Johanna Beatrix of Dietrichstein, Princess of Liechtenstein

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Coat of Arms of the Princes of Dietrichstein; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Johanna Beatrix of Dietrichstein was the wife of her maternal uncle Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein. Born circa 1625 in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria, she was the fifth of the eleven children and the fourth of the seven daughters of Maximilian, 2nd Prince of Dietrichstein, Baron of Hollenburg, Finkenstein, and Thalberg and his first wife Princess Anna Maria of Liechtenstein. Johanna Beatrix’s paternal grandparents were Siegmund II, Count of Dietrichstein, Baron of Hollenburg, Finkenstein and Thalberg and his second wife Johanna von der Leiter Baroness von der Leytter zu Behrn und Vicenz auf Amerang. Her maternal grandparents were Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein and Baroness Anna Maria von Boskowitz and Černahora.

Johanna Beatrix had ten siblings:

Johanna Beatrix had six half-siblings from her father’s second marriage to Countess Sophie Agnes Mansfeld-Vorderort-Bornstädt:

  • Maria Josepha of Dietrichstein (1641 – 1676)
  • Franz Anton of Dietrichstein (1643 – 1721), unmarried, a Jesuit priest
  • Joseph Ignaz of Dietrichstein (born and died 1644), died in infancy
  • Philipp Sigmund of Dietrichstein (1651 – 1716), married (1) Baroness Marie Elisabeth Hofmann of Grünbühel-Strechau (2) Baroness Dorothea Josepha Jankovský z Vlašimi, no children
  • Maria Rosina Sophia of Dietrichstein (1652 – 1711), married (1) Count Franz Eusebius of Pötting, had three children, all died in infancy (2) Count Václav Ferdinand of Lobkowicz, had five children
  • Maria Charlotte of Dietrichstein (1655 – 1682)

Like his ancestors, Johanna Beatrix’s father Maximilian, 2nd Prince of Dietrichstein was in the service of the House of Habsburg. He served as a diplomat, Lord Chamberlain, Conference Minister, and a Privy Councillor for Holy Roman Emperors Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III. Because of this, Johanna Beatrix and her siblings grew up mostly in Vienna.

Johanna Beatrix’s husband Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 6, 1644, nineteen-year-old Johanna Beatrix married her thirty-three-year-old maternal uncle Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein, son of Karl I, the first Prince of Liechtenstein and Baroness Anna Maria von Boskowitz and Černahora.

Johanna Beatrix and Karl Eusebius had nine children:

  • Princess Eleonora Maria of Liechtenstein (1647 – 1704), married Prince Johann Seyfried von Eggenberg, had seven children
  • Princess Anna Maria of Liechtenstein (1648 – 1654), died in childhood
  • Princess Maria Theresia of Liechtenstein (1649 – 1716), married James Leslie, 2nd Count Leslie of the Holy Roman Empire (his father was a Scottish lord, Alexander Leslie, 14th Baron of Balquhain, 1st Count of the Holy Roman Empire), had one son
  • Princess Johanna Beatrix of Liechtenstein (1650 – 1672), married her second cousin Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein, had two children
  • Prince Franz Dominik Eusebius of Liechtenstein (born and died 1652), died in infancy
  • Prince Karl Joseph of Liechtenstein (born and died 1652), died in infancy
  • Prince Franz Eusebius Wenzel of Liechtenstein (1654 – 1655), died in infancy
  • Princess Cäcilie of Liechtenstein (born and died 1655), died in infancy
  • Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein (1657–1712), married his first cousin Princess Edmunda Maria Theresia of Dietrichstein, had seven children

Johanna Beatrix’s husband Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein began to invest in a personal art collection and he became one of the preeminent Central European art collectors of his time. He laid the foundation for the Liechtenstein Museum, formerly a private art museum in Vienna, Austria. It has not been run as a museum since 2012 and is now called Palais Liechtenstein. The Palais Liechtenstein remains home to part of the private art collection of the Princely House of Liechtenstein, one of the largest private collections in the world, started by Karl Eusebius and is available for visit by booked guided tours.

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

Johanna Beatrix predeceased Karl Eusebius, dying at the age of fifty, on March 26, 1676, in Brno, Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. She was buried in the Old Crypt at Chuch of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vranov, Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. Karl Eusebius survived his wife by eight years, dying at the age of 72, on April 5, 1684. He was also buried in the Old Crypt at Chuch of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Karl Eusebius left his son and successor Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein a rich inheritance and an extensive collection of artworks that were multiplied by his son and other descendants.

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. (2021) Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/karl-eusebius-prince-of-liechtenstein/ (Accessed: 17 June 2023).
  • Johanna Beatrix von Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johanna_Beatrix_von_Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg (Accessed: 17 June 2023).
  • Johanna Beatrix of Dietrichstein (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johanna_Beatrix_of_Dietrichstein (Accessed: 17 June 2023).
  • Maximilian, Prince of Dietrichstein (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian,_Prince_of_Dietrichstein (Accessed: 17 June 2023).
  • Maximilian von Dietrichstein (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_von_Dietrichstein (Accessed: 17 June 2023).
  • 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 17 June 2023].

Prince Dmitri Romanov

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Prince Dmitri Romanov being awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in October 2016; Credit – Government.ru. http://government.ru/news/24797/

Prince Dmitri Romanov, 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 2014 – 2016. 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. Dmitri inherited the claim upon the death in 2014 of his elder brother Prince Nicholas Romanov who had two daughters but no sons.

The line from Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia to Dmitri and his brother Nicholas:  Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia → Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia → Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia → Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia → brothers Prince Nicholas Romanov and Prince Dimitri Romanov

Born on May 17, 1926, at the villa of his grandfather Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia in  Antibes, France, where his parents were in exile, Nicholas Romanovich Romanov was the elder of the two children and the elder of the two sons of Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia, a great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, and Countess Praskovia Sheremeteva, a member of the House of Sheremeteva, one of the wealthiest and most influential Russian noble families. Nicholas’ paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia and Princess Milica of Montenegro, daughter of King Nikola I of Montenegro. His maternal grandparents were Count Dmitry Sergeevich Sheremetev and Countess Irina Illarionovna Vorontsova-Dashkova.

Prince Roman Petrovich, his wife Praskovia, holding Dmitri, and Nicholas; Credit – Time Note

Dmitri had one older brother:

Dmitri spent the early years of his life in Antibes, France, where his family employed a Russian staff and a Russian nanny for Dmitri and his brother. The family used the Julian calendar and spoke Russian and French. Dmitri received a traditional Russian education, following the old Russian school curriculum. In 1936, his family moved to Italy, where Dmitri continued his education, and the family lived at the Quirinal Palace in Rome with Vittorio Emanuele III, King of Italy and his wife Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy, who was the sister of Nicholas’ paternal grandmother Princess Milica of Montenegro. After the Italian monarchy was abolished in 1946, Dmitri’s family left for Egypt.

