans of Kanitz, had six daughters
Prince Chlodwig of Lippe (1909 – 2000), married Veronika Holl, had one daughter
Princess Sieglinde of Lippe (1915 – 2008), married Friedrich Carl Heldman, had two daughters and one son

Leopold’s father Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld served as the Regent of the Principality of Lippe for Alexander, Prince of Lippe. Alexander had been declared mentally incapacitated and therefore, incapable of governing, a regency would be necessary during Alexander’s reign. When Leopold’s father died on September 26, 1904, Leopold succeeded him as Regent of the Principality of Lippe. Four months later, Alexander, Prince of Lippe, the last of the Lippe-Detmold line, died on January 13, 1905. With the extinction of the Lippe-Detmold line, the throne of the Principality of Lippe went to Count Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld who reigned as Leopold IV and would be the last reigning Prince of Lippe.

Christ Church in Detmold, which Leopold IV built and where he is buried with his two wives; Christ Church in Detmold; Credit – Von Daniel Brockpähler – Eigene Fotografie, bearbeitet mit Photoshop von Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8648403

Following the German Empire’s defeat in World War I and the German Revolution of 1918-1919, Leopold IV was forced to renounce the throne on November 12, 1918, by the Lippe People’s and Soldiers’ Council. However, Leopold negotiated a treaty with the new government that allowed his family to remain in Lippe. Three months later, on February 19, 1919, Bertha Louise died, aged 44, in Detmold, then in the new Weimar Republic, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. She was buried at the Christ Church in Detmold (link in German). Leopold married for a second time to Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen and they had one son Armin, Prince of Lippe.

Bertha and Leopold’s son Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Lippe as a witness during the Nuremberg Trials; Credit – Wikipedia

During the rise of Nazism in Germany, all three sons of Bertha Louise and Leopold became members of the Nazi Party. Their eldest son Hereditary Prince Ernst is reported to have been the first German prince to join the Nazi Party when he signed up in May 1928. Ernst’s brother Chlodwig joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and the third brother Leopold Bernhard joined in 1932. Hereditary Prince Ernst later became an SS-Major (Schutzstaffel Sturmbannführer) and held a high-ranking post in the SS Race and Settlement Main Office. The SS (Schutzstaffel) was the agency of security, surveillance, and terror in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The SS Race and Settlement Main Office was responsible for safeguarding the racial purity of the SS within Nazi Germany. At the end of World War II, Hereditary Prince Ernst was taken prisoner by the Allies and took part in the Nuremberg Trials as a witness. The denazification tribunal in the Detmold administrative district classified Ernst as a Lesser Offender, Category III. He was not imprisoned but rather placed on probation for two-three years with a list of restrictions.

In addition to being pro-Nazi, both Hereditary Prince Ernst and Prince Khlodwig had made unequal marriages. Due to these circumstances, when their father Leopold rewrote his will in 1947, he indicated that Armin, his only child with his second wife, would succeed him as the Head of the House of Lippe and become the administrator of the princely family’s properties such as the Residenzschloss Detmold (link in German), thereby disinheriting all three of his sons from his first marriage.

Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, survived his first wife Bertha Louise by thirty years, dying, aged 78, on December 30, 1949, in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was buried with Bertha Louise at the Christ Church in Detmold (link in German). Leopold’s second wife Anna survived him by thirty-one years, dying on February 8, 1980, in Detmold at the age of 94, and was also buried at Christ Church.

Works Cited

Bertha Louise von Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Louise_von_Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (Accessed: 13 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-iv-prince-of-lippe/ (Accessed: 13 July 2023).
Petropoulos, Jonathan, 2009. Royals And The Reich. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Prince William of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_William_of_Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (Accessed: 13 July 2023).
Wilhelm Prinz von Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (2022) geni_family_tree. Available at: https://www.geni.com/people/Wilhelm-Prinz-von-Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld/6000000002188424816 (Accessed: 13 July 2023).

Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress, 3rd wife of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg was the third of the three wives and also the second cousin of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor who was also King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of Croatia, Duke of Teschen, King of the Romans, Archduke of Further Austria, and Prince of Transylvania. Born in the Palatinate-Neuburg, now in the German state of Bavaria, on January 6, 1655, Eleonore Magdalene was eldest of the seventeen children and the eldest of the eight daughters of Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg and his second wife Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her paternal grandparents were Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Magdalene of Bavaria. Eleonore Magdalene’s maternal grandparents were Georg II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Sophie Eleonore of Saxony.

