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Archduke Franz Karl of Austria

Archduke Franz Karl Joseph of Austria (17 December 1802 – 8 March 1878) was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. He was the father of two emperors: Franz Joseph I of Austria and Maximilian I of Mexico. Through his third son Karl Ludwig, he was the grandfather of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – whose assassination sparked the hostilities that led to the outbreak of World War I.

Archduke Franz Karl
Franz Karl in the uniform of an Austrian field marshal, 1839.
Born(1802-12-17)17 December 1802
Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Died8 March 1878(1878-03-08) (aged 75)
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Burial
Imperial Crypt
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1824; died 1872)​
Issue
Names
German: Franz Karl Joseph
English: Francis Charles Joseph
HouseHabsburg-Lorraine
FatherFrancis II, Holy Roman Emperor
MotherPrincess Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily
SignatureArchduke Franz Karl's signature

Life

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Early life and marriage

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Franz Karl was born in Vienna, the third son of Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire by his second marriage with Princess Maria Theresa from the House of Bourbon, daughter of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Maria Carolina of Austria. On 4 November 1824 in Vienna, he married Princess Sophie of Bavaria from the House of Wittelsbach, a daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria by his second wife Caroline of Baden. Sophie's paternal half-sister, Caroline Augusta of Bavaria was by this time Franz Karl's stepmother, having married his thrice-widowed father in 1816. The Wittelsbachs condoned the unappealing manners of Sophie's husband in consideration of the incapability of his elder brother Ferdinand and Sophie's chance to become Austrian empress.

 
Franz Karl in his last year, 1878.

Franz Karl was an unambitious and generally ineffectual man, although he was, together with his uncle Archduke Louis, a member of the Geheime Staatskonferenz council, which after the death of Emperor Francis II ruled the Austrian Empire in the stead of his mentally ill brother Ferdinand from 1835 to 1848. The decisions, however, were actually made by the Chancellor Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich and his rival Count Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky. His wife Sophie had already transferred her ambitions, when she urged Franz Karl to renounce his claims to the throne at the time of his brother's abdication on 2 December 1848, allowing their eldest son Franz Joseph I to take the throne.

Death and burial

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Archduke Franz Karl died in Vienna in 1878, six years after the death of his wife. He is buried at the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church. Franz Karl was the last Habsburg whose viscera were entombed at the Ducal Crypt of St. Stephen's Cathedral and whose heart was placed at the Herzgruft of the Augustinian Church according to a centuries-long family rite.

Honours and awards

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He received the following awards:[1]

Children

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Name Birth Death Notes
By Sophie, Princess of Bavaria (27 January 1805 – 28 May 1872; married on 4 November 1824 in St. Augustine's Church, Vienna)
Franz Joseph 18 August 1830 21 November 1916 Succeeded as Emperor of Austria;
married his first cousin Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria, and had issue
Maximilian 6 July 1832 19 June 1867 Proclaimed Emperor of Mexico
executed by a firing squad
married Charlotte, Princess of Belgium, no issue
Karl Ludwig 30 July 1833 19 May 1896 Married 1) his first cousin Margaretha, Princess of and Duchess in Saxony, (1840–1858) from 1856 to 1858, no issue, married 2) to Maria Annunziata, Princess of the Two-Sicilies (1843–1871) from 1862 to 1871, had issue (three sons and one daughter) and married 3) to Maria Theresia, Infanta of Portugal, (1855–1944), from 1873 to 1899, had issue (two daughters)
Maria Anna 27 October 1835 5 February 1840 Died in childhood, no issue
Stillborn son 24 October 1840 24 October 1840
Ludwig Viktor 15 May 1842 18 January 1919 Died unmarried, no issue

See also

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Ancestors

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References

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  1. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Kaiserthumes Österreich (1878), Genealogy p. 5
  2. ^ Boettger, T. F. "Chevaliers de la Toisón d'Or - Knights of the Golden Fleece". La Confrérie Amicale. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  3. ^ "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Teulet, Alexandre (1863). "Liste chronologique des chevaliers de l'ordre du Saint-Esprit depuis son origine jusqu'à son extinction (1578-1830)" [Chronological list of knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit from its origin to its extinction (1578-1830)]. Annuaire-bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de France (in French) (2): 117. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  5. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern (in German). Königl. Oberpostamt. 1867. p. 8. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  6. ^ Almanacco di corte (in Italian). 1858. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
  7. ^ Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm III. ernannte Ritter" p. 20
  8. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1836), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 27, 42
  9. ^ Sergey Semenovich Levin (2003). "Lists of Knights and Ladies". Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-called (1699-1917). Order of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine (1714-1917). Moscow.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1869), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" p. 8
  11. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Hannover (1865), "Königliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" pp. 38, 75
  12. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1866), "Königliche Orden" p. 30
  13. ^ Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), 1877, p. 368, retrieved 2018-01-06 – via runeberg.org
  14. ^ Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen (1867) (in German), "Königliche Ritter-Orden", p. 4
  15. ^ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: für das Jahr 1872/73, "Der Großherzogliche Haus-und Verdienst Orden" p. 30
  16. ^ Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtums Sachsen-Altenburg (1869), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 21
  17. ^ a b Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1860). "Habsburg, Franz I." . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 6. p. 208 – via Wikisource.
  18. ^ a b Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Maria Theresia von Neapel" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 7. p. 81 – via Wikisource.
  19. ^ a b c d Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Maria Theresia (deutsche Kaiserin)" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 7. p. 60 – via Wikisource.
  20. ^ a b Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Maria Ludovica (deutsche Kaiserin)" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 7. p. 53 – via Wikisource.
  21. ^ a b Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 9.
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