Dmitri worked as a mechanic at the Ford plant in Alexandria, Egypt. After three months of training, he received a mechanic’s certificate and could assemble the engine of the car and the fuel and cooling systems. Dimitri worked at the plant for three years and then got a job as a car sales manager. In 1952, after the overthrow of King Farouk I of Egypt, Dimitri returned to Italy, where he worked in a travel agency and then in the shipping company Fratelli d Amico.

In 1958, Dimitri and his friends went on a trip to Scandinavia by car. In Helsingør, Denmark, he met Johanna von Kauffman (1936 – 1989). Dmitri and Johanna were married in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 21, 1959, and settled in a suburb of Copenhagen. After his marriage, Dmitri learned Danish, got a job at Danske Bank, and became vice president of the bank in 1975. He remained at Danske Bank until his retirement in 1993. At the suggestion of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Dmitri, who had been stateless, became a Danish citizen in 1979. Dmitri and Johanna had no children, and Johanna died from cancer in 1989.

At a reception in 1991, Dmitri met Dorrit Reventlow, born in 1942 in Brazil to Danish parents. Dorrit’s father was from a noble Danish-German family, Reventlow. Dorrit had her own translation company, known as Translator Dorrit Romanoff & Associates after her marriage to Dmitri. On July 28, 1993, Dmitri and Dorrit were married in Kostroma, Russia, the first time a Romanov had been married in Russia since the fall of the dynasty in 1918. Before the wedding, Dorrit converted to Russian Orthodoxy taking the name Feodora Alekseevna.

President Vladimir Putin with Prince Dmitri Romanovich and his wife Dorrit at a state reception in 2006; Credit – By Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7386249

Prince Vsevolod Ioannovich, Dmitri’s father Prince Roman Petrovich, and Prince Andrei Alexandrovich, the heads of the Konstantinovichi, Nikolaevichi, and Mihailovichi branches of the Russian Imperial Family came up with the idea of a family association of the Romanovs. The purpose of the association would be to strengthen the links between the family and protect it from impostors. Some preliminary work had been done but the association had not yet been created when Prince Roman Petrovich died in 1978. After looking through his father’s papers, Dmitri’s brother Nicholas found that everything was in place for the creation of the Romanov Family Association. In 1979, the Romanov Family Association was officially formed with Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich (a grandson of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and the son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, the sister of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia) as president and Dmitri’s brother Prince Nicholas Romanov as vice-president. When Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich died in 1980, his younger brother Prince Vasili Alexandrovich became president and Nicholas remained vice president. In 1989, after the death of Vasili Alexandrovich, Dmitri’s brother Nicholas was elected the president of the Romanov Family Association. The majority of male-line descendants of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia are members of the Romanov Family Association.

In 1924, after Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (son of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and brother of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia) whose body has never been found, was declared legally dead, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, a male-line grandson of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, declared himself Guardian of the Throne and later assumed the title Emperor of All Russia. Upon the death of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich in 1938, his son Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich was recognized as the Head of the Russian Imperial House by the Grand Dukes and Princes of Imperial Blood behind him in order of dynastic seniority and by the majority of the reigning houses of Europe.

The official position of the Romanov Family Association is that the rights of the family to the Russian throne were suspended when Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia abdicated for himself and for his son Tsarevich Alexei in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. Michael declined to accept the throne unless the people were allowed to vote for the continuation of the monarchy or for a republic. Of course, that vote never happened. Emperor Michael II, as he was legally pronounced by Nicholas II, did not abdicate but empowered the Provisional Government to rule. Michael’s “reign” did not end until his execution in 1918.

After the Russian Revolution, surviving members of the House of Romanov were in exile and settled in Europe with close or distant relatives. Because of their situation, many male Romanovs were unable to choose a spouse from European sovereign houses, and married women from noble and famous Russian families – Kurakins, Orlovs, Chavchavadze, Sheremetevs, Vorontsov-Dashkovs, Kutuzovs, Golitsyns. Regarding unequal marriages, Prince Nicholas Romanov said, “Our parents married commoners. So what? We have married commoners. Again, so what? There was nobody to ask us to renounce our rights, so we married without renouncing them, and we and our children still have rights to the throne of Russia.”

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.

Pre-revolutionary Romanov house law allowed only those born of an equal marriage between a Romanov dynast and a member of a royal or sovereign house to be in the line of succession to the Russian throne. The throne could only pass to a female and through the female line upon the extinction of all legitimately-born, male dynasts. Maria Vladimiovna’s mother Princess Leonida of Bagration belonged to a family that had been kings in Georgia from medieval times until the early 19th century. However, no male line ancestor of Leonida had reigned as a king in Georgia since 1505 and her branch of the Bagrations, the House of Mukhrani, had been naturalized as non-ruling nobility of Russia after Georgia was annexed to the Russian empire in 1801. There is a precedent that a marriage between the House of Romanov and the House of Bragation-Mukhrani was unequal. The House of Bragation-Mukhrani did not possess sovereign status and was not recognized as an equal marriage by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia for the purpose of dynastic marriages at the time of the marriage of Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna of Russia and Prince Konstantine Bragation-Mukhrani in 1911, thirty-seven years before the marriage of Princess Leonida of Bragation-Mukhrani and Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia. The couple married but Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna was required to renounce her rights to the Russian throne and she was no longer a member of the House of Romanov because the marriage was unequal.

Neither Prince Dmitri nor his elder brother Prince Nicholas acted 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.

The Romanov Family Association does not recognize Maria Vladimirovna as either the head of the family or the head of the House of Romanov because they consider the marriage of her parents to be unequal. With the exception of Maria Vladimirovna, Prince Nicholas was recognized by the rest of the family as head of the Romanov family. See The Romanov Family Association’s article Succession of the Imperial House of Russia for more information.

After Dmitri retired from Danske Bank in 1993, he became very active in charitable causes. Along with seven other Romanov princes, under the auspices of the Romanov Family Association, Dmitri met in Paris, France in June 1992, where it was decided to create the Romanov Fund for Russia. Dmitri visited Russia in July 1993 on a fact-finding mission to decide on which areas the charity should focus. Dimitri served as chairman of the Romanov Fund for Russia. He was also chairman of the Prince Dimitri Romanov Charity Fund, which he founded in 2006.

