Maria Anna of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, 1st wife of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Maria Anna of Spain, Holy Roman Empress; 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.

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The first of the three wives of her first cousin Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Maria Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain and Portugal was born at the Palace of El Escorial, near Madrid on August 18, 1606. Although a Spanish Infanta, she was known as Maria Anna of Austria, as the Spanish monarchs at the time were members of the House of Habsburg. She was the fourth of the eight children and the third of the four daughters of Felipe III, King of Spain (also Filipe II, King of Portugal) and Archduchess Margarete of Austria. Maria Anna’s paternal grandparents were Felipe II, King of Spain and his fourth wife and niece Anna of Austria. Her maternal grandparents were Karl II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria.

Maria Anna with her brother Carlos who was one year younger, 1612; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Anna had seven siblings:

Maria Anna was raised at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid in Spain in a very close and loving family. She was given a very strong religious upbringing and often visited convents and churches. After her mother’s death in childbirth in 1611, Maria Anna’s eldest sister Anna became a surrogate mother to her younger siblings. Before she was thirteen years old, Maria Anna was betrothed to marry Archduke Johann Karl of Austria, at that time, the eldest surviving son of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife, Maria Anna of Bavaria. However, in 1619, Archduke Johann Karl suddenly died.

Before Maria Anna’s father died in 1621, he and King James I of England tried to arrange a marriage between James’ eldest son and heir, the future King Charles I, then the Prince of Wales, and Maria Anna. This possible marriage was known as the “Spanish Match” and caused a political crisis in both England and Scotland. In 1623, the Prince of Wales visited Madrid to meet Maria Anna. As it turned out there was no marriage. Charles refused to convert to Catholicism, and Maria Anna refused to marry a Protestant. Maria Anna’s brother, the new King of Spain, Felipe IV, was unwilling to enter into a dynastic marriage with the House of Stuart for political reasons.

Maria Anna’s husband Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1626, Maria Anna was betrothed to her first cousin, then Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, the younger brother of her deceased first fiance, and now the heir of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia. Maria Anna’s mother Margarete of Austria was her fiance’s paternal aunt.

In December 1629, Maria Anna left Madrid, Spain to travel to Vienna, a journey that took more than a year. Because of an epidemic of the plague, Maria Anna’s ship was unable to dock in several ports. Finally, on January 26, 1631, Maria Anna arrived in the port city of Trieste (now in Italy), where she was greeted by Ferdinand’s brother Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. A proxy marriage was held that day with Leopold Wilhelm standing in for his brother. Leopold Wilhelm then escorted Maria Anna to Vienna.

Ferdinand did not trust the portraits that he had seen of Maria Anna and wanted to secretly see her before the in-person wedding. His Lord Chamberlain asked for an audience with Maria Anna, accompanied by some nobles, including her groom Ferdinand. Immediately pleased by what he saw, Ferdinand revealed himself and began to converse with Maria Anna in Spanish. The in-person marriage was held on February 20, 1631, in Vienna.

Maria Anna with her eldest child Ferdinand, 1634; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Anna and Ferdinand had six children:

  • Ferdinand, King of the Romans (1633 – 1654), unmarried, died from smallpox
  • Archduchess Mariana of Austria (1634 – 1696), married (second wife) her maternal uncle Felipe IV, King of Spain, had five children but only two survived childhood including Carlos II, King of Spain who had serious physical and mental conditions probably caused by the continued inbreeding of the House of Habsburg
  • Archduke Philipp August of Austria (1637 – 1639), died in early childhood
  • Archduke Maximilian Thomas of Austria (1638 – 1639), died in infancy
  • Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640 – 1705), married (1) his first cousin Margaret Theresa of Spain, had four children, only one survived childhood (2) Claudia Felicitas of Austria, had two children, both died in childhood (3) Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, had ten children, five survived childhood (Unofficial Royalty articles coming soon)
  • Archduchess Maria of Austria (born and died 1646), died in infancy

Maria Anna’s father-in-law Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor passed to his son Ferdinand the Habsburg hereditary lands in 1621, the crowns of Hungary and Croatia in 1625, and the crown of Bohemia in 1627. In 1636, Ferdinand II arranged for his son to be elected King of the Romans, ensuring he would be the next Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand III. On February 15, 1637, at the age of fifty-eight, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died and his son was elected Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Anna became Holy Roman Empress.

Maria Anna brought Spanish fashion, theatre, dance, and music to the imperial court in Vienna. She collected artwork by Italian, Spanish, and Flemish masters of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Maria Anna was active in politics, acted as an adviser to her husband, and was an important mediator between her husband and her Spanish relatives. During Ferdinand III’s absences from the court in Vienna, Maria Anna served as regent.

Tomb of Maria Anna & her infant daughter; Credit – By krischnig – de.wikipedia.org, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51130106

Pregnant with her sixth child, 39-year-old Empress Maria Anna suddenly fell ill with a fever, had heavy bleeding, and died on May 13, 1646, at Linz Castle in Linz, Austria. Immediately after her death, the unborn child, a girl, was delivered by Cesarean section. She was named Maria after her mother but lived only a few hours. Both mother and daughter were placed in the same coffin and interred in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Flantzer, S. (2023) Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-iii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-lower-and-inner-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 26 June 2023).
  • Maria Anna of Spain (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_of_Spain (Accessed: 26 June 2023).
  • Мария Анна Испанская (2023) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%98%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F (Accessed: 26 June 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.

Anna Maria of Liechtenstein, Princess of Liechtenstein

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Anna Maria of Liechtenstein, Princess of Liechtenstein; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Anna Maria Antonie of Liechtenstein was the first cousin and wife of Josef Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein. Born on September 11, 1699, in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria, Anna Maria was the tenth of the eleven children and the fifth of the six daughters of the future Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein (reigned 1718 – 1721) and Countess Eleonore von Thun-Hohenstein. Her paternal grandparents were Prince Hartmann of Liechtenstein and Countess Sidonie Elisabeth of Salm-Reifferscheidt. Anna Maria’s maternal grandparents were Count Michael Oswald von Thun and Hohenstein, an imperial chamberlain and advisor, and Countess Elisabeth von Lodron.

