Royal morganatic marriages

[Kristallinchen]

Therese Elßler (1810-1878) was a viennese ballet, born in Gumpendorf (today a part of Vienna). In 1850 she married Prince Adalbert of Prussia. (1811-1873) and was created Freifrau von Barnim by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. They didn't have any children. Therese died in Meran.

[CyrilSebastian]

Emperor Napoleon I of France tried to convince his brother Lucien to give up his wife, Alexandrine de Bleschamp, the widow of a French banker. Lucien refused. He and his children were barred from the imperial line of succession.

[CyrilSebastian]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, married Sophie Chotek, Duchess of Hohenberg, on July 1, 1900.

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, married Sophie Chotek, Duchess of Hohenberg, on July 1, 1900.

Here is an interesting followup to this fact:  She was considered to be inferior to Franz Ferdinand because of this, so she was not allowed to accompany him officially on visits inside Austria-Hungary.  However, when he took his ill-fated trip to the Balkans in 1914, he was allowed to bring her as his official consort.  This was a huge slap in the face to the Bosnians & Serbians, because it implied that they were so far below Austro-Hungarians that it was ok for her to be paraded in their faces.  Add to this of course their deep anger at being annexed, and the fact that June 28 is the date of a battle in which the Serbians had been defeated resoundingly (in the 1380s), and it's no surprise that the Black Hand chose that date and those circumstances to put their plan into motion.

[Principessa]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, married Sophie Chotek, Duchess of Hohenberg, on July 1, 1900.

Here is an interesting followup to this fact:  She was considered to be inferior to Franz Ferdinand because of this, so she was not allowed to accompany him officially on visits inside Austria-Hungary.  However, when he took his ill-fated trip to the Balkans in 1914, he was allowed to bring her as his official consort.  This was a huge slap in the face to the Bosnians & Serbians, because it implied that they were so far below Austro-Hungarians that it was ok for her to be paraded in their faces.  Add to this of course their deep anger at being annexed, and the fact that June 28 is the date of a battle in which the Serbians had been defeated resoundingly (in the 1380s), and it's no surprise that the Black Hand chose that date and those circumstances to put their plan into motion.

Interesting, as it often made me wonder why she was with him

[kinan]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, married Sophie Chotek, Duchess of Hohenberg, on July 1, 1900.
[/quote
If Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were not assassinated and he eventually became Emperor, would it be no Empress?

[Principessa]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, married Sophie Chotek, Duchess of Hohenberg, on July 1, 1900.

If Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were not assassinated and he eventually became Emperor, would it be no Empress?

Nope, according to the arranged requirements around FF and Sophie's wedding she would not become Empress.

[Principessa]

According to Sophie's wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/...hie,_Duchess_of_Hohenberg):

"...In 1899, under pressure from family members (especially the Archduchess Maria Theresa, the emperor's formidable sister-in-law and Franz Ferdinand's stepmother) the couple were granted permission to wed. Franz Ferdinand was allowed to retain his place in the order of succession and a suitable title was promised for his future wife. However, to prevent Franz Ferdinand from attempting to proclaim his wife empress-queen or declaring their future children dynasts and thus eligible to inherit the crown (especially that of Hungary, where morganatic marriages were unknown to law) once he ascended the throne, he was compelled to appear at the Hofburg Imperial Palace before the gathered archdukes, ministers, and dignitaries of the court, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Vienna and the Primate of Hungary on 28 June 1900 to execute by signature an official instrument in which he publicly declared that Sophie would be his morganatic wife, never to bear the titles of empress, queen or archduchess, and acknowledging that their descendants would neither inherit nor be granted dynastic rights or privileges in any of the Habsburg realms...."


"...Upon her marriage, Sophie was given the title Fürstin von Hohenberg ("Princess of Hohenberg") with the style of Durchlaucht ("Serene Highness"). In 1909, she was elevated to Herzogin (Duchess) and accorded the higher style of Hoheit ("Highness")...."


"...Nonetheless, all of the archduchesses, mediatized princesses and countesses of Austria and Hungary took precedence before her. For the fourteen years of their marriage, Sophie never shared her husband's rank, title, or precedence. Her position at the Imperial court was humiliating, aggravated by the Imperial Obersthofmeister, Alfred, 2nd Prince of Montenuovo, whose insecurity about his own morganatic background is said to have prompted him to rigorously enforce court protocol at Sophie's expense. Problems of protocol prevented many royal courts from hosting the couple despite Franz Ferdinand's position as heir to the throne. Nonetheless, some did so, including King George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, who warmly welcomed the couple to Windsor Castle from 17–21 November 1913. Queen Mary's father, Francis, Duke of Teck, was the offspring of a morganatic marriage and was shunned by royal families in Europe..."

[Celia]

And yet Franz Joseph was apparently very fond of the duke of Teck as well as at least one Battenberg prince. 

[Principessa]

And yet Franz Joseph was apparently very fond of the duke of Teck as well as at least one Battenberg prince.  

It is not always fair..........

Franz Joseph could have been more mild in case of Sophie. But besides a morganatic marriage, did the relationship of Sophie and FF result in  disgruntled family members.

F.e.
Princess Isabella  of Croÿ (27 February 1856 – 5 September 1931), the wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen (4 June 1856 – 30 December 1936) In 1894, Franz Ferdinand met Countess Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen. Franz began to visit Archduke Friedrich's villa in Pressburg (now Bratislava), and in turn Sophie wrote to Franz Ferdinand during his convalescence from tuberculosis on the island of Lošinj in the Adriatic. They kept their relationship a secret, until it was discovered by Isabella herself. In the mid-1890s, Franz Ferdinand of Austria began visiting Isabella and Friedrich's home. At first, it was assumed that he was there to court one of their many daughters. Eventually, it was discovered that in fact he was courting Sophie Isabella became infuriated that Franz Ferdinand had not singled out one of her eight daughters as his bride and future empress; as a result she engaged in a crusade to thwart the marriage of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie. Sophie was dismissed from service, thus beginning an ongoing conflict between Friedrich and Franz Ferdinand, who married Sophie in 1900. The marriage was morganatic; Sophie was subjected to the indignities of a much lower rank at court than that of her husband, and none of their children could succeed to their father's dynastic honours—all chiefly as a result of Isabella's machinations

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

Fascinating! Thanks for this further info!  It never ceases to amaze me just how petty people can be!

[leatherface]

In Isabella's defence, she may have felt that the indignity to her daughters was twofold, the first was getting her daughters' hopes up for a good match and then dashing them so callously (in her opinion). The second was that FF used her daughters as his beards to stave off consequences of going against imperial household rules.

Still she was a petty bitch without any good sense.

[CyrilSebastian]

At the time that Archduchess Isabella thought Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting to court one of her daughters were any of her daughters being courted by other royal men?

[Celia]

At the time that Archduchess Isabella thought Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting to court one of her daughters were any of her daughters being courted by other royal men?

They all married after Franz Ferdinand did, and not as well as might have been expected --one even married a baron!.  Wiki has a decent page on Isabelle.

[Kristallinchen]

At the time that Archduchess Isabella thought Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting to court one of her daughters were any of her daughters being courted by other royal men?

None that I know of.

Btw Isabella is a good example of a woman, who longly didn't do what was expected - birth of an heir.

They had 8! daughters and finally a boy. Then they stopped and it's certain that they just waited for the heir.

This was certainly also hard for Isabella.

Also Archduke Ferdinand, FFs brother also married morganatically a very formidable daughter of a university professor. Now guess, who was especially very much against the marriage?