Prince Dmitri Romanov (left) and Prince Nicholas Romanov (second left) stand at the tomb of Empress Maria Feodorovna during a burial ceremony in the royal crypt at the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg on September 28, 2006

Because of the connections he had, Dmitri lobbied Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and President Vladimir Putin of Russia to allow the transfer of the remains of Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, from Denmark to Russia so she could be buried alongside her husband Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia. Dmitri and his brother Nicholas were among the Romanovs present on September 28, 2006, at a service for Empress Maria Feodorovna at Saint Isaac’s Cathedral and then at the Peter and Paul Cathedral, both in St. Petersburg, where she was interred next to her husband Emperor Alexander III.

Prince Dmitri Romanov attends a press conference on July 16, 2008 in St. Petersburg on the eve of the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the murders of Nicholas II and his family

Upon the death of his elder brother Prince Nicholas Romanov in 2014, Dmitri inherited the claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family because his elder brother had no sons. Dmitri also became president of the Romanov Family Association. However, his claim to the headship and his term as president lasted only two years. In December 2016, Dmitri’s health suddenly and sharply declined, requiring hospitalization. On December 31, 2016, Prince Dmitri Romanov, aged 90, died in a hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. With his death, the male line of the Nikolaevichi branch of the Russian Imperial Family, descendants of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia, son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, became extinct.

The funeral was held on January 10, 2017, at the Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Church in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dmitri’s coffin was covered with the Romanov flag – black, yellow, and white with a double-headed eagle. Among the wreaths were ones from Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation. Dmitri was buried at Vedbæk Cemetery in Rudersdal, Denmark next to his first wife Johanna.

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

  • Dorrit Reventlow (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorrit_Reventlow (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2016) Obituary – Prince Dimitri Romanovich Romanov (1926-2016), Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/prince-dimitri-romanovich-romanov-1926-2016/ (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Prince Nicholas Romanov, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/prince-nicholas-romanov/ (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Funeral of Russian Prince Dimitri Romanovich (2017) The Siver Times | News and Analytics. Available at: https://sivertimes.com/funeral-of-russian-prince-dimitri-romanovich-his-widow-and-his-relatives-in-mourning/14579 (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Massie, Robert K. (1995) The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. New York: Random House
  • Prince Dimitri Romanov (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Dimitri_Romanov (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Roman_Petrovich_of_Russia (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Романов, Димитрий Романович (2023) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%94%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Романов, Роман Петрович (2023) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • The Romanov Family Association. Available at: http://www.romanovfamily.org/index.html (Accessed: 10 August 2023).

Prince Nicholas Romanov

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Prince Nicholas Romanov; Credit – www.nashagazeta.ch

Prince Nicholas Romanov, 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 1992 – 2014. 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.

The line from Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia to Nicholas and his brother Dimitri who succeeded Nicholas in his claim: Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia → Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia → Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia → Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia → brothers Prince Nicholas Romanov and Prince Dimitri Romanov

Born on September 26, 1922, at the villa of his grandfather Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia in Cap d’Antibes, France, where his parents were in exile, Nicholas Romanovich Romanov was the elder of the two children and the elder of the two sons of Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia, a great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, and Countess Praskovia Sheremeteva, a member of the House of Sheremeteva, one of the wealthiest and most influential Russian noble families. Nicholas’ paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia and Princess Milica of Montenegro, daughter of King Nikola I of Montenegro. His maternal grandparents were Count Dmitry Sergeevich Sheremetev and Countess Irina Illarionovna Vorontsova-Dashkova.

Prince Roman Petrovich, his wife Praskovia holding Dmitri, and Nicholas; Credit – Time Note

Nicholas had one younger brother:

Nicholas spent the early years of his life in Antibes, France, where his family employed a Russian staff and a Russian nanny for Nicholas and his brother. The family used the Julian calendar and spoke Russian and French. Nicholas received a traditional Russian education, following the old Russian school curriculum. He later said that as a child, everything around him was so Russian that he did not realize he was living in France and not Russia until he was six years old. In 1936, his family moved to Italy, where Nicholas attended the Humanitarian Academy in Rome, and the family lived at the Quirinal Palace in Rome with Vittorio Emanuele III, King of Italy and his wife Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy, who was the sister of Nicholas’ paternal grandmother Princess Milica of Montenegro. After the Italian monarchy was abolished in 1946, Nicholas’ family left for Egypt, where Nicholas was involved in the purchasing and sale of Turkish tobacco. In 1950, Nicholas returned to Italy and worked in Rome for the Austin Motor Company until 1954.

Prince Nicholas Romanov and his wife Sveva; Credit – https://tsarnicholas.org/

In 1950, Nicholas became acquainted with Countess Sveva della Gherardesca, the daughter of Count Walfred della Gherardesca and Nicoletta de Piccolellis, from the noble Tuscan family, the House della Gherardesca. Nicholas and Sveva were married in a civil ceremony in Florence, Italy on December 31, 1951, and in a Russian Orthodox ceremony at the Church of the St. Michael the Archangel in Cannes, France on January 21, 1952.

Nicholas and Sveva had three daughters:

  • Princess Natalia Nikolaevna Romanova (1952), married Giuseppe Consolo (link in Italian), an Italian politician, had one son and one daughter Nicoletta Romanoff, an Italian actress
  • Princess Elisaveta Nikolaevna Romanova (born 1956), married Mauro Bonacini, had one son and one daughter
  • Princess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova (born 1961), married (1) Giambattista Alessandri, no children, divorced (2) Giancarlo Tirotti, had one daughter

Following the death of his wife’s brother, Nicholas managed his wife’s property and business in Tuscany, Italy, a large farm that bred cattle and produced wine. The farm was sold in 1982 and Nicholas and Sveva moved to Rougemont, Switzerland where they lived for part of the year and lived in Italy with their daughters for the other part of the year. Nicholas was a stateless person, a refugee from birth, and traveled on a letter issued by the King of Greece. He finally became a citizen of Italy in 1988. Nicholas visited Russia for the first time in June 1992 when he acted as a tour guide for a group of businessmen.

Prince Vsevolod Ioannovich, Nicholas’ father Prince Roman Petrovich, and Prince Andrei Alexandrovich, the heads of the Konstantinovichi, Nikolaevichi, and Mihailovichi branches of the Russian Imperial Family came up with the idea of a family association of the Romanovs. The association’s purpose would be to strengthen the links between the family and protect it from impostors. Some preliminary work had been done but the association had not yet been created when Prince Roman Petrovich died in 1978. After looking through his father’s papers, Nicholas found that everything was in place to create the Romanov Family Association. In 1979, the Romanov Family Association was officially formed with Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich (a grandson of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and the son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, the sister of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia) as president and Prince Nicholas Romanov as vice-president. When Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich died in 1980, his younger brother Prince Vasili Alexandrovich became president and Nicholas remained vice president. In 1989, after the death of Vasili Alexandrovich, Nicholas was elected the president of the Romanov Family Association. The majority of male-line descendants of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia are members of the Romanov Family Association.