Anna Maria had ten siblings but only four survived childhood:

  • Franz Augustin of Liechtenstein (1680 – 1681), died in infancy
  • Eleonore of Liechtenstein (1681 -1682), died in infancy
  • Antonia Maria Eleonore of Liechtenstein (1683 -1715), married (1) Count Johann Adam von Lamberg, no children (2) Count Maximilian von Kuefstein, had four children
  • Karl Josef Florian of Liechtenstein (born and died 1685), died in infancy
  • Anton Ignaz Josef of Liechtenstein (1689 – 1690), died in infancy
  • Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein (1690 – 1732), The Four Wives of Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein  married (1) Princess Maria Gabriele of Liechtenstein, his first cousin, daughter of Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein, had one son who died in childhood (2) Countess Marianne of Thun-Hohenstein, died twenty days after the wedding (3) Countess Maria Anna Katharina of Oettingen-Spielberg, had five children including Johann Nepomuk Karl, Prince of Liechtenstein (4) Countess Maria Anna Kottulinska von Kottulin, had two children who died in childhood
  • Innocent Franz Anton of Liechtenstein (1693 – 1707), died in his teens
  • Maria Karoline Anna of Liechtenstein (1694 – 1735), married Count Franz Wilhelm von Salm-Reifferscheidt, had one son
  • Karl Josef (1697 – 1704), died in childhood
  • Maria Eleonore of Liechtenstein (1703 – 1757), married Friedrich August von Harrach-Rohrau, had ten children

Two days before her seventeenth birthday, on September 9, 1716, Anna Maria married her cousin Count Johann Ernst of Thun-Hohenstein, from her mother’s family, the House of Thun-Hohenstein, a family from the Austrian and Bohemian nobility. Six months later, on March 20, 1717, Johann Ernst died at the age of twenty-three.

On June 16, 1712, Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein died. Hans-Adam I had no sons and so the actual heir was his uncle Anton Florian, Anna Maria’s father, but he was not very popular with the family. Instead, Hans-Adam I had chosen his distant cousin Prince Josef Wenzel, the son of Prince Philip Erasmus of Liechtenstein and the great-grandnephew of Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein, as his successor.

Anna Maria’s second husband Josef Wenzel, Prince of Liechtenstein; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1718, after negotiations with his uncle Anton Florian, Josef Wenzel decided to hand over the Principality of Liechtenstein in exchange for the Dominion of Rumburk. Anton Florian became Prince of Liechtenstein and Josef Wenzel concentrated on his military career. As part of the negotiations with Anton Florian, Josef Wenzel married Princess Anna Maria of Liechtenstein, his first cousin and Anton Florian’s daughter, on April 19, 1718.

Anna Maria and Josef Wenzel had five children who all died in childhood:

  • Prince Philipp Anton of Liechtenstein (1719 – 1723)
  • Prince Philipp Anton of Liechtenstein (born and died 1720)
  • Prince Philipp Ernst of Liechtenstein (1722 – 1723)
  • Princess Maria Elisabeth of Liechtenstein (born and died 1724)
  • Princess Marie Alexandra of Liechtenstein (born and died 1727)

Anna Maria’s husband, Josef Wenzel had a successful military career in the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire. He also served as a diplomat for Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI from 1735 – 1740, as envoy to the Prussian court in Berlin and the French court in Paris.

After a three-year reign, Anna Maria’s father Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein died in 1721 and was succeeded by his son and Anna Maria’s brother Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein. In 1732, Josef Johann Adam died and was succeeded by his eight-year-old son Johann Nepomuk Karl. Anna Maria’s husband Josef Wenzel served as regent and guardian of Johann Nepomuk Karl until he reached his majority in 1745. However, Johann Nepomuk Karl died without an heir three years later, and Josef Wenzel and Maria Anna once again became Prince and Princess of Liechtenstein.

The Pauline Church in Vienna, where Anna Maria was buried; Credit – Di Ricardalovesmonuments – Opera propria, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69117322

Anna Maria predeceased her husband dying on January 20, 1753, in Vienna, Austria, aged 53, and was buried in a crypt at the Pauline Church (link in German) in Vienna, Austria, where her mother had been buried. The crypt no longer exists and the tombs were not preserved. Anna Maria’s husband Josef Wenzel, Prince of Liechtenstein survived her by nineteen years, dying on February 10, 1772, aged 75, in Vienna Austria. He was buried in the Old Crypt at Chuch of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vranov, Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. With no surviving sons, Josef Wenzel was succeeded by his nephew, the son of his brother Prince Emmanuel, as Franz Josef I, Prince of Liechtenstein.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Anna Maria von Liechtenstein (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Maria_von_Liechtenstein (Accessed: 22 June 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2021) Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/anton-florian-prince-of-liechtenstein/ (Accessed: 22 June 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan, (2021) Josef Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/josef-wenzel-i-prince-of-liechtenstein/ (Accessed: 22 June 2023).

Prince Ferdinando of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located in today’s southern Italy. It included the island of Sicily and all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal States. Ferdinando I, the first King of the Two Sicilies, had previously reigned over two kingdoms, as Ferdinando IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinando III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He had been deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816 after the defeat of Napoleon. After the 1816 restoration, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia. Eventually, the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

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Prince Ferdinando of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro, was a claimant to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and the former throne of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, from 1973 until his death in 2008.

Prince Ferdinando Maria Andrea Alfonso Marcus was born in Podzamcze, Poland on May 28, 1926, the only son of Prince Ranieri of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro and Countess Maria Carolina Zamoyska. He had one older sister, Princess Maria del Carmen, born in 1924.

On July 23, 1949, in Giez, Switzerland, Prince Ferdinando married Chantal de Chevron-Villette. The couple had three children:

  • Princess Beatrice (1950) – married Prince Charles Bonaparte, had issue
  • Princess Anne (1957) – married Baron Jacques Cochin, had issue
  • Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro (1963) – married Camilla Crociani, had issue

Ferdinando’s father became one of the claimants to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Parma in 1960. Ferdinando succeeded him in 1973, although he had assumed the functions of the position in 1966.

Prince Ferdinando died in Draguignan, France on March 20, 2008, and was succeeded by his only son, Prince Carlo.

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Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia; 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.

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Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1637 – 1657), Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria (reigned 1637 – 1657), King of Bohemia (reigned 1627 – 1657), and King of Hungary and Croatia (reigned 1625 – 1657) was born in Graz, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria on July 13, 1608. He was the fourth of the seven children and the third but the eldest surviving son of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria. Ferdinand’s paternal grandparents were  Karl Franz II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria. His maternal grandparents were Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine.

Ferdinand III had six siblings but only three survived childhood:

In 1616, When Ferdinand was eight-years-old, his mother Maria Anna died at the age of forty-one, three years before her husband became Holy Roman Emperor. In 1622, Ferdinand’s father, now Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, married for a second time to his first cousin once removed, 24-year-old Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, daughter of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Monferrato and his second wife and first cousin Eleonora de’ Medici. However, they had no children.