Eleonore Magdalene had sixteen younger siblings:

Maria Adelheid of Neuburg (born and died 1656), died in infancy
Sophie Elizabeth of Neuburg (1657 – 1658), died in infancy
Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine of Neuburg (1658 – 1716), married (1) Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, had two sons who died at birth (2) Anna Maria de Medici, no children
Wolfgang Georg of Neuburg, Auxiliary Bishop of Cologne (1659 – 1683), unmarried
Ludwig Anton of Neuburg, Bishop of Worms (1660 – 1694), unmarried
Karl Philipp, Elector Palatine of Neuburg (1661 – 1742), married (1) Princess Luise Charlotte Radziwill, had four children, only one survived childhood (2) Princess Theresa Katharina Lubomirska, had two daughters who died young (3) Countess Violante Maria Theresa von Thurn und Taxis, no children
Alexander Sigismund of Neuburg, Prince Bishop of Augsburg (1663 – 1737), unmarried
Franz Ludwig of Neuburg, Archbishop of Mainz (1664 – 1732), unmarried
Friedrich Wilhelm of Neuburg (1665 – 1689), General in the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire, died in the Nine Years’ War during the Siege of Mainz
Marie Sophie of Neuburg (1666 – 1699), married King Pedro II of Portugal, had eight children including King João V of Portugal
Maria Anna of Neuburg (1667 – 1740), married King Carlos II of Spain, no children
Philipp Wilhelm of Neuburg (1668 – 1693), married Princess Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, had two daughters
Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg (1670 – 1748), married (1) Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma, had one son who died in childhood and one daughter Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, Queen of Spain (2) Francesco Farnese, Duke of Parma, no children
Hedwig Elisabeth of Neuburg (1673 – 1722), married Jakob Ludwig Sobieski of Poland, had six children, only three survived childhood
Johann of Neuburg (born and died 1675)
Leopoldine Eleanor of Neuburg (1679 – 1693), died at age 13, probably from tuberculosis

Eleonore Magdalene was raised in a very religious environment and received an excellent education. Besides her native language German, Eleonore Magdalene was fluent in Latin, French, and Italian, translated biblical texts and spiritual literature into German, was well-versed in theology, and was fond of music and art. From the age of seventeen, Eleanore Magdalene lived with her mother in Benrath Castle where a lady-in-waiting instructed her in court etiquette.

From an early age, Eleonore Magdalene showed a strong devotion to her Roman Catholic faith. She developed a daily prayer practice and an ascetic life which included self-flagellation and the secret wearing of a chain cilice. Eleonore Magdalene visited the sick, gave alms to the poor, and asked others not to treat her as royalty because she considered all people equally dear to God. When she was fourteen-year-old, Eleonore Magdalene joined the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Sorrows at the Cross, a secular order, and remained a member all her life. She wanted to become a Carmelite nun but her parents would not let her. Five monarchs asked to marry her and were refused by her.

Eleonore Magdalene’s husband Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1676, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor was devastated by the loss of his second wife, and he retired to a monastery near Vienna to mourn. From his two marriages, he had six children, however, all except the oldest daughter from his first wife, had died. Leopold needed to marry again to provide a male heir. Eleanore Magdalene’s mother had 23 pregnancies and 17 live births and the family gained the reputation as a fertile family. Because of this reputation, 36-year-old Leopold chose his 21-year-old second cousin Eleonore Magdalene to be his third wife. The wedding took place on December 14, 1676, in Passau, then in the County of Palatine, now in Bavaria, Germany. Having an imperial wedding in Passau was a major event and it is remembered with an 1892 painting of the wedding, displayed in the Passau Town Hall.

The painting of the wedding of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and Eleonore Magdalene, displayed in the Passau Town Hall; Credit – https://tourismus.passau.de/

Leopold made a good choice because his third wife Eleonore Magdalene had ten children with five surviving childhood including two Holy Roman Emperors:

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (1678 – 1711), married Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg, had three children, their only son died of hydrocephalus before his first birthday
Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (born and died 1679), died at birth
Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands (1680 – 1741), unmarried
Archduke Leopold Joseph of Austria (1682 – 1684), died in early childhood
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1683 – 1754) married King João V of Portugal, had six children including two Kings of Portugal and one Queen Consort of Spain
Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria (1684 – 1696), died from smallpox at the age of 12
Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1685 – 1740), married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, had one son who died in infancy and three daughters, father of Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, the only woman to rule the Habsburg lands in her own right
Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1687 – 1703), died from smallpox at the age of 16
Maria Magdalena of Austria, Governor of Tyrol (1689 – 1743), unmarried
Maria Margaretha of Austria (1690 – 1691), died in infancy

Eleonore had one surviving stepchild from her husband’s first marriage to Margarita Teresa of Spain:

Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (1669 – 1692), married Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, had three sons, none survived childhood

Eleonore Magdalene was politically active and influenced her husband in governmental matters, particularly as he grew older. Because she was fluent in several languages, Eleonore Magdalene translated foreign political documents for her husband, as many were written in French. She used her position as Holy Roman Empress to secure high-status marriages for her sisters, to promote the careers of her brothers in the Roman Catholic Church, and to oversee the political needs of her brother Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine of Neuburg. Eleonore Magdalene’s generosity to those in need was almost limitless. She built hospitals and shelters, supported numerous brotherhoods, churches, and monasteries, distributed alms, and visited the sick in hospitals. In 1684, Eleonore received the Golden Rose from Pope Innocent XI as a token of his affection for her reverence.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor died, aged sixty-four, on May 5, 1705, in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria. He was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. After Leopold’s death, Eleonore Magdalene dressed in mourning for the rest of her life. During the six-year reign of her son Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, Eleonore Magdalene continued to influence the affairs of the state. After Joseph I’s death, by the decision of the Privy Council, Eleanore Magdalene served as regent until the return of her son, the new Emperor Karl VI, from Spain where he was dealing with issues relating to the War of the Spanish Succession.

During her last years, Eleonore Magdalene lived a very ascetic life, similar to a nun. She instructed her servants, who had witnessed her ascetic life, never to tell anyone. On January 1, 1720, while preparing for the sacrament of confession, Eleonore Magdalene suffered a stroke which left the right side of her body paralyzed. She received the Anointing of the Sick and gave her blessing to her children and grandchildren who were at her deathbed. During her final days, Eleonore Magdalene was constantly nursed by her two daughters-in-law Wilhelmine Amalia and Elisabeth Christine.

Eleonore Magdalene’s second coffin; Credit – By Krischnig – de.wikipedia.org, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51297806

Eleonore Magdalene died on January 19, 1720, aged sixty-five, at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. Following her wishes, Eleonora Magdalene was buried wearing the robe of a nun, in a very simple wooden coffin that bore the inscription “Eleonore Magdalene Theresa, poor sinner”. Her coffin was placed at the foot of her husband’s tomb in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. The current lead Baroque coffin containing Eleonore Magdalene’s remains was made in August 1755 following the orders of her granddaughter Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, in her own right Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, because the old wooden coffin had deteriorated considerably.

Works Cited

Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonore_Magdalene_of_Neuburg (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
Eleonore Magdalene von Pfalz-Neuburg (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonore_Magdalene_von_Pfalz-Neuburg (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
Philip William, Elector Palatine (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_William,_Elector_Palatine (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
Rathaussäle Passau (2023) Startseite Passau Tourismus. Available at: https://tourismus.passau.de/passau-sehen-erleben/sehenswuerdigkeiten-in-passau/altes-rathaus-und-rathaussaele/ (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Sophie of Baden, Princess of Lippe

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Sophie of Baden, Princess of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Sophie of Baden was the wife of Woldemar, Prince of Lippe. Born on August 7, 1834, in Karlsruhe, then in the Grand Duchy of Baden, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Sophie was second of the four children, all daughters, of Prince Wilhelm of Baden and Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Württemberg. Her paternal grandparents were Karl Friedrich, the first Grand Duke of Baden, and his morganatic second wife Louise Caroline, Baroness Geyer von Geyersberg, Countess of Hochberg. Sophie’s maternal grandparents were Duke Ludwig of Württemberg and Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg.

Sophie had three sisters:

Princess Henriette of Baden (1833 – 1834), died in infancy
Princess Elisabeth Pauline Sophie of Baden (1835 – 1891), unmarried
Princess Leopoldine of Baden (1837 – 1903), married Hermann, 6th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the son of Princess Feodora of Leiningen, the half-sister of Queen Victoria, had three children

On November 9, 1858, in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Sophie married Woldemar, the future Prince of Lippe, the son of Leopold II, Prince of Lippe and Princess Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. Sophie and Woldemar had no children.

Sophie’s husband Woldemar, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Woldemar had two elder siblings and six younger siblings. Woldemar and his elder brother Leopold III, Prince of Lippe were the only ones who married and neither had any children. This would eventually create a succession crisis. Woldemar became Prince of Lippe upon the death of his elder brother Leopold III on December 8, 1875.

Woldemar, Prince of Lippe died March 20, 1895, aged 70, in Detmold, Principality of Lippe, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He was buried at the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg (link in German) in Detmold. Woldemar had no children to succeed him and his only surviving brother was Alexander who suffered from mental illness and had been declared incapacitated since 1871 and therefore, incapable of governing. A regency would be necessary during the reign of Alexander. However, Woldemar’s appointment of Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe as his brother’s regent sparked the Lippe succession dispute. This dispute between the two lines of the House of Lippe over the right to inherit lasted two decades and is discussed in Alexander, Prince of Lippe’s article.