In 1924, after Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (son of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and brother of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia) whose body has never been found, was declared legally dead, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, a male-line grandson of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, declared himself Guardian of the Throne and later assumed the title Emperor of All Russia. Upon the death of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich in 1938, his son Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich was recognized as the Head of the Russian Imperial House by the Grand Dukes and Princes of Imperial Blood behind him in order of dynastic seniority and by the majority of the reigning houses of Europe.

The Romanov Family Association’s official position is that the rights of the family to the Russian throne were suspended when Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia abdicated for himself and for his son Tsarevich Alexei in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. Michael declined to accept the throne unless the people were allowed to vote for the continuation of the monarchy or the creation of a republic. Of course, that vote never happened. Emperor Michael II, as he was legally pronounced by Nicholas II, did not abdicate but empowered the Provisional Government to rule. Michael’s “reign” did not end until his execution in 1918.

After the Russian Revolution, surviving members of the House of Romanov were in exile and settled in Europe with close or distant relatives. Because of their situation, many male Romanovs were unable to choose a spouse from European sovereign houses, and married women from noble and famous Russian families – Kurakins, Orlovs, Chavchavadze, Sheremetevs, Vorontsov-Dashkovs, Kutuzovs, Golitsyns. Regarding unequal marriages, Prince Nicholas Romanov said, “Our parents married commoners. So what? We have married commoners. Again, so what? There was nobody to ask us to renounce our rights, so we married without renouncing them, and we and our children still have rights to the throne of Russia.”

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 unequal.

Pre-revolutionary Romanov house law allowed only those born of an equal marriage between a Romanov dynast and a member of a royal or sovereign house to be in the line of succession to the Russian throne. The throne could only pass to a female and through the female line upon the extinction of all legitimately-born, male dynasts. Maria Vladimiovna’s mother Princess Leonida of Bagration belonged to a family that had been kings in Georgia from medieval times until the early 19th century. However, no male line ancestor of Leonida had reigned as a king in Georgia since 1505 and her branch of the Bagrations, the House of Mukhrani, had been naturalized as non-ruling nobility of Russia after Georgia was annexed to the Russian empire in 1801. There is a precedent that a marriage between the House of Romanov and the House of Bragation-Mukhrani was unequal. The House of Bragation-Mukhrani did not possess sovereign status and was not recognized as equal by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia for the purpose of dynastic marriages at the time of the marriage of Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna of Russia and Prince Konstantine Bragation-Mukhrani in 1911, thirty-seven years before the marriage of Princess Leonida of Bragation-Mukhrani and Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia. The couple married but Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna was required to renounce her rights to the Russian throne and was no longer a member of the House of Romanov because the marriage was unequal.

Prince Nicholas 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.

After the discovery and identification of the remains of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, his family, and the servants who were killed with the family, Maria Vladimirovna proposed the remains be divided into three groups – Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna be interred at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia, the traditional Romanov burial site, the three daughters who were identified be interred at the Grand Ducal Mausoleum located on the left side of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, and the servants be interred in Ekaterinburg, Russia where the murders occurred. (Note: The remains of Tsesarevich Alexei and his sister Grand Duchess Maria were discovered in 2007, and were positively identified in 2009. However, the remains of Alexei and Maria have not yet been buried. The Russian Orthodox Church has questioned whether the remains are authentic and blocked the burial.

This proposal shocked Prince Nicholas Romanov and the other members of the Romanov Family Association. Their original position was to bury all the remains together in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Prince Nicholas stated the Romanov Family Association’s position: “We Romanovs want everybody, every victim of that massacre, to be buried together, in the same place, in the same cathedral, and, I’d say, in the same tomb. You want to bury the tsar in the Peter and Paul Fortress cathedral? Good! Then bury the doctor, the maid, and the cook with them, in the tsar’s mausoleum. They have been lying together for seventy-three years. They are the only ones who never betrayed the family. They deserve to be honored at the same time, in the same place.”

Prince Nicholas Romanov led the Romanov family at the formal burial of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, their daughters Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Anastasia, their physician Dr. Eugene Botkin, their cook Ivan Mikhailovich Kharitonov, their footman Alexei Yegorovich Trupp, and their maid Anna Stepanovna Demidova on July 17, 1998, the 80th anniversary of their deaths, in St. Catherine Chapel at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Because, at the time, the Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize the authenticity of the remains, Maria Vladimirovna did not attend the formal burial. However, the Russian government’s refusal to recognize her status as the official Head of the Romanov House is also given as a reason.

Prince Dmitri Romanov (left) and Prince Nicholas Romanov (second left) stand at the tomb of Empress Maria Feodorovna during a burial ceremony in the royal crypt at the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg on September 28, 2006

Prince Nicholas and his brother Prince Dmitri lobbied Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and President Vladimir Putin of Russia to allow the transfer of the remains of Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, from Denmark to Russia so she could be buried alongside her husband Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia. Nicholas and Dmitri were both present on September 28, 2006, at a service for Empress Maria Feodorovna at Saint Isaac’s Cathedral and then at the Peter and Paul Cathedral, both in St. Petersburg, where she was interred next to her husband Emperor Alexander III.

Prince Nicholas Romanov died on September 15, 2014, eleven days before his 92nd birthday, in Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy. His funeral was held on September 17, 2014, at the Church of Saints Jacob and Christopher in Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy. He was interred in the crypt of the Counts della Gherardesoc, the burial site of his wife’s family, at the Basilica of Saint Francis in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy.

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

  • Massie, Robert K. (1995) The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. New York: Random House
  • Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia (2021) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Romanov,_Prince_of_Russia (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Prince Nicholas Romanov – Obituary (2014) The Telegraph. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11121560/Prince-Nicholas-Romanov-obituary.html (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Roman_Petrovich_of_Russia (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Романов, Николай Романович (2023) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B9_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • Романов, Роман Петрович (2023) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
  • The Romanov Family Association. Available at: http://www.romanovfamily.org/index.html (Accessed: 10 August 2023).

Prince Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria

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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Since 2015, Prince Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is one of the current claimants to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and pretender to the former throne of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. The other is his distant cousin, Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro.