Ferdinand received his education from the Jesuits and spoke several languages. After the deaths of his two elder brothers, Ferdinand was named as his father’s successor and was prepared for his future role. Like his father, he was a devout Catholic, but he was not fond of the influence of the Jesuits in his father’s court. Ferdinand II passed to his son Ferdinand the Habsburg hereditary lands in 1621, the crowns of Hungary and Croatia in 1625, and the crown of Bohemia in 1627. In 1636, Ferdinand II arranged for his son to be elected King of the Romans, ensuring he would be the next Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand III. On February 15, 1637, at the age of fifty-eight, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died and his son was elected Holy Roman Emperor.

Ferdinand’s first wife Maria Anna of Spain; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1626, Ferdinand was betrothed to his first cousin Maria Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain and Portugal, the daughter of Felipe III, King of Spain, and Ferdinand’s paternal aunt Archduchess Margarete of Austria. Maria Anna had previously been betrothed to Ferdinand’s deceased elder brother Archduke Johann Karl of Austria. On January 26, 1631, Maria Anna arrived in the port city of Trieste (now in Italy), where she was greeted by Ferdinand’s brother Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. A proxy marriage was held that day with Leopold Wilhelm standing in for his brother. Leopold Wilhelm escorted Maria Anna to Vienna where she married Ferdinand in person on February 20, 1631. Maria Anna was the first of Ferdinand’s three wives.

Ferdinand and Maria Anna had six children. Their eldest child Ferdinand was his father’s heir, had been given some of his father’s hereditary lands, and in 1653, was elected King of the Romans, ensuring he would be Holy Roman Emperor. However, it was not to be. In 1654, twenty-one-year-old Ferdinand died from smallpox. Three other children did not survive childhood.

Pregnant with her sixth child, 39-year-old Empress Maria Anna suddenly felt ill with a fever, had heavy bleeding, and died on May 13, 1646. Immediately after her death, the unborn child, a girl, was delivered by Cesarean section.  She was named Maria after her mother but lived only a few hours. Both mother and daughter were placed in the same coffin and interred in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Ferdinand’s second wife Maria Leopoldine of Austria; Credit – Wikipedia

Two years later, Ferdinand III married again, on July 2, 1648, to Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria, another first cousin. Maria Leopoldine was the daughter of Ferdinand III’s paternal uncle Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, and Claudia de’ Medici. Ferdinand and Maria Leopoldine had one son.

Ferdinand and Maria Leopoldine had one son. Sadly, the childbirth was very difficult and 17-year-old Maria Leopoldine died on August 19, 1649. She was interred in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Ferdinand’s third wife Eleonora Gonzaga; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 30, 1651, Ferdinand III married Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, daughter of Carlo III Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers and his wife and cousin Maria Gonzaga, reigning Duchess of Montferrat. Eleonora was the great-niece and namesake of Ferdinand’s stepmother, the second wife of his father Ferdinand II, also named Eleonora Gonzaga.

Ferdinand and Eleonora had four children but only two survived childhood.

Ferdinand III had become Holy Roman Emperor in 1537, at the beginning of the last decade of the Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648), and had been commander-in-chief of the army since 1634. The Thirty Years’ War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, with an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians dying as a result of battle, famine, and disease. During Ferdinand III’s reign, the power of the Holy Roman Empire, which had increased during his father’s reign, declined. He wanted to end the war early, but after military defeats and with the declining power, he felt forced to renounce many of the long-standing Habsburg positions. Although he knew the Holy Roman Empire would be weaker, Ferdinand set out on a policy toward ending the war.

The Peace of Westphalia, signed in October 1648, ended the Thirty Years’ War and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire. Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, the kingdoms of France and Sweden, and their allies among the constituent states of the Holy Roman Empire participated in the treaties. Although the power of the Holy Roman Empire was weaker after the peace than before the war, in Bohemia and Hungary, where Ferdinand was king, and in the Austrian hereditary lands, Ferdinand’s position as sovereign was stronger than before.

Ferdinand was a patron of the arts and sciences, very musical, and a composer, composing numerous sacred and secular pieces of music. He was the first of the Habsburg rulers whose musical compositions have survived

Ferdinand III’s sarcophagus in the Imperial Crypt; Credit – By krischnig – Self-photographed, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88260340

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, died, aged forty-eight, on April 2, 1657, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria. He was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. His third wife Eleonora Gonzaga survived him by twenty-nine years, dying on December 6, 1686, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria at the age of fifty-six. She was also buried in the Imperial Crypt.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Ferdinand III. (HRR) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_III._(HRR) (Accessed: 22 June 2023).
  • Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_III,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 22 June 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-ii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/.
  • 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.

Prince Peter Romanoff

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Peter Romanoff; Credit – Linkedin

Prince Peter Romanoff, a great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, is the heir to his half-brother Prince Alexis Romanoff, currently one of the disputed pretenders to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family.

The Headship of the Russian Imperial Family and succession to the former Russian throne has been in dispute, mainly due to disagreements over whether marriages in the Romanov family were equal marriages – a marriage between a Romanov dynast and a member of a royal or sovereign house. Peter’s father Prince Andrew Romanoff inherited the claim after the death of Prince Dimitri Romanov who had no sons. With his death, the male line of Dmitri’s Nikolavevichi Branch of the Russian Imperial Family descended from Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich of Russia, a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, became extinct, transferring the claim to the Mikhailovichi Branch, descended from Grand Duke Michael Nicolaevich of Russia, a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. Andrew was also the great-grandson of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, through their elder daughter Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia.

Andrew Romanoff, born Prince Andrew Romanov, died on November 28, 2021, two months short of his 99th birthday at an assisted living center in San Anselmo, California after a long illness. His eldest son Prince Alexis Romanoff, known as Alex, then inherited his claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family. All descendants of the Russian Imperial House, except for rival claimant Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and her son Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, recognized Alex’s claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family. Since Alex has no children, the heir to his claim is his half-brother Prince Peter Romanoff.

Prince Peter Romanoff was born in 1961 in San Francisco, California. He is the elder of the two sons of Prince Andrew Romanoff and his second wife Kathleen Norris (1935 – 1967) who died from pneumonia. Peter’s father dropped his royal style and title when he came to the United States in 1949, calling himself Andrew Romanoff. Peter’s paternal grandparents were Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia and his first wife Duchess Elisabetta Sasso-Ruffo Di Sant Antimo. His maternal grandparents were Dr. Frank Norris and Alice McCreery. Peter is the great-grandchild of Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia (the daughter of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Dagmar of Denmark, known as Maria Feodorovna after her marriage) and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia (the grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia).