Crypt in the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg; Credit – Von unbekannt / Tsungam – Foto: Eigenes Werk; Infotafel: Freunde der Residenz Detmold, Gemeinfrei, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20182639

Sophie survived her husband Woldemar by nine years, dying at the age of 70, on April 6, 1904, at the age of 70, in Detmold. She was buried with her husband.

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Woldemar, Prince of Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/woldemar-prince-of-lippe/ (Accessed: 11 July 2023).
Prince William of Baden (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_William_of_Baden (Accessed: 11 July 2023).
Princess Sophie of Baden (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sophie_of_Baden (Accessed: 11 July 2023).

Claudia Felicitas of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, 2nd wife of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Claudia Felicitas of Austria, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria was the second of the three wives and the second cousin of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor who was also King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of Croatia, Duke of Teschen, King of the Romans, Archduke of Further Austria, and Prince of Transylvania. Born in Innsbruck, then in the County of Tyrol, now in Austria, on May 30, 1653, Claudia Felicitas was the elder of the two children, both daughters, of Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol and first cousin Anna de’ Medici. Her paternal grandparents were Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and Claudia de’ Medici. Claudia Felicitas’ maternal grandparents were Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Maria Maddalena of Austria.

Claudia Felicitas had one younger sister who died in childhood:

Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria (1656 – 1669), died at age twelve

Claudia Felicitas grew up at her father’s court in Innsbruck, a center of baroque art and music. She loved hunting but also showed a great interest in music. Claudia Felicitas had an excellent singing voice, played several instruments, and composed music. She took her Roman Catholic faith very seriously and was a secular member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. In 1662, when Claudia Felicitas was nine-years-old, her 34-year-old father Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Further Austria died. He was succeeded by his brother Sigismund Franz, who died three years later in 1665. Claudia Felicitas and her sister, who would die in 1669, became the last members of the Tyrolean branch of the House of Habsburg.

Claudia Felicitas’ mother Anna de’ Medici; Credit – Wikipedia

After the extinction of the male line of the Tyrolean branch of the House of Habsburg in 1665, the Archduchy of Further Austria and the County of Tyrol came under the direct control of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. A dispute ensued with the Imperial Court when Claudia Felicitas’ mother Anna de’ Medici tried to protect the rights of her daughters. However, in 1673, when the first wife of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Margarita Teresa of Spain, died without providing a surviving male heir, a solution to solve the dispute and Leopold’s lack of male heirs became apparent. Because Leopold had no male heirs, he needed to marry again as soon as possible. He opted for Claudia Felicitas and her mother eagerly agreed. After a proxy marriage, 20-year-old Claudia Felicitas and 33-year-old Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I were married at Graz Cathedral on October 15, 1673. After her marriage, Claudia Felicitas retained the title of Countess of Tyrol, and the dispute ended.

The House of Habsburg was notorious for its inbreeding. The Habsburgs had built their empire by marriage and they wanted to keep the land they amassed all in the family, so they began to intermarry more and more frequently among themselves. Leopold I’s first wife Margarita Teresa of Spain was his first cousin and his niece. She had six pregnancies in six years (four living childbirths and two miscarriages), and four months into her seventh pregnancy, Margarita Teresa died. Her only surviving child, a daughter, gave birth to three sons – two died at birth and one died at the age of seven.

Claudia Felicitas’ husband Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I; Credit – Wikipedia

Claudia Felicitas and Leopold I combined for a gene pool that was also problematic. They were second cousins four times over. Leopold’s parents and Claudia Felicitas’ parents were all double first cousins with each other. All four had the same pair of grandparents Karl II, Archduke of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria.

Claudia Felicitas and Leopold I had two daughters, who died in infancy:

Archduchess Anna Maria Josepha of Austria (born and died 1674)
Archduchess Maria Josepha Clementina of Austria (1675 – 1676), died in infancy

The Dominican Church in Vienna, Austria where Claudia Felicitas is buried; Credit – By Thomas Ledl – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 at, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28719844

Six months after giving birth to her daughter Maria Josepha, 22-year-old Claudia Felicitas died from tuberculosis in Vienna, on April 8, 1676, less than two-and-a-half years after her marriage. She was buried in the Dominican Church, also known as the Church of St. Maria Rotund, in Vienna. Three months later, her 9-month-old daughter Maria Josepha Clementina died. Leopold I was devastated by the loss of his second wife, and he retired to a monastery near Vienna to mourn. From his two marriages, he had six children, however, all except the oldest daughter from his first marriage had died. One has to wonder what role the serious inbreeding played. Leopold did marry for a third time but not to another Habsburg. His third wife Eleonore Magdalene of Neuberg finally provided him with male heirs, two sons who both became Holy Roman Emperors.