Prince Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria; By Pascuamayo – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=135472974

Prince Pedro Juan Maria Alejo Saturnino de Todos los Santos de Bourbon-Dos Sicilias y Orleans was born in Madrid on October 16, 1968. He is the only son of Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Infante of Spain, Duke of Calabria and Princess Anne of Orléans. Pedro has four sisters:

  • Princess Cristina (1966) – married Pedro López-Quesada y Fernández-Urrutia, had issue
  • Princess María (1967) – married Archduke Simeon of Austria, had issue
  • Princess Inès (1971) – married Michele Carrelli Palombi dei Marchesi di Raiano, had issue
  • Princess Victoria (1976) – married Markos Nomikos, had issue

On March 30, 2001 in Madrid, Prince Pedro married Sofía Landaluce y Melgarejo. She is the daughter of José Manuel Landaluce y Dominguez and Maria de las Nieves Blanca Melgarejo y González. The couple have seven children:

  • Prince Jaime, Duke of Noto (1992) – married Lady Charlotte Lindesay-Bethune
  • Prince Juan (2003)
  • Prince Pablo (2004)
  • Prince Pedro (2007)
  • Princess Sofia (2008)
  • Princess Blanca (2011)
  • Princess Maria (2015)

The Duke of Calabria has worked as an agricultural and forestry engineer, and manages the family’s estate, La Toledana, in Retuerta del Bullaque, Spain. He also manages other farms and forest land through his company, Agrocinegetica Borbon, SL. He has served as President of the Royal Council of Military Orders since 2014, having been appointed by his third-cousin King Felipe VI of Spain. He also holds positions with numerous charitable organizations, including:

  • President, Foundation for the Protection of Nature
  • President, Foundation Lux Hispaniarum
  • President, Foundation of the Hospital of Santiago de Cuenca
  • Patron, Foundation of Commanderies of Santiago
  • Vice President, Delegation of the Community of Castilla-La Mancha

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Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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Maria Anna of Bavaria, Archduchess of Inner Austria, 1st wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Maria Anna of Bavaria,1604; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Anna of Bavaria was the first wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor. She died before her husband became King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, and Holy Roman Emperor, so she held only the title Archduchess of Inner Austria. Born on December 18, 1574, in Munich, Duchy of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria, she was the fourth of the ten children and the second eldest but the eldest surviving of the four daughters of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine. Maria Anna’s paternal grandparents were Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Austria, a daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her maternal grandparents were François I, Duke of Lorraine and Christina of Denmark, daughter of King Christian II of Denmark.

Maria Anna had nine siblings but only five survived childhood:

Maria Anna’s husband Ferdinand; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 23, 1600, at Graz Cathedral in Graz, Styria, Lower Austria, now in Austria, 26-year-old first cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria married her first cousin 22-year-old Ferdinand II, Archduke of Inner Austria, the son of Karl Franz II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria. This marriage reaffirmed the alliance between the House of Habsburg and the House of Wittelsbach.

Maria Anna and Ferdinand had seven children but only four survived childhood:

Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II next to Graz Cathedral; Credit – Von KarlN – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=981869

Maria Anna was ill for a long time before she died on March 8, 1616, at the age of forty-one, in Graz, Inner Austria, now in Austria. She was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II (link in German) which her husband began building in 1614, next to Graz Cathedral on the site of a former cemetery. When Ferdinand died in 1637, he was also interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II. The tombs of Maria Anna of Bavaria, Ferdinand, and their son Johann Karl, who died in his teens, are coffin wall niches, marked by inscriptions

Maria Anna’s tomb marker; Credit – Von krischnig – selbst fotografiert, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129845239

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) 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/ (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/matthias-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-archduke-of-further-austria-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
  • Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551–1608) (2020) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_of_Bavaria_(1551%E2%80%931608) (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
  • Mausoleum Kaiser Ferdinands II. (Graz) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_Kaiser_Ferdinands_II._(Graz) (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
  • Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
  • William V, Duke of Bavaria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_V,_Duke_of_Bavaria (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
  • Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Anna Maria von Boskowitz and Černahora, Princess of Liechtenstein

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Anna Maria von Boskowitz and Černahora, Princess of Liechtenstein; Credit – Wikipedia

Baroness Anna Maria von Boskowitz and Černahora was the wife of Karl I, the first Prince of Liechtenstein and the founder of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. Born in 1575 in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria, she was the elder of the two daughters of Baron Johann von Boskowitz and Černahora and Baroness Anna von Kraigk, both members of Moravian noble families.

Boskovic Castle, inherited by Anna Maria and her sister Katharina upon their father’s death; Credit – By Mardoko – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35303874

Anna Maria had one sister. When their father died in 1597, Anna Maria and her sister Katharina inherited their father’s lands, including Boskovic Castle, because he had no male heirs.

  • Katharina von Boskowitz and Černahora (1579 – 1637), married Maximilian of Liechtenstein, brother of Anna Maria’s husband, Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein, no children

Anna Maria’s husband Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1590, Anna Maria married Baron Karl von Liechtenstein, a Moravian nobleman and the son of Hartmann II, Baron of Liechtenstein and Countess Anna Maria of Ortenburg, and the future first Sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein

Anna Maria and Karl had four children:

Through his relationship with the brothers, the childless Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and Archduke Matthias of Austria (the future Holy Roman Emperor Matthias), Anna Maria’s husband Karl gained political positions and land, and ultimately became the first Sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein. In 1592, Karl became the treasurer of Archduke Matthias. Karl and his younger brothers, Maximilian, the husband of Anna Maria’s sister,  and Gundakar, had been raised in the Evangelical Lutheran faith, but they all converted to Catholicism in 1599. In 1599, Karl became the chief judge in Moravia. In 1600, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II appointed Karl Chief Steward at the Imperial Court in Vienna, Austria. Four years later, Karl was appointed Governor of Moravia.

Besides being the elected Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II also held the traditional Habsburg territories as King of Bohemia, King of Hungary, King of Croatia, Archduke of Austria, and Margrave of Moravia. A power struggle developed between the childless Rudolf and his heir and brother Matthias. In April 1608, Matthias besieged the city of Prague and forced his brother Rudolf to negotiate and sign a peace treaty. This resulted in the redistribution of power. Rudolf kept Bohemia, Silesia, and Lusatia while Matthias received Hungary, Austria, and Moravia. Karl of Liechtenstein had supported Matthias in the power struggle. On December 20, 1608, Matthias raised Karl from Baron of Liechtenstein to Fürst of Liechtenstein (Prince), a reigning sovereign ruler or monarch. (Non-reigning descendants of a Fürst are referred to in German as Prinz (prince) or Prinzessin (princess.)