Peter has one younger brother:

  • Prince Andrew Romanoff (born 1963), married Elizabeth Flores, had one daughter

Peter has one elder half-brother from his father’s first marriage to Elena Konstantinovna Durnova:

Since 1980, Peter has worked as an auto technician at several garages in Marin County, California. On May 2, 2009, in Marin County, California, Peter married Barbara Anne Jurgens (born 1968). The couple has no children. Peter’s younger brother Andrew is second in the line of succession to the claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family.

Peter has been a member of the Romanov Family Association since 1996. His aunt Princess Olga Romanoff has been president of the Romanov Family Association since 2017. On July 17, 1998, together with other members of the Romanov family, Peter attended the reburial of the remains of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, his wife and three daughters, and their servants at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. In September 2006, Alex attended all the events related to the transfer of the remains of his great-great-grandmother Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark from Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia where she was interred next to her husband.

The headship of the House of Romanov has been contested since the death of the last undisputed male dynast Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia in 1992. Upon his death, competing claims over the headship of the House of Romanov emerged between Prince Nicholas Romanov and Grand Duke Vladimir’s daughter Maria Vladimirovna. Prince Nicholas’ claim was based on a 1911 Ukase issued by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia that the equal marriage rule applied only to Grand Dukes (the sons and grandsons of an emperor) and that princes (the great-grandsons onward of an emperor) could marry women of “good standing” for their marriage to be dynastic and therefore transmit succession and dynastic rights to their children, and that women, namely Maria Vladimirovna, could succeed only on the total extinction of the male line. The Romanov Family Association recognized Prince Nicholas Romanov as the senior male dynastic representative and head of the family on December 31, 1992, in Paris, France and this was symbolically re-confirmed on Russian soil after the state burial of Emperor Nicholas II and his family in 1998. The Romanov Family Association further stated that they consider the marriage of Maria Vladimirovna’s parents to be unequal. (See Maria Vladimirovna’s article for more information.)

Peter’s brother Alex and his predecessors Prince Nicholas Romanov, Prince Dmitri Romanov, and Prince Andrew Romanoff have not acted for the restoration of the monarchy or engaged in dynastic activities such as the distribution of Russian imperial titles and orders. Maria Vladimirovna claims the status of de jure Empress of All Russia, styles herself as Grand Duchess and her son as Grand Duke and Tsarevich, the title of the heir apparent, and actively distributes the Russian imperial orders, all of which have been condemned by the Romanov Family Association.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

  • Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Prince Alexis Romanoff, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/prince-alexis-romanoff/ (Accessed: 20 August 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Andrew Romanoff, born Prince Andrew Romanov, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/andrew-romanoff-born-prince-andrew-romanov/ (Accessed: 20 August 2023).
  • Massie, Robert K. (1995) The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. New York: Random House
  • Peter Romanoff – Auto Technician – Chedas Garage | linkedin. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-romanoff-1b127047 (Accessed: 20 August 2023).
  • Романов, Алексей Андреевич (великий князь) (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87_(%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D0%BD%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8C) (Accessed: 20 August 2023).
  • The Romanov Family Association. Available at: http://www.romanovfamily.org/index.html (Accessed: 20 August 2023)

Prince Alexis Romanoff

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Alex and his wife Zoey; Credit – Alex Romanoff Facebook Page

Prince Alexis Romanoff, a great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, has been one of the disputed pretenders to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family since the death of his father Prince Andrew Romanoff in 2021. The Headship of the Russian Imperial Family and succession to the former Russian throne has been in dispute, mainly due to disagreements over whether marriages in the Romanov family were equal marriages – a marriage between a Romanov dynast and a member of a royal or sovereign house. Alexis’ father Andrew inherited the claim after the death of Prince Dimitri Romanov who had no sons. With his death, the male line of Dmitri’s Nikolavevichi Branch of the Russian Imperial Family descended from Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich of Russia, a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, became extinct, transferring the claim to the Mikhailovichi Branch, descended from Grand Duke Michael Nicolaevich of Russia, a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. Andrew was also the great-grandson of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, through their elder daughter Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia.

Alex’s parents on their wedding day; Credit – Credit – http://russculture.ru/2021/12/02/ushel-iz-gzizni-poslednii-nastojashii-romanov/

Prince Alexis Romanoff, who does not use the title Prince and is known as Alex, was born on April 27, 1953, in San Francisco, California. He is the only child of Prince Andrew Romanoff and his first wife Elena Konstantinovna Dourneva (1927 – 1992), who divorced in 1959. Alex’s father dropped his royal style and title when he came to the United States in 1949, calling himself Andrew Romanoff. Alex’s paternal grandparents were Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia and his first wife Duchess Elisabetta Sasso-Ruffo Di Sant Antimo. His maternal grandparents were Russian émigrés Konstantin Afanasievich Dournev and Felixa Stanislavna Zapalski. Alex is the great-grandchild of Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia (the daughter of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Dagmar of Denmark, known as Maria Feodorovna after her marriage) and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia (the grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia).

Alex has two half-brothers from his father’s second marriage to Kathleen Norris (1935 – 1967) who died from pneumonia.

  • Prince Peter Romanoff (born 1961), married Barbara Anne Jurgens, no children, Peter is the heir to his half-brother’s claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family
  • Prince Andrew Romanoff (born 1963), married Elizabeth Flores, had one daughter, Andrew is second in the line of succession to the claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family

Alex in his younger years; Credit – Facebook: Europe Royal Family

After his parents’ divorce, Alex lived with his mother. He attended Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, California, and then attended the University of California, Berkeley. On September 19, 1987, in Oakland, California, Alex married Zoetta “Zoe” Leisy (born 1956) but the couple have no children. Since 2002, Alex has owned two businesses in Oakland California, where he and his wife Zoe also live: The Romanoff Agency, which provides bookkeeping and finance services to companies and individuals, and A to Z Printing which provides printing services to local businesses.

Alex has been a member of the Romanov Family Association since 1981 and has served as a committee member. His aunt Princess Olga Romanoff has been president of the Romanov Family Association since 2017. On July 17, 1998, together with other members of the Romanov family, Alex attended the reburial of the remains of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, his wife and three daughters, and their servants at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. In September 2006, Alex attended all the events related to the transfer of the remains of his great-great-grandmother Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark from Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia where she was interred next to her husband.

