Archduke Karl Albrecht of Austria


Archduke Karl Albrecht of Austria-Teschen was an Austrian military officer, a member of the Teschen line of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

Early life and career

He was an Austrian archduke, the oldest son of Archduke Charles Stephen and his wife, Archduchess Maria Theresia, Princess of Tuscany. Both of his parents were closely related to Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria.
He was a landowner in Żywiec, a colonel of artillery in both the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Army and the Polish Army, and the 1,175th knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1910, etc.
In 1918 and again in 1939 he became a volunteer in the Polish army.
He fought in the Polish–Soviet War. In 1920, he commanded the Grudziądz Fortress.
During the German occupation of Poland, he declared Polish nationality and refused to sign the Volksliste. He was imprisoned in November 1939, kept in Cieszyn and tortured by the Gestapo. His wife was interned in Wisła.
He emerged from prison with a loss of vision in one eye and limited mobility. In October 1942, Albrecht and his family were taken to Strausberg and confined to a forced labor camp.
After liberation, he moved to Kraków and then to Sweden.
His estate was confiscated in 1939 by the invading Germans, and again in 1945 by the Polish People's Republic.

Family and children

On 8 November 1920 he married morganatically Alice Elisabeth Ankarcrona in the castle of Żywiec Poland. She was a daughter of Oscar Carl Gustav Ankarcrona and his wife, Anna Elisabeth Aurora Carleson, daughter of Edvard Henrik Carleson, Councilor of State of the Kingdom of Sweden. She was the widow of Count Ludwik Badeni, a diplomat working at the Austro-Hungarian legation in Stockholm. On 15 December 1949, Otto von Habsburg, as the Head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine accorded her the hereditary title of "Princess of Altenburg".
Their children were:
  • Prince Karl-Stefan of Altenburg ; married in Geneva, Switzerland, on 18 September 1952 his first cousin, Maria-Louise Victoria Katharina Elisabeth af Petersens, and had issue:
  • * Princess Maria-Christina of Altenburg, unmarried and without issue
  • * Prince Karl-Albrecht of Altenburg
  • Princess Maria-Christina of Altenburg, unmarried and without issue.
  • Prince Karl-Albrecht of Altenburg
  • Princess Renata of Altenburg, married in Stockholm on 26 June 1957 Spanish diplomat Eduardo de Zulueta y Dato, and had issue.

Honours