Matthias was elected Holy Roman Emperor upon Rudolf’s death in 1612 and reigned until he died in 1619. In 1614, Holy Roman Emperor Matthias gave Karl another reward, the Duchy of Troppau in Silesia. In November 1620, Karl and his brother Maximilian took lead roles in the imperial victory at the Battle of White Mountain near Prague during the Thirty Years War. In 1622, Karl was appointed governor and then Viceroy of the Kingdom of Bohemia.

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

Karl’s younger brother Maximilian and his wife Katharina, Anna Maria’s sister, founded a Pauline monastery and had the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary built on the monastery grounds in the village of Vranov, then in Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. A crypt in the church served as the burial site for members of the House of Liechtenstein. When more room was needed for burials another crypt was built and the church then had the Old Crypt and the New Crypt.

Anna Maria died at the age of 50, on June 6, 1625, in Plumov, Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. She was buried in the Old Crypt at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Karl survived his wife by nearly two years, dying on February 12, 1627, aged 57, at the Liechtenstein Palace (link in German) on Lesser Town Square in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. He was also buried in the Old Crypt at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.

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 Semberová of Boskovice and Cerná Hora (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Maria_%C5%A0emberov%C3%A1_of_Boskovice_and_%C4%8Cern%C3%A1_Hora (Accessed: 15 June 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/karl-i-prince-of-liechtenstein/> [Accessed 15 June 2023].
  • Johann Schembera von Czerna-Hora Freiherr von Boskowitz (2022) geni_family_tree. Available at: https://www.geni.com/people/Johann-Schembera-von-Czerna-Hora-Freiherr-von-Boskowitz/6000000015270648137 (Accessed: 15 June 2023).
  • 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 15 June 2023].

Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Infante of Spain, Duke of Calabria

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 Carlos, known as Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria, was one of the claimants to the disputed headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and pretender to the former throne of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, from 1964 until his death in 2015.

source: Wikipedia

Prince Carlos Maria Alfonso Marcelo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies was born on January 16, 1938 in Lausanne, Switzerland, the only son of Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria and Princess Alicia of Bourbon-Parma. He had two sisters:

  • Princess Teresa, Duchess of Salerno (1937) – married Íñigo Moreno y Arteaga, Marquess of Laserna, had issue
  • Princess Inés, Duchess of Syracuse (1940) – married Luis de Morales y Aguado, had issue

Carlos grew up close with his second cousin, the future King Juan Carlos I of Spain. They attended schools together in Switzerland and Spain, and later attended university together as well. They remained very close and were considered part of the extended Spanish Royal Family.

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Carlos first met his wife, Princess Anne of Orléans, in 1961 at his elder sister’s wedding in Madrid. They met again a year later and the wedding of Juan Carlos and Princess Sofia of Greece and a relationship began. However, Anne’s father, Henri, Count of Paris, disagreed with Carlos’s father’s claim to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. He, instead, supported the claim of Prince Ranieri of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The dispute revolved around whether Carlos’s grandfather had renounced his rights upon his marriage to the Spanish Princess of Asturias. Henri based his support for Ranieri on his own claim to the French throne on a similar renunciation from Philippe, Duke of Anjou, in 1713. Thus, the Count of Paris refused to consent to the marriage.

It wasn’t until after Carlos’s father’s death in 1964, that Carlos finally convinced the Count of Paris to give his blessing, although he still refused to support Carlo’s claim to the headship of the former royal house. Finally, the couple were married in a civil ceremony on May 11, 1965 and Louveciennes, with a religious ceremony the next day at the Chapelle royale de Dreux. Carlos and Anne went on to have five children:

  • Princess Cristina (1966) – married Pedro López-Quesada y Fernández-Urrutia, had issue
  • Princess María (1967) – married Archduke Simeon of Austria, had issue
  • Prince Pedro, Duke of Calabria (1968) – married Sofía Landaluce y Melgarejo, had issue
  • Princess Inès (1971) – married Michele Carrelli Palombi dei Marchesi di Raiano, had issue
  • Princess Victoria (1976) – married Markos Nomikos, had issue

Carlos succeeded his father as Duke of Calabria in 1964, and claimed the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The Senior (Calabrian) Line is considered by most to be the rightful heirs. In 1994, he was created Infante of Spain by King Juan Carlos.

Embed from Getty Images

Infante Carlos died in Retuerta del Bullaque, Spain on October 5, 2015. His remains were placed in El Escorial where they will eventually be interred in the Pantheon of Princes. He was succeeded as Duke of Calabria by his son Pedro. Carlos was the last male Infante of Spain.

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Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Ferdinand II, 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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Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1619 – 1637), Archduke of Inner Austria (reigned 1590 – 1637), King of Bohemia (1st reign 1617 – 1619, 2nd reign 1620 – 1637), and King of Hungary and Croatia (reigned 1618 – 1637) was born on July 19, 1578, at the Schlossberg in Graz, Duchy of Styria, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria. He was the sixth of the fifteen children and the second but the eldest surviving of the six sons of Karl Franz II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria. Ferdinand’s paternal grandparents were Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anne of Bohemia and Hungary. His maternal grandparents were Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Austria (daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor).

Ferdinand had fourteen siblings:

Ferdinand’s mother Maria Anna of Bavaria; Credit – Wikipedia

Ferdinand’s mother Maria Anna of Bavaria was a strong supporter of the Counter-Reformation, the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation. Ferdinand and his siblings attended Mass from the age of one and their first words were to be Jesus and Mary. Catholic priests tutored them, and Latin was to be a priority before their native German language. When he was eight years old, Ferdinand began to attend the Jesuit school in Graz. In 1590, 11-year-old Ferdinand was sent to the Jesuit University of Ingolstadt in the Electorate of Bavaria for secondary school and university because his parents wanted to isolate him from Lutheran nobles. His strong Jesuit upbringing resulted in Ferdinand’s strong rejection of Protestantism. Throughout his life, Ferdinand was a very devout Roman Catholic and attended Mass at least once a day. His strong religion also caused him to be prudish. As Holy Roman Emperor, he burned paintings from the imperial art collection that depicted nudity.

Ferdinand II in his early teens, circa 1591-1593; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1590, Ferdinand’s father died and the twelve-year-old inherited the lands of Inner Austria: Styria, Carniola, Carinthia, and Gorizia. His much older first cousin, Rudolf II was Holy Roman Emperor and Head of the House of Habsburg and appointed regents to administer Ferdinand’s lands. In 1595, Ferdinand returned to Graz from his studies at the University of Ingolstadt. In 1597, after he came of age, he began to rule the lands of Inner Austria in his own right.

