Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria


Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria is the elder daughter and eldest child of Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium. She is married to Archduke Carl Christian of Austria, grandson of the last Austrian Emperor, Karl I.

Biography

Princess Marie-Astrid was born on 17 February 1954, in Castle Betzdorf, Betzdorf, Luxembourg. She is the eldest child of Jean, then Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium. Her godparents were King Leopold III of Belgium and Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg.
The princess was named Marie-Astrid in honour of the Virgin Mary and her maternal grandmother the Queen of the Belgians, born Astrid of Sweden who died tragically in 1935. She is the niece of the Kings King Baudouin and King Albert II as well as the cousin of the current King of the Belgians King Philippe.
In her youth, as one of the few eligible princesses from European reigning houses, she was considered an ideal candidate by match makers for marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales. Media reports in the 1970s speculated about the prospects of such a marriage, the Daily Express claiming in June 1977 that the couple's engagement was imminent.
It has been since suggested that the marriage rumours were a result of efforts to detect a leaker in the Privy Council. In reality, a marriage between the British heir and the Catholic princess was unlikely, as the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701 needed to be repealed or modified.
Marie-Astrid studied in Luxembourg and also in Belgium. She received her diploma as a registered nurse in 1974, and finished her education in 1977, with a nursing certificate in tropical medicine from the Prince Leopold Institute.
She has been the president of the Red Cross for Luxembourg Youth since 1970.

Marriage and issue

On 6 February 1982 in Luxembourg, she married her second cousin Archduke Carl Christian of Austria, younger son of Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria and his wife Princess Yolande of Ligne, of the House of Ligne.
They have five children:
  • Archduchess Marie-Christine Anne Astrid Zita Charlotte of Austria. She married Count Rodolphe Christian Léopold Carl Ludwig Philippe de Limburg-Stirum on 6 December 2008. They have three sons:
  • * Count Léopold Menno Philippe Gabriel François-Xavier Marie Joseph Ghislain de Limburg-Stirum.
  • * Count Constantin Marie Charles de Limburg-Stirum.
  • * Count Gabriel Marie Joseph de Limburg-Stirum.
  • Archduke Imre Emanuel Simeon Jean Carl Marcus d'Aviano of Austria. He married Kathleen Elizabeth Walker, daughter of a Fifth Third Bank executive, on 8 September 2012. They have five children:
  • * Archduchess Maria-Stella Elizabeth Christiana Yolande Alberta of Austria.
  • * Archduchess Magdalena Maria Alexandra Zita Charlotte of Austria. She was baptized on 28 April 2016.
  • * Archduchess Juliana Marie Christine Wilhelmina Margaret Astrid of Austria.
  • * Archduchess Cecilia Marie Josephine Adelaide Henrietta of Austria.
  • * Archduke Karl Maria Thomas Rafael Christian Robert Marcus d’Aviano of Austria. He was baptized on 10 June 2023.
  • Archduke Christoph Henri Alexander Maria Marcus d'Aviano of Austria. He got engaged to Adélaïde Marie Béatrice Drapé-Frisch, daughter of a diplomat, on 22 December 2011. They married civilly on 28 December 2012 and in a religious ceremony on 29 December 2012. They have four children:
  • * Archduchess Katarina Marie-Christine Fabiola of Austria.
  • * Archduchess Sophia Marie Therese of Austria.
  • * Archduke Josef Carl Maria Immaculata of Austria.
  • * Archduchess Flavia Marie Therese of Austria
  • * Archduke Amedeo of Austria
  • Archduke Alexander Hector Marie Karl Leopold Marcus d'Aviano of Austria. He married Natacha Roumiantzeff-Pachkevitch on 30 September 2023, in Beloeil, Belgium. They separated in 2024, and divorced in 2025.
  • Archduchess Gabriella Maria Pilar Yolande Joséphine-Charlotte of Austria. She married Prince Henri Luitpold Antoine Victor Marie Joseph of Bourbon-Parma on 12 September 2020 at Tratzberg Castle, Jenbach, Tyrol, Austria. They have three daughters:
  • * Princess Victoria Antonia Marie-Astrid Lydia of Bourbon-Parma.
  • * Princess Anastasia Erika Alexandra Marie Yolande of Bourbon-Parma.
  • * Princess Philippine Alexandra Marie-Gabrielle Immaculata of Bourbon-Parma

Honours

National

As Princess of Luxembourg, at 18 years old :

Foreign