Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria


Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria was the son of Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria and Princess Maria Immacolata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. He married Archduchess Marie Valerie in 1890, though, due to Marie Valerie's death in 1924, remarried in 1934 to Baroness Melanie von Riesenfels.
During World War I, Franz Salvator received a doctorate in medicine for his work with the Red Cross.

Early life and career

Franz Salvator was a son of Archduke Karl Salvator, Prince of Tuscany and Princess Maria Immaculata of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies. He became a cavalry general in the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Army. He received an honorary doctorate in medicine from the University of Innsbruck for his work with the Red Cross during World War I and was a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece and Order of the White Eagle.

Family and children

Franz Salvator married first, in Ischl on 31 July 1890, to Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, daughter of Franz Joseph I of Austria and wife, Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria.
Their children were:
  1. Elisabeth Franziska Marie Karoline Ignatia Salvator ; married in 1912 to Count Georg von Waldburg zu Zeil und Hohenems, and had issue.
  2. Archduke Franz Carl Salvator Marie Joseph Ignaz ; died unmarried without issue.
  3. Hubert Salvator Rainer Maria Joseph Ignatius ; married on 25 November 1926 and religiously on 26 November 1926 to Princess Rosemary of Salm-Salm, and had issue.
  4. Hedwig Maria Immakulata Michaela Ignatia Salvator ; married in 1918 to Count Bernhard zu Stolberg-Stolberg, and had issue.
  5. Theodor Salvator ; married in 1926 to Countess Maria Theresa von Waldburg zu Zeil und Trauchburg, and had issue.
  6. Gertrud Maria Gisela Elisabeth Ignatia ; married in 1931 to Count Georg von Waldburg zu Zeil und Hohenems
  7. Clemens Salvator Leopold Benedikt Antonius Maria Joseph Ignatius ; married in 1930 to Countess Elisabeth Rességuier de Miremont, and had issue.
  8. Mathilde Maria Antonia Ignatia ; married in 1947 to Ernst Hefel.
  9. Agnes
He married secondly, morganatically in Vienna on 28 April 1934, to Baroness Melanie Marie Agathe von Riesenfels. She was daughter of Philipp, Baron von Risenfels and Agathe, Baroness Redl von Rottenhausen und Rasztina.
Around 1914, he had an affair with Stephany Julienne Richter, a Hungarian national who was 25 years his junior. Pregnant with Franz Salvator's child, she persuaded Friedrich Franz von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, a German prince of the Hohenlohe family, that the baby was his. They married in London on 12 May 1914. Her son was born in Vienna on 5 December 1914, and named Franz Josef. According to an FBI memo of October 1941, the Hohenlohe family had some doubts about whether the child was theirs, but acknowledged him.