Alex’s father Andrew Romanoff, born Prince Andrew Romanov, died on November 28, 2021, two months short of his 99th birthday at an assisted living center in San Anselmo, California after a long illness. Upon his father’s death, Alex inherited his claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family. All descendants of the Russian Imperial House, except for rival claimant Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and her son Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, recognized Alex’s claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family. Since Alex has no children, the heir to his claims is his half-brother Prince Peter Romanoff.

The headship of the House of Romanov has been contested since the death of the last undisputed male dynast Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia in 1992. Upon his death, competing claims over the headship of the House of Romanov emerged between Prince Nicholas Romanov and Grand Duke Vladimir’s daughter Maria Vladimirovna. Prince Nicholas’ claim was based on a 1911 Ukase issued by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia that the equal marriage rule applied only to Grand Dukes (the sons and grandsons of an emperor) and that princes (the great-grandsons onward of an emperor) could marry women of “good standing” for their marriage to be dynastic and therefore transmit succession and dynastic rights to their children, and that women, namely Maria Vladimirovna, could succeed only on the total extinction of the male line. The Romanov Family Association recognized Prince Nicholas Romanov as the senior male dynastic representative and head of the family on December 31, 1992, in Paris, France and this was symbolically re-confirmed on Russian soil after the state burial of Emperor Nicholas II and his family in 1998. The Romanov Family Association further stated that they consider the marriage of Maria Vladimirovna’s parents to be unequal. (See Maria Vladimirovna’s article for more information.)

Alex and his predecessors Prince Nicholas Romanov, Prince Dmitri Romanov, and Prince Andrew Romanoff have not acted for the restoration of the monarchy or engaged in dynastic activities such as the distribution of Russian imperial titles and orders. Maria Vladimirovna claims the status of de jure Empress of All Russia, styles herself as Grand Duchess and her son as Grand Duke and Tsarevich, the title of the heir apparent, and actively distributes the Russian imperial orders, all of which have been condemned by the Romanov Family Association.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Andrew Romanoff, born Prince Andrew Romanov, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/andrew-romanoff-born-prince-andrew-romanov/ (Accessed: 19 August 2023).
  • Royalpedia. (2023). Alexis Andreievich, Prince of Russia. [online] Available at: https://royalty.miraheze.org/wiki/Alexis_Andreievich,_Prince_of_Russia [Accessed 19 Aug. 2023].
  • Massie, Robert K. (1995) The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. New York: Random House
  • Романов, Алексей Андреевич (великий князь) (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87_(%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D0%BD%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8C) (Accessed: 19 August 2023).
  • The Romanov Family Association. Available at: http://www.romanovfamily.org/index.html (Accessed: 19 August 2023)

Erdmuthe of Dietrichstein, Princess of Liechtenstein

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Erdmuthe of Dietrichstein, Princess of Liechtenstein; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Erdmuthe Maria Theresia of Dietrichstein was the wife of her first cousin Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein. She was born on April 17, 1662, probably either in Vienna, then in the Duchy of Austria, or in Nikolsburg, then in the Principality of Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg, now the city of Mikulov in the Czech Republic. Erdmuthe was the fifth of the twenty children and the third but the eldest surviving of the ten daughters of Ferdinand Joseph, 3rd Prince of Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg and Princess Marie Elisabeth of Eggenberg. Like all his ancestors, Erdmuthe’s father Ferdinand Joseph was in the service of the House of Habsburg. He was appointed Chamberlain of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and a member of the Privy Council. Erdmuthe’s paternal grandparents were Maximilian, 2nd Prince of Dietrichstein and his first wife Princess Anna Maria Franziska of Liechtenstein, a daughter of Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein. Her maternal grandparents were Johann Anton I, Prince of Eggenberg and Anna Maria of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (link in German).

Erdmuthe had nineteen siblings but only four survived childhood:

  • Anna Maria of Dietrichstein (1657 – 1659), died in early childhood
  • Sigmund Franz of Dietrichstein (1658 – 1667), died in early childhood
  • Sophia Barbara of Dietrichstein (born and died 1659), died in infancy
  • Leopold Ignaz Joseph, 4th Prince of Dietrichstein (1660 – 1708), married Maria Godofreda Dorothea of Salm, had two daughters
  • Karl Joseph of Dietrichstein (1663 – 1693), married Countess Elisabeth Helena of Herberstein, no children
  • Walther Franz Xaver Anton, 5th Prince of Dietrichstein (1664 – 1738), married (1) Zuzana Liborie Katerina Praksická ze Zástri, no children (2) Countess Karolina Maximiliana of Proskau, had ten children but only five survive childhood
  • Franziska of Dietrichstein (born and died 1665)
  • Maximilian of Dietrichstein (born and died 1666)
  • Margarete of Dietrichstein (1667 – 1682), died in her teens
  • Maria Aloysia of Dietrichstein (1668 – 1673), died in childhood
  • Wenzel Dominik Lucas of Dietrichstein (1670 – 1673), died in early childhood
  • Christian of Dietrichstein (born and died 1672)
  • Claudia Felizitas Josepha of Dietrichstein (1674 – 1682), died in childhood
  • Maria Josepha Antonia Cajetana Rosa of Dietrichstein (born and died 1675)
  • Ferdinand of Dietrichstein (born and died 1676)
  • Maria Charlotte Anna of Dietrichstein (1677 – 1682), died in childhood
  • Jakob Anton of Dietrichstein (1678 – 1721), married (1) Countess Maria Carolina of Wolfsthal, died in childbirth had two children (2) Countess Maria Francisca Sophia of Starhemberg, had five children
  • Raimund Joseph of Dietrichstein (1679 – 1682), died in early childhood
  • Dominica Maria Anna of Dietrichstein (1685 – 1694), died in childhood

At the age of fourteen, Erdmuthe began to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress, the third wife of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. Erdmuthe always held a higher rank than other ladies-in-waiting. After she married, as was customary, Erdmuthe retired from her position as lady-in-waiting. However, she continued to have full access to the imperial court and also retained the privilege of being able to enter the bedroom of the empress.

Erdmunthe’s husband Hans-Adam; Credit – Wikipedia

On February 16, 1681, in Vienna, Austria, nineteen-year-old Erdmuthe married her nineteen-year-old first cousin Hans-Adam, heir to the Principality of Liechtenstein, the son of Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein and Edrmuthe’s paternal aunt Johanna Beatrix of Dietrichstein.