Works Cited

Claudia Felicitas of Austria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Felicitas_of_Austria (Accessed: 13 July 2023).
Claudia Felizitas von Österreich-Tirol (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Felizitas_von_%C3%96sterreich-Tirol (Accessed: 13 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-i-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-hungary-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-king-of-croatia-duke-of-teschen-king-of-the-romans-archduke-of-further-austria-and-prince-of-transylv/ (Accessed: 13 July 2023).
Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Charles,_Archduke_of_Austria (Accessed: 13 July 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Princess of Lippe

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Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Princess of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was the wife of Leopold III, Prince of Lippe. Born on October 1, 1833, in Rudolstadt, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, Elisabeth was the second but the eldest surviving of the four children and the only daughter of Albrecht, the reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Princess Auguste of Solms-Braunfels. Her paternal grandparents were Ludwig Friedrich II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Karoline of Hesse-Homburg. Elisabeth’s maternal grandparents were Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Solms-Braunfels and Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Elisabeth had three brothers but only one survived childhood:

Karl (born and died 1828)
Georg Albrecht, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1838 – 1890), unmarried
Ernst Heinrich (born and died 1848)

Elisabeth was raised in a strict but simple manner by her Swiss governess and received drawing and painting lessons from Richard Schinzel, who later became the last Rudolstadt court painter. On April 17, 1852, in Rudolstadt, 18-year-old Elisabeth married 30-year-old Leopold III, Prince of Lippe but their marriage was childless. However, Leopold, who loved children very much, invited many children to Detmold Castle (link in German) every year for Christmas.

Elisabeth’s husband Leopold III, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Elisabeth used all the means at her disposal for charitable causes. She published a booklet with Bible verses for every day of the year and designed wall decorations with Bible verses. The booklet and wall decorations were mass-produced and the proceeds went to Elisabeth’s charitable causes. Devoted to children, Elisabeth founded a school, the Elisabeth-Anstalt in the town of Blomberg. She also promoted the establishment and maintenance of the Augustineum Secondary School a school and teacher training center in Otjimbingwe, then in a settlement of the Herero people, now in the country of Namibia.

Throughout her life, Elisabeth remained connected to her homeland and regularly visited Rudolstadt. Although she was popular with the people of the Principality of Lippe, Elisabeth and her husband Leopold became increasingly estranged which greatly distressed her. On December 8, 1875, Elisabeth’s husband Leopold III, Prince of Lippe, aged 54, died in Detmold after suffering a stroke and was succeeded by his brother Woldemar. Leopold was buried at the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg (link in German) in Detmold, Principality of Lippe, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

After Leopold’s death, Elisabeth moved into her widow’s residence at the New Palais in Detmold and continued her charitable work. She convinced her sister-in-law Princess Luise of Lippe to leave her palace to the Principality of Lippe upon her death so that it could house the Princely Public Library, today the Lippe State Library in Detmold (link in German). Among the other projects that Elisabeth sponsored was the Hostel zur Heimat Detmold (link in German), a facility for people in social distress, which is still in existence. As a condition of her support, Elisabeth stipulated that her name not be associated with the hostel.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt, where Elisabeth is interred; Credit – Von Telemarco, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46588535

After the death of her brother Georg Albrecht, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1890, Elisabeth inherited the manor in Niederkrossen (link in German), then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. Elisabeth regularly stayed there and had a handicraft school built there in the town. While staying in Niederkrossen during the autumn of 1896, Elisabeth became ill with pneumonia, and died on November 27, 1896, at the age of sixty-three. As per her wishes, Elisabeth was not buried at the traditional burial site of the princely family of Lippe but rather in the princely crypt at the Stadtkirche St. Andreas (link in German), an Evangelical Lutheran church in Rudolstadt, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, where members of her birth family were buried.

Works Cited

Єлизавета Шварцбург-Рудольштадтська (2023) Wikipedia (Ukrainian). Available at: https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%84%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%A8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%86%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B3-%D0%A0%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%88%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B0 (Accessed: 12 July 2023).
Elisabeth von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_von_Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (Accessed: 12 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Albrecht, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/albrecht-prince-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/ (Accessed: 12 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Leopold III, Prince of Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-iii-prince-of-lippe/ (Accessed: 12 July 2023).

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