In 1598, Ferdinand began strong Counter-Reformation policies in the lands of Inner Austria. He took a solemn vow to make Catholicism the sole religion in his lands again at any price. He was famous for saying, “Better to rule a desert than a country full of heretics.” Ferdinand demanded that all the nobility practice the Roman Catholic faith. Protestant nobles could either convert or leave Inner Austria. The creation of a Catholic nobility forced the peasants who worked their lands also to become Catholic. Protestant churches and books were destroyed and Protestant ministers and scholars such as the very renowned astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler were expelled from Inner Austria. These policies caused a financial and intellectual drain in Inner Austria.

Maria Anna of Bavaria, Ferdinand II’s 1st wife, 1604; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 23, 1600, at Graz Cathedral in Graz, Styria, Lower Austria, now in Austria, 22-year-old Archduke Ferdinand married his 26-year-old first cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria, the daughter of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine, reaffirming the alliance between the House of Habsburg and House of Wittelsbach.

Ferdinand and Maria Anna had seven children but only four survived childhood:

Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II next to Graz Cathedral; Credit – Von KarlN – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=981869

On March 8, 1616, Maria Anna died, aged 41, before her husband became King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, and Holy Roman Emperor. She was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II (link in German) which her husband began building in 1614, next to Graz Cathedral on the site of a former cemetery.

Ferdinand II and his second wife Eleonora Gonzaga, circa 1628-1630; Credit – Wikipedia

44-year-old Ferdinand 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. 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. However, Ferdinand and Eleonora had no children.

There was displeasure in the Habsburg family with Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. His brother Archduke Matthias played a significant role in the family’s opposition, called the Brothers’ Quarrel. Matthias forced Rudolf to cede the crowns of Hungary, Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia to him. Rudolf lost what was left of his power and lived in isolation at Prague Castle in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. When Rudolf died on January 20, 1612, nine months after he had been stripped of all effective power, his brother Matthias was elected to succeed him as Holy Roman Emperor and also succeeded to all Rudolf’s hereditary titles.

Cardinal Melchior Klesl, Holy Roman Emperor Matthias’ chief minister, wanted to arrange a compromise between Catholic and Protestant states within the Holy Roman Empire to strengthen the empire. These policies were opposed by the more conservative Catholic Habsburgs, especially Matthias’s brother Archduke Maximilian, who hoped to secure the succession for their ardent Catholic cousin Archduke Ferdinand, the future Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. Matthias was old, ill, and unable to prevent the faction of his brother Archduke Maximilian from gaining power. He died on March 20, 1619, aged 62, in Vienna, Austria. Archduke Ferdinand had already been crowned King of Bohemia in 1617 and King of Hungary in 1618. He was elected Holy Roman Emperor on August 28, 1619.

The Thirty Years’ War began in 1618 as a result of the inadequacies of Ferdinand II’s predecessors Rudolf II and Matthias. Ferdinand wanted to restore the Catholic Church as the only religion in the Holy Roman Empire and to eliminate religious dissent. However, Ferdinand’s acts against Protestantism caused the war to engulf the entire Holy Roman Empire. The Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648) 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.

Ferdinand II’s son and successor Ferdinand III,  Credit – Wikipedia

After the deaths of his two eldest sons Karl and Johann Karl, Ferdinand II’s third son, also named 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 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. The tombs of Ferdinand II, his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria, and his son Johann Karl, who died in his teens, are coffin wall niches and marked by inscriptions

Coffin niche of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

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

  • Charles II, Archduke of Austria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II,_Archduke_of_Austria (Accessed: 14 June 2023).
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  • Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551–1608) (2020) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_of_Bavaria_(1551%E2%80%931608) (Accessed: 14 June 2023).
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Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, Dauphine of France

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, Dauphine of France; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, Dauphine of France was the first wife of Louis, Dauphin of France, the son of Louis XV, King of France. Neither Maria Teresa Rafaela nor Louis lived long lives. Maria Teresa Rafaela, aged twenty, died due to childbirth complications after giving birth to her only child, a daughter who died before her second birthday. Louis married again, had eight children – five survived childhood and three of the five were Kings of France – but he died from tuberculosis, at the age of thirty-six. Louis, Dauphin of France predeceased his father and so he never became King of France.

Maria Teresa Rafaela’s parents Felipe V, King of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese of Parma; Credit – Wikipedia

Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain was born on June 11, 1726, at the Royal Alcazar in Madrid, Spain. She was the fourth of the six children and the second of the three daughters of Felipe V, King of Spain and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese of Parma. Maria Teresa Rafaela’s father was born Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV, King of France. He became King of Spain when the Spanish House of Habsburg became extinct because his paternal grandmother Maria Teresa, Infanta of Spain was the daughter of Felipe IV, King of Spain. Maria Teresa Rafaela’s paternal grandparents were Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, the heir apparent to the throne of France who died before his father Louis XIV, King of France, and Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria. Her maternal grandparents were Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma and Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg.

Family of Felipe V, King of Spain by Louis-Michel van Loo – Maria Teresa Rafaela is fourth from the right; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Teresa Rafaela had five siblings:

Maria Teresa Rafaela had four siblings from her father’s first marriage to Maria Luisa of Savoy:

Louis, Dauphin of France, Maria Teresa Rafaela’s husband; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1725, the Spanish court had been greatly insulted by the French when the engagement of Louis XV, King of France and Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, the elder sister of Maria Teresa Rafaela, had been called off. The marriage of Maria Teresa Rafaela and Louis, Dauphin of France marked the reconciliation of Spain and France. The betrothal was announced in August 1739, however, Maria Teresa Rafaela’s mother would not allow her thirteen-year-old daughter to go to France until she was older.

Marriage of Louis, Dauphin of France and Maria Teresa Rafaela, Infanta of Spain; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Teresa Rafaela and Louis, Dauphin of France were married by proxy in Madrid, Spain on December 18, 1744. She left Spain to travel to France in January 1745 and arrived at the Palace of Versailles on February 21, 1745. Two days, later Maria Teresa Rafaela and Louis, Dauphin of France were married in person in the Chapel Royal at the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France. The marriage was not immediately consummated and this caused great embarrassment to Maria Teresa Rafaela because of the court’s gossip that Louis was impotent. Her shy nature further isolated her from the court. Finally, the marriage was consummated in September 1745, ending court gossip. The couple became very close and devoted to each other spending most of their time together.

Maria Teresa Rafaela soon became pregnant, with the baby due in July 1746. On July 9, 1746, her father, Felipe V, King of Spain, died of a stroke but Maria Teresa Rafaela was not told of his death because of her advanced pregnancy. On July 19, 1746, she gave birth to a daughter, named Marie-Thérèse by her husband in honor of his adored wife. Maria Teresa Rafaela initially recovered from childbirth but then her condition deteriorated quickly and she died on July 22, 1746, aged 20, at the Palace of Versailles. The sorrow of Louis, Dauphin of France was so intense that his father King Louis XV had to physically drag his son away from Maria Teresa Rafaela’s deathbed. Louis and Maria Teresa Rafaela’s daughter did not survive to her second birthday, dying on April 27, 1748. Maria Teresa Rafaela was buried at the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris, the traditional burial site of the French royal family.