Erdmuthe and Hans-Adam had eleven children but all their sons predeceased Hans-Adam:

Twenty-two-year-old Hans-Adam became Prince of Liechtenstein upon the death of his father Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein on April 5, 1684. During his twenty-eight-year reign, Hans-Adam I acquired the Lordship of Schellenberg in 1699, and the County of Vaduz in 1712 which would later become part of the present Principality of Liechtenstein (not formally established until 1719). Unlike his predecessors, Hans-Adam did not accept any position with the Imperial Court. He reorganized the administration of his principality and the personal finances of the princely family.

Like his father, Hans-Adam I had a great interest in art. He increased the size of the family art collection started by his father Karl Eusebius by purchasing works by Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck and other artists. Hans-Adam also had a reputation as a master builder. Among his buildings were two grand palaces in Vienna, Liechtenstein City Palace, still used as a residence by the princely family, and the Liechtenstein Garden Palace. which is now a museum, the home to part of the private art collection of the Princely House of Liechtenstein, one of the largest private collections in the world.

Erdmuthe’s husband Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein died in Vienna, Austria on June 16, 1712, at the age of 49. He was buried in the Old Crypt at Chuch of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Brno, Moravia, now Vranov, Czech Republic. Because Hans-Adam had no surviving sons, he had chosen his distant cousin Prince Joseph Wenzel, the great-grandnephew of Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein, even though he was not next in line. The actual heir was his uncle Anton Florian but he was not very popular with the family. Anton Florian later did become Prince of Liechtenstein.

According to the marriage contract, as the widow of Hans-Adam I, Erdmuthe received the estate in Plumlov, originally in Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. The estate was acquired in 1590 by the House of Liechtenstein which owned it until 1931. Erdmuthe also received a lump sum of 25,000 guilders, and rooms in the Liechtenstein Palace (link in German) in Vienna which was demolished in 1913. Erdmuthe spent most of her time in Vienna and in Judenau-Baumgarten, which was owned by the House of Liechtenstein and where Erdmuthe founded a hospital. She devoted herself to philanthropic activities, including providing shelters for the poor.

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vranov, Czech Republic; Credit – Von Ojin – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6438939

Erdmuthe survived her husband by twenty-five years, dying on March 16, 1737, in Vienna, Austria at the age of 84. She was buried with her husband in the Old Crypt at Chuch of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Brno, Moravia, now Vranov, Czech Republic.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Erdmuthe di Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg (2023) Wikipedia (Italian). Available at: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdmuthe_di_Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg (Accessed: 20 June 2023).
  • Erdmunda Tereza Z Ditrichštejna (no date) Wikipedia (Czech). Available at: https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdmunda_Tereza_z_Ditrich%C5%A1tejna#Extern%C3%AD_odkazy (Accessed: 20 June 2023).
  • Erdmuthe Maria Theresia of Dietrichstein (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdmuthe_Maria_Theresia_of_Dietrichstein (Accessed: 20 June 2023).
  • Ferdinand Joseph, Prince of Dietrichstein (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Joseph,_Prince_of_Dietrichstein (Accessed: 20 June 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2021) Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/hans-adam-i-prince-of-liechtenstein/ (Accessed: 20 June 2023).
  • Louda, Jiri and MacLagan, Michael, 2002. Lines of Succession. New York: Barnes and Noble.
  • Princely House of Liechtenstein. 2023. Biographies of all Reigning Princes – 17th century. [online] Available at: <https://fuerstenhaus.li/en/die-biographien-aller-fuersten/17-century/> [Accessed 20 June 2023].

Prince Ranieri of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located in today’s southern Italy. It included the island of Sicily and all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal States. Ferdinando I, the first King of the Two Sicilies, had previously reigned over two kingdoms, as Ferdinando IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinando III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He had been deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816 after the defeat of Napoleon. After the 1816 restoration, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia. Eventually, the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

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Prince Ranieri of Bourbon-Two Sicilies was one of two claimants to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and the throne of the former Kingdom of Two Sicilies, from 1960-1973.

source: Wikipedia

Prince Ranieri Maria Benito Giuseppe Labaro Gaetano Francesco Saverio Barbara Niccolo was born in Cannes, France on December 3, 1883, a younger son of Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta and Princess Maria Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. He had 11 siblings:

Countess Maria Carolina Zamoyska. source: Wikipedia

On September 12, 1923, in Slovakia, Prince Ranieri married his first cousin, Countess Maria Carolina Zamoyska. She was the daughter of Count Andrzej Zamoyski and Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The couple had two children:

The death of Ranieri’s eldest brother, Prince Ferdinand of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in 1960 brought about the current dispute over the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. As Ferdinando Pio had no surviving sons, it should have passed to the descendants of his younger brother, Prince Carlo, who had died in 1949. Carlo’s son, Infante Alfonso of Spain, claimed to be the rightful heir. However, Prince Ranieri claimed that Carlo had renounced his rights of succession when he married the Spanish heiress-presumptive, Maria de las Mercedes, Princess of Asturias, in 1901. At the time, Carlo became a Spanish subject and was made an Infante of Spain. Prince Ranieri interpreted this as a renunciation of any claims to the throne of Two Sicilies, thus making him the rightful heir. However, Infante Alfonso argued that the renunciation would have only taken effect if Mercedes had ascended to the Spanish throne. The dispute continues today, with two branches of the family claiming to be the rightful heir and Head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Prince Ranieri died in France on January 13, 1973. He is buried in the Cimetière du Grand Jas, in Cannes.

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Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, Holy Roman Empress, 2nd wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, Holy Roman Empress; 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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Princess Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua was the second wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia. Born on September 23, 1598, in Mantua, Duchy of Mantua, now in Lombardy, Italy, she was the youngest of the six children and the younger of the two daughters of Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Duke of Montferrat and his second wife and first cousin Eleonora de’ Medici. Eleonora was named Eleonora Anna Maria for her mother and two maternal aunts Anna de’ Medici (who died in 1584 aged 14) and Marie de’ Medici, the future Queen Consort of France. Eleonora’s paternal grandparents were Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, and Archduchess Eleanor of Austria, the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her maternal grandparents were Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his first wife Joanna of Austria, also the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Eleonora had five elder siblings:

Eleonora as a child, circa 1605; Credit – Wikipedia

Eleonora grew up at the ducal court in Mantua, one of the centers of European culture and science. When she was ten, her education was entrusted to her paternal aunt Margherita Gonzaga, Dowager Duchess of Ferrara and Modena who ensured her niece was well-educated, learning foreign languages, history, music, and painting.

