Archduchess Renate
Princess Radziwiłł
Born(1888-01-02)2 January 1888
Pula, Austria-Hungary
Died16 May 1935(1935-05-16) (aged 47)
Balice, Poland
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1909)​
IssueDominik Rainer Radziwiłł
Names
German: Renata Maria Caroline Raineria Theresia Philomena Desideria Macaria
HouseHabsburg-Lorraine
FatherArchduke Charles Stephen of Austria
MotherArchduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, Princess of Tuscany

Archduchess Renate of Austria (2 January 1888 – 9 December 1935) was a daughter of Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria and a first cousin of King Alphonso XIII of Spain. A member of the Teschen branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and an Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Bohemia, Hungary, and Tuscany by birth, she renounced her titles in 1909 upon her marriage to Prince Jerome Radziwiłł.

Early life

Archduchess Renate was the second daughter of Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria and his wife, Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, Princess of Tuscany. Both of her parents were closely related to Emperor Franz Joseph. Renata’s father was a grandson of Archduke Charles of Austria who had led the Austrian army against Napoleon Bonaparte. Her father was also a brother of Queen Maria Christina of Spain. Renate’s mother, Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, Princess of Tuscany was a granddaughter of Leopold II, the last reigning Grand Duke of Tuscany, and of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies.[1]

Archduchess Renate was educated by private tutors with a special emphasis on languages. She learned German, Italian, English, French and, from 1895, Polish. Her father had followed a career in the Austrian Navy and Renate spent her formative years primarily in Istria in the then Austrian port of Pula on the Adriatic. Her father was very wealthy and the family had a winter residence in the island of Losinj in the Adriatic, a palace in Vienna and in 1895 her father inherited from Archduke Albert vast properties in Galicia. From 1907 the family’s main residence was in Saybusch Castle in western Galicia.[1]

Personal life

Archduchess Renate and her husband Prince Jerome Radziwill, 1909

Archduke Charles Stephen put aside his career in the navy and centered his ambitions in creating a Polish branch of the House of Habsburg. He encouraged all of his children to become Polish and Archduchess Renata ended up marrying one of Poland's richest landowners, Prince Jerome Radziwill. Their engagement was announced in September 1908. The Radziwiłł family was one of the most distinguish families of Poland, but since his family did not belong to a list of ruling or former ruling princely families, Renata had to renounce all of her titles, along with the style of Imperial and Royal Highness. They signed a prenuptial agreement and separation of property. The wedding took place on 15 January 1909 in the chapel at Saybusch Castle.[2]

Archduchess Renate and Prince Jerome Radziwiłł had six children and lived at Balice Castle, one of the Radziwiłł estates:

Her eldest son, Dominik, eventually married Princess Eugénie of Greece and Denmark in 1938. With the defeat and dissolution of Austria-Hungary after World War I, the destiny of her family was even more closely linked to Poland. Archduchess Renata lived at Balice Castle in Poland, where she died on 16 May 1935. Her husband outlived her for ten years. Prince Jerome remarried. Towards the end of World War II, Prince Jerome was captured by Soviet troops and he was taken behind the Iron Curtain. He died in a concentration camp in 1945. The Radziwiłł properties were all lost.[2]

Ancestry

References

Notes
  1. ^ Princess Eugénie of Greece and Denmark was the youngest child and only daughter of Prince George of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Princess Marie Bonaparte (daughter of Marie-Félix Blanc and Prince Roland Bonaparte, a great-nephew of Napoleon I).[4] Her father was the second son of George I of Greece and Olga Constantinovna of Russia. After their divorce, Princess Eugénie married Prince Raimundo, Duke of Castel Duino in 1949.[5] They too divorced, in 1965.
Sources
  1. ^ a b McIntosh David, The Unknown Habsburgs, Rovall Royal Books, 2000.ISBN 91-973978-0-6
  2. ^ a b Snyder, Timothy, The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of A Habsburg Archduke . Basic Books, 2008.ISBN 978-0-465-01247-3
  3. ^ TIMES, Wireless to THE NEW YORK (31 May 1938). "PRINCESS EUGENIE OF GREECE A BRIDE; Married in Paris to the Polish Prince, Dominique Radziwill". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  4. ^ a b Lednicki, Wacław (18 March 2019). Reminiscences: The Adventures of a Modern Gil Blas during the Last War. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-3-11-139662-0. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  5. ^ "PRINCESS EUGENIE WED; Greek Leaders Attend Marriage to Prince di Terre et Tase". The New York Times. 29 November 1949. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  6. ^ Tribune, Special Cable to The Chicago (25 March 1929). "W.M. FLEITMANN DIES IN PARIS AT 70; Was a Director of Wholesale Dry Goods Concern Founded Here by Father. FIRM ACTED AS BANKERS Financed Other Textile Companies --Mr. Fleitmann Prominent in American Colony of Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  7. ^ Ziolkowska-Boehm, Aleksandra (2 November 2017). Untold Stories of Polish Heroes from World War II. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-7618-6984-9. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  8. ^ TIMES, Wireless to THE NEW YORK (27 March 1940). "POLISH PRINCE SAVED FROM DEATH IN SOVIET; Radziwill Says Italian King and Queen Pleaded for Him". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
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