Archduchess Luise of Austria, Princess of Tuscany

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Luise of Tuscany (about 1911)

Luise of Tuscany (2 December 1870 in Salzburg–23 March 1947 in Brussels) (Luise Antoinette Maria Theresia Josepha Johanna Leopoldine Caroline Ferdinande Alice Ernestine, Princess Imperial and Archduchess of Austria, Princess of Tuscany, Hungary and Bohemia) was a daughter of Ferdinand IV of Tuscany and his second wife Alicia of Parma, daughter of Duke Charles III and Louise d'Artois. Archduchess Luise was thus a great-great-granddaughter of Charles X of France.

1 Crown Princess of Saxony
2 Second marriage and later life
3 Children with Friedrich August III
4 Children with Enrico Toselli
5 Ancestry
6 Bibliography

[edit] Crown Princess of Saxony

In Vienna on 21 November 1891 she married the Crown Prince of Saxony, Frederick Augustus. She was very popular in Saxony. She didn't follow etiquette at the court, which resulted in arguments with her father-in-law. On 9 December 1902 she left Saxony without her children but pregnant with her youngest daughter. For a while she lived with her children's French tutor, André Giron, who was widely believed to be the father of her youngest daughter, Monika. The scandal received worldwide attention, and was even widely covered in the American press.

Although her husband offered to treat her honorably, she refused to return to Dresden and rejected any possibility of reconciliation. She was divorced 11 February 1903. On that day, Emperor Franz Josef as head of the House of Habsburg stripped her of her imperial titles and dignities. Her father created her Countess of Montignoso, which he really had no right to do as he had lost his sovereign status decades earlier, when the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. Her last child with Frederick Augustus was sent to Dresden to live at the court, where she was raised as a member of the Saxon royal house.

[edit] Second marriage and later life

On 25 September 1907 Luise married the Italian musician Enrico Toselli in London. They had one son and were divorced five years later.

In 1911, Luise published a memoir blaming her disgrace on Saxon politicians who feared that when she became queen, she would use her influence to dismiss them from office. Probably, however, she would not have enjoyed so much influence as queen. Throughout the book, she claimed that her popularity exceeded that of her father-in-law the king of Saxony, and her husband the future king. Luise implied that her popularity had alienated her from the royal family and politicians. She ascribed her popularity to her insistence on ignoring the etiquette of the Saxon court and, perhaps to cast herself as a victim, compared herself to her Habsburg relative Marie Antoinette, who disliked court rituals at Versailles and, like Luise, had avoided the noble courtiers who depended on those rituals to affirm their places at court. Luise's flight from Dresden was thus explained not as a lovers' elopement but as her final rejection of a privileged but unhappy life.

After the Habsburg monarchy collapsed in 1918, Luise called herself "Comtesse d'Ysette," a title with even less legitimacy than the one her father gave her. She died in Brussels and her urn is in Sigmaringen.

[edit] Children with Friedrich August III

They had seven children:

Friedrich August Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony (1893- 1943). A priest, he renounced his rights in 1923.
Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen, Duke of Saxony (1893-1968). Married Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis (1903-1976) and had issue.
Ernst Heinrich, Prince of Saxony (1896 - 1971). Married first Princess Sophia of Luxembourg (1902-1941), daughter of Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, in 1921 and second Virginia Dulon (1910-2002) in 1947 (morganatically). Had issue with Sophia.
Maria Alix Carola, stillborn 22 August 1898
Margarete Carola Wilhelmine (1900 - 1962). Married Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern (1891-1965).
Maria Alix Luitpolda (1901 - 1990). Married Franz Joseph, Prince of Hohenzollern-Emden (1891-1964).
Anna Pia Monika (1903 - 1976). Married firstly Joseph Franz, Archduke of Austria (1895-1957) and secondly Reginald Kazanjian (1905-1990).

The birth of their two eldest sons was something rather uncommon among the courts of Europe. Their two eldest sons, Friedrich August and Friedrich Christian were born in the same year, 1893, but were not twins. Friedrich August was born in January, while Friedrich Christian was born in December.