Eleonora’s husband Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

After being widowed for six years, 44-year-old Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor arranged to marry Eleanora, his 24-year-old first cousin once removed. A marriage contract was signed on November 21, 1621, and on the same day, a proxy marriage was held in the Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara at the Ducal Palace in Mantua. The couple was married in person on February 2, 1622, in Innsbruck, Duchy of Austria, now in Austria.

Despite their twenty-year age difference, Eleonora and Ferdinand II had a happy marriage. Like her husband, she was deeply religious and a strong supporter of the Counter-Reformation, the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation. After arriving in Vienna, Eleonora worked on learning the German language and hired the servants of Ferdinand II’s first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria, sending most of her servants from home back to Mantua. Eleonora was not interested in politics but she tried to be a good Empress for her subjects. She often accompanied her husband to meetings with the imperial electors and the heads of state of the constituent members of the Holy Roman Empire. Eleonora and Ferdinand had no children, but Eleonora had a close relationship with her stepchildren.

Eleonora’s stepchildren, the four surviving children out of the seven children of Ferdinand II and his first wife and first cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria:

On February 15, 1637, at the age of fifty-eight, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now Austria. He was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II (link in German) which he had built next to the Graz Cathedral, with his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria, and his son Johann Karl, who died in his teens.

Eleonora as a widow; Credit – Wikipedia

At first, Eleonora lived in Graz Castle near her husband’s mausoleum but then she settled in Vienna, living mostly at the Discalced Carmelites Monastery she had founded in 1622. Eleonora spent part of her time in the palaces outside Vienna, especially Schönbrunn Palace where she influenced the landscaping’s Italian baroque style. She lived a pious life and returned the jewelry she received from her husband during their marriage to the treasury of the House of Habsburg.

In 1651, Eleonora’s great-niece and namesake Eleonora Gonzaga, nicknamed “the Younger”, became the third wife of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, the son and heir of Ferdinand II. Eleonora amended her will and named her great-niece as her main heir. In addition, she left considerable amounts for charity and memorial services.

Tomb of Eleonora Gonzaga, Holy Roman Empress in the Ducal Crypt at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna; Credit – Wikipedia

Eleonora, Dowager Holy Roman Empress died, aged fifty-six, in Vienna on June 27, 1655. She was buried in Vienna at the Discalced Carmelites Monastery she had founded. Her heart was placed next to the tomb of her husband Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II in Graz. In 1782, Eleonora’s remains were reinterred in the Ducal Crypt at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

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Andrew Romanoff, born Prince Andrew Romanov

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Andrew Romanoff; Credit – https://www.legacy.com/

Prince Andrew Romanov, known as Andrew Romanoff after he came to the United States in 1949, a great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, was one of the disputed pretenders to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family from 2016 – 2021. The Headship of the Russian Imperial Family and succession to the former Russian throne has been in dispute, mainly due to disagreements over whether marriages in the Romanov family were equal marriages – a marriage between a Romanov dynast and a member of a royal or sovereign house. Andrew inherited the claim after the death of Prince Dimitri Romanov who had no sons. With his death, the male line of Dmitri’s Nikolavevichi Branch of the Russian Imperial Family descended from Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich of Russia, a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, became extinct, transferring the claim to the Mikhailovichi Branch, descended from Grand Duke Michael Nicolaevich of Russia, a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. Andrew was also the great-grandson of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, through their elder daughter Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia.

Andrew’s great-grandparents Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark; Credit – Wikipedia

Line of Andrew and his sons Alexis and Peter from Nicholas I: Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia → Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia → Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia → Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia → Prince Andrew Andreievich Romanov  → Prince Alexis Andreievich Romanov and Prince Peter Andreievich Romanov

Prince Andrew Romanov was born in London, England on January 21, 1923. He was the youngest of the three children and the second of the two sons of Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia and his first wife Duchess Elisabetta Sasso-Ruffo Di Sant Antimo from the Italian noble House of Ruffo di Calabria. Andrew’s paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia (grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia) and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia (daughter of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and sister of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia). His maternal grandparents were Fabrizio Ruffo, Duke of Sasso-Ruffo and Princess Natalia Alexandrovna Mescherskaya, a descendant of the wealthy, Russian noble House of Stroganov.

Andrew (left), with his sister Xenia and brother Michael; Credit – http://russculture.ru/2021/12/02/ushel-iz-gzizni-poslednii-nastojashii-romanov/

Andrew had two elder siblings. His elder brother had no children and predeceased both Prince Dmitri Romanov and Andrew and so Prince Dmitri’s claim came to Andrew.

  • Princess Xenia Romanov (1919 – 2000), married (1) Calhoun Ancrum, divorced, no children (2) Geoffrey Tooth, no children
  • Prince Michael Romanov (1920 – 2008), married (1) Jill Murphy, divorced, no children (2) Shirley Cramond, no children (3) Giulia Crespi, no children

Andrew’s half-sister Princess Olga Romanov

Andrew had one half-sister from his father’s 1942 second marriage to Nadine McDougall.

Andrew’s father Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

After the Russian Revolution, Andrew’s parents Andrei and Elisabetta spent their first several years in exile in France where Andrew’s siblings were born. In dire financial circumstances, Andrei, Elisabetta, and their family eventually settled permanently in England where Andrei’s mother Grand Duchess Xenia had a grace-and-favour residence provided to her by her first cousin King George V of the United Kingdom. Andrei, Elisabetta, and their family lived in a guest house on the grounds of Windsor Castle, granted to them by King George V.

Andrew’s paternal grandmother Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, an important figure in his life; Credit – Wikipedia

When Andrew was born in 1923, the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, served as his godfather. Andrew and his siblings were brought up in the Russian tradition under the strict supervision of their paternal grandmother, the daughter of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and sister of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, who lived until 1960 when Andrew was thirty-seven. Xenia was sure that the Romanovs would again rule in Russia and wanted to ensure that her grandchildren would take their rightful place in Russia. However, Andrew’s parents belonged to a different generation and no longer believed that the Russian monarchy would be restored. They raised their children with a sense of duty to Russia but with the ability to cope with the realities of the modern world. At home, the family always spoke only Russian. Until he was twelve years old, Andrew received a private traditional education at home, characteristic of the House of Romanov. He then attended Haileybury and Imperial Service College, an English independent boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds near Hertford, England. In 1940, during World War II, when Andrew was sixteen years old and away at school, his mother was killed when a Nazi bomb exploded near the family’s home. Already ill with cancer, she was crushed when a ceiling beam fell on her.