In 1747, nineteen-year-old Louis, Dauphin of France reluctantly married fifteen-year-old Maria Josepha of Saxony. Louis was still grieving for Maria Teresa Rafaela but Maria Josepha was patient and won his heart a little at a time. Louis and Maria Josepha of Saxony had eight children including three Kings of France: Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. Louis never succeeded to the French throne. He died of tuberculosis at the Château de Fontainebleau in France on December 20, 1765, at the age of 36. According to Louis’ last wishes, he was buried at the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne in Sens, France, but his heart was buried at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, near the grave of his first wife Maria Teresa Rafaela.

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. (2019) Felipe V, King of Spain, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/felipe-v-first-bourbon-king-of-spain/ (Accessed: 29 July 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2019) Louis, Dauphin of France, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/louis-dauphin-of-france/ (Accessed: 29 July 2023).
  • María Teresa Rafaela of Spain (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Teresa_Rafaela_of_Spain (Accessed: 29 July 2023).
  • Marie-Thérèse d’Espagne (2023) Wikipedia (French). Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_d%27Espagne (Accessed: 29 July 2023).
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Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Josepha of Saxony was the second wife of Louis, Dauphin of France, the son and heir of King Louis XV of France, and the mother of three Kings of France, Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. Maria Josepha Karolina Eleonore Franziska Xaveria was born on November 4, 1731, at Dresden Castle in Dresden, Electorate of Saxony, later in the Kingdom of Saxony, now in the German state of Saxony. She was the eighth of the fourteen children and the fourth of the seven daughters of Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania and Maria Josepha of Austria. Her paternal grandparents were Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania and Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Maria Josepha’s maternal grandparents were Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Maria Josepha had thirteen siblings:

Louis, Dauphin of France, son of King Louis XV, husband of Maria Josepha; Credit – Wikipedia

Louis, Dauphin of France was the elder son and heir apparent of his father Louis XV, King of France. In 1739, King Louis XV negotiated a marriage for his son Louis with Maria Teresa Rafaela, Infanta of Spain, daughter of Felipe V, King of Spain, born Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV, King of France and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese of Parma. The purpose of this marriage was to strengthen the alliance of Bourbon France and Bourbon Spain. Louis, Dauphin of France and Maria Teresa Rafaela, Infanta of Spain were married in 1745.

Louis and Maria Teresa Rafaela had one daughter Princess Marie Thérèse of France, born on July 19, 1746. Sadly, Maria Teresa Rafaela died three days later, on July 22, 1746, at the age of twenty. Louis’ sorrow was so intense that his father King Louis XV had to physically drag his son away from Maria Teresa Rafaela’s deathbed. Louis and Maria Teresa Rafaela’s daughter did not survive to her second birthday, dying on April 27, 1748.

Even though he grieved for his first wife, Louis knew he had to marry again to provide for the succession to the French throne. His first wife’s brother Fernando VI, King of Spain offered his youngest sister but Louis XV wanted to expand France’s diplomatic connections. France and Saxony had been on opposing sides in the recent War of the Austrian Succession (1740 -1748) and a marriage between a Princess of Saxony and the Dauphin of France would form a new alliance between the two countries. On January 10, 1747, fifteen-year-old Maria Josepha of Saxony was married by proxy to seventeen-year-old Louis, Dauphin of France. A second marriage ceremony took place in person at the Palace of Versailles on February 9, 1747. At the time of this marriage, Louis was still grieving for Maria Teresa Rafaela but Maria Josepha was patient and won his heart a little at a time.

Maria Josepha and her son Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Josepha and Louis had eight children including three Kings of France:

The couple’s first child, a daughter, was born on the feast day of Saint Zephyrinus and named Marie Zéphyrine. The birth was greeted with much joy by her parents but her grandfather King Louis XV was disappointed the child was not a male. On August 30, 1755, five-year-old Marie Zéphyrine suffered convulsions and died on September 2, 1755. Maria Josepha and Louis’ second child Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy fell off a toy horse in 1759. He started limping and a tumor began to grow on his hip. This was operated on in 1760, but he never recovered the use of his legs. Louis Joseph was diagnosed with extrapulmonary tuberculosis of the bone which caused his death in 1761. The couple’s second son, Xavier, Duke of Aquitaine died after an epileptic seizure when he was five months old.

Maria Josepha’s husband Louis was a pious man, faithful to her, and concerned about the welfare and education of his children. Like her husband, Maria Josepha was very devout. Maria Josepha and Louis were a counterbalance to the behavior of King Louis XV, who had many mistresses and many illegitimate children. The couple was not fond of the various entertainments held at the Palace of Versailles every week and preferred to stay in their apartments. Kept away from government affairs by his father, Louis was at the center of the Dévots, a group of religiously-minded men who hoped to gain power when he succeeded to the throne.

Allegory on the Death of the Dauphin by Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, 1765; Credit – Wikipedia

However, Maria Josepha’s husband Louis never succeeded to the throne. He died of tuberculosis at the Château de Fontainebleau in France on December 20, 1765, at the age of 36. According to Louis’ last wishes, he was buried at the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne in Sens, France, and his heart was buried at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, near the grave of his first wife. Maria Josepha, who had cared for Louis during his last illness, also contracted tuberculosis. She died at the Palace of Versailles, on March 13, 1767, at the age of 35, and was buried with her husband.

When King Louis XV died of smallpox at the Palace of Versailles on May 10, 1774, he was succeeded by his grandson, King Louis XVI, the third but the eldest surviving son of Maria Josepha and her husband. During the French Revolution (1789 – 1799), King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette were beheaded as was Louis XVI’s youngest sister Elisabeth. Louis XVI’s two younger brothers escaped France and survived the French Revolution. Both reigned as Kings of France during the Bourbon Restoration (1814 – 1830).

Louis and Maria Josepha’s restored tomb; Credit – Par Aubry Gérard — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42182840

In March 1794, during the French Revolution, Louis and Maria Josepha’s tomb was desecrated and their remains were thrown into a mass grave. After the Bourbon Restoration, on the orders of Louis and Maria Josepha’s son King Louis XVIII, their remains were found, their tomb was restored, and they were reinterred at the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne in Sens, France on December 8, 1814.

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.

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  • Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Josepha_of_Saxony,_Dauphine_of_France (Accessed: 13 June 2023).
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