In 1942, during World War II, Andrew joined the Royal Navy. He refused to accept an offer to become an officer, preferring to be a simple British sailor. He served on the light cruiser HMS Sheffield, taking part in Arctic convoys, sailing to the port city of Murmansk, then in the Soviet Union, now in Russia, where he often acted as an interpreter. Andrew also participated in the Battle of the Atlantic, the North African Campaign, the Allied landings at Normandy, and campaigns in the Pacific Ocean.

After World War II, Andrew worked as an intern on a farm in Kent, England, studying to become an agronomist, a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. After working in a tree nursery near London, Andrew, his uncle Prince Vasily Alexandrovich and his first cousin Prince Nikita Romanov decided to emigrate to the United States. In 1949, with only $800 in his pocket, Andrew, his uncle, and his cousin traveled to the United States on a cargo ship.

Andrew dropped his royal style and title when he came to the United States, calling himself Andrew Romanoff. He settled in California, where he first worked in a store, and then at the California Packing Company where he grew tomatoes using hydroponics and worked on the introduction of new varieties of vegetables. He studied sociology and criminology at the University of California at Berkeley. Andrew later worked as a broker in a shipping company, a real estate agent, and a furniture designer. In 1954, he became a naturalized American citizen.

Andrew and his first wife Elena Konstantinovna Durnova; Credit – http://russculture.ru/2021/12/02/ushel-iz-gzizni-poslednii-nastojashii-romanov/

Andrew married three times:

  • On March 21, 1951, in San Francisco, California, Andrew married Elena Konstantinovna Durnova (1927 – 1992). Andrew and Elena had one son before divorcing in 1959.
    • Prince Alexis Romanoff (born 1953), married Zoetta “Zoe” Leisy, no children – Alexis is the current claimant to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family
  • On March 21, 1961, in San Francisco, California, Andrew married Kathleen Norris (1935 – 1967). Andrew and Kathleen had two sons. Kathleen died from pneumonia.
    • Prince Peter Romanoff (born 1961), married Barbara Anne Jurgens, no children, Peter is the heir to his half-brother’s claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family
    • Prince Andrew Romanoff (born 1963), married Elizabeth Flores, had one daughter, Andrew is second in the line of succession to the claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family
  • On December 17, 1987, in Reno, Nevada, Andrew married the American artist Inez Storer (born 1933)

Andrew and his third wife artist Inez Storer; Credit – Marin Magazine

After the death of his second wife, Andrew moved to Inverness, Marin County, California, where he worked as a carpenter, building houses with a Russian cousin, and started a company, Brass Menagerie, that made jewelry and other items. Without any formal art education, Andrew began drawing in the primitive art style, creating pictures by intuition and relying on imagination. His work depicted personal memories, impressions of American news, culture, and scenes of domestic life. It was through art that Andrew met his third wife artist Inez Storer in 1973. The couple lived in a 1906 former Inverness hotel with fourteen rooms, big enough to accommodate their blended families, and married in 1987. In 2007, Andrew released an autobiography called The Boy Who Would Be Tsar, illustrated with his small narrative paintings as well as his personal family photos. Some of Andrew’s work can be seen at the link below from the website of Gallery Route One, an art gallery that Andrew helped found.

Andrew was an original member of the Romanov Family Association, formed in 1979 to strengthen the links between the family and protect it from impostors. Today, the Romanov Family Association unites the majority of descendants of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. From 1989 – 2016, Andrew served as an advisor to Prince Nicholas Romanov and Prince Dmitri Romanov during their terms as President of the Romanov Family Association. As of the writing of this article in August 2023, Andrew’s half-sister Princess Olga Romanov is the President of the Romanov Family Association, and his three sons are members.

On July 17, 1998, together with other members of the Romanov family, Andrew attended the reburial of the remains of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, his wife and three daughters, and their servants at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was one of the initiators of the transfer of the remains of his great-grandmother Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, from Denmark to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia so she could be buried next to her husband Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia. In September 2006, Andrew attended all the events related to the transfer of the remains of his great-grandmother from Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark to Peter and Paul Cathedral in Russia. After the discovery in July 2007 of the remains of Nicholas II’s children Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, Andrew provided his DNA to establish the authenticity of the remains.

The headship of the House of Romanov has been contested since the death of the last undisputed male dynast Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia in 1992. Upon his death, competing claims over the headship of the House of Romanov emerged between Prince Nicholas Romanov and Grand Duke Vladimir’s daughter Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna. Prince Nicholas’ claim was based on a 1911 Ukase issued by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia that the equal marriage rule applied only to Grand Dukes (the sons and grandsons of an emperor) and that princes (the great-grandsons onward of an emperor) could marry women of “good standing” for their marriage to be dynastic and therefore transmit succession and dynastic rights to their children, and that women, namely Maria Vladimirovna, could succeed only on the total extinction of the male line. The Romanov Family Association recognized Prince Nicholas Romanov as the senior male dynastic representative and head of the family on December 31, 1992, in Paris, France and this was symbolically re-confirmed on Russian soil after the state burial of Emperor Nicholas II and his family in 1998. The Romanov Family Association further stated that they consider the marriage of Maria Vladimirovna’s parents to be unequal. (See Maria Vladimirovna’s article for more information.)

Andrew and his predecessors Prince Nicholas Romanov, and Prince Dmitri Romanov did not act for the restoration of the monarchy or engage in dynastic activities such as the distribution of Russian imperial titles and orders. Maria Vladimirovna claims the status of de jure Empress of All Russia, styles herself as Grand Duchess and her son George Mikhailovich as Grand Duke and Tsesarevich, the title for the heir apparent, and actively distributes Russian imperial orders, all of which have been condemned by the Romanov Family Association.

Prince Dmitri Romanov inherited the claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family upon the death in 2014 of his elder brother Prince Nicholas Romanov who had two daughters but no sons. When Prince Dmitri Romanov died on December 31, 2016, Andrew inherited the claim because Dmitri had no sons. With Dmitri’s death, the male line of Dmitri’s Nikolavevichi Branch of the Russian Imperial Family descended from Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich of Russia, a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, became extinct, transferring the claim to the Mikhailovichi Branch, descended from Grand Duke Michael Nicolaevich of Russia, a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. All descendants of the Russian Imperial Family except for Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and her son Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia recognized Andrew as the head of the House of Romanov.

Andrew Romanoff, born Prince Andrew Romanov, died surrounded by his family, on November 28, 2021, two months short of his 99th birthday at an assisted living center in San Anselmo, California after a long illness. A traditional Russian Orthodox funeral service was held at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in San Anselmo, California followed by the burial at Olema Cemetery in Olema, California.

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Works Cited

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