Luise of Austria-Tuscany

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Crown Princess Luise of Saxony. Around 1900

Luise Antonia Maria Theresia Josepha Johanna Leopoldine Karolina Ferdinande Alice Ernestina of Austria-Tuscany (born  September 2, 1870 in Salzburg , † March 23, 1947 in Ixelles / Elsene near Brussels ) was the wife of Friedrich August III. the last Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Saxony before the end of the monarchy.

Life

As crown princess

Luise was born on September 2, 1870 in Salzburg as Archduchess of Austria and the second child of the last Grand Duke of Tuscany , Ferdinand IV , from his marriage to Princess Alix of Bourbon-Parma . Her full name (with title) was Luise Antoinette Maria Theresia Josepha Johanna Leopoldine Caroline Ferdinande Alice Ernestine, Imperial Princess and Archduchess of Austria, Royal Princess of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Tuscany .

Luise as a child, painted by Georg Decker , 1875

A husband was already on the lookout for the 17-year-old princess, but neither Prince Peter von Sachsen-Coburg (grandson of the Brazilian emperor) nor Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria found grace in the eyes of the spoiled princess. In the summer of 1887 she met Prince Friedrich August of Saxony in Pillnitz Castle . He was the eldest son of Prince Georg , who became King of Saxony in 1902. The two married in Vienna on November 21, 1891, which cost the groom an annual sum of 20,000 marks . In return, Luise fulfilled what was expected of her and bore him six children. But she could not make friends with the strict Dresden court etiquette and the family of her husband, especially the Princess Mathilde of Saxony .

Since her popularity among the people became more and more problematic for King Georg and Interior Minister Georg von Metzsch-Reichenbach , her life was made difficult with large and small intrigues. Rumors circulated that she was having an affair with a dentist named O'Brian and her children's language teacher, André Giron. When, in desperation, she sent a telegram to the latter, it was intercepted by the secret police and it turned out that she had really started an affair with the Belgian Giron. This was later described by her biographer Erika Bestereiner as slim, black-haired with a small dark mustache. He was a lively man with good manners and a good taste for clothes.

Marriage scandal

When she was pregnant with her seventh child (the daughter of Anna Monika Pia), she left with her two maids, Sidonie and Maria Beeger, both daughters of the royal court architect Eduard Beeger, on December 9, 1902 Dresden towards Lake Geneva who, since allegedly Head of House should be the father of this child.

At the Saxon court it was believed that this trip would serve her recreation, but she met her brother Leopold Ferdinand Salvator . At this point in time, he was already preparing to leave the imperial family, as he was immortally in love with Wilhelmine Adamovic, a prostitute daughter of a postal worker. The siblings left for Geneva three days later. In the meantime, Luise's lover, who was in contact with his brother Leopold Ferdinand, put a false lead in the Belgian capital through his notary in Brussels. However, the siblings were found in Geneva a few days later.

This made the Saxon marriage drama the first scandal of the German aristocracy in the 20th century, especially since a divorce was impossible for the Roman Catholic Saxon royal family. The conservative Baroness Spitzemberg noted in her diary:

“They were all filled, as we were by the terrible scandal at the Saxon court, which is really unparalleled in repugnance! Leaving five children, one man, a throne behind, to go through at 32, in the hope of the head of house for these children - it's downright horrific! So when the princely women forget themselves, so mock everything that was otherwise considered decent, noble, Christian even in disaster, then they deprive themselves of the right to exist. "

Luise in costume as Marie Antoinette , recorded between 1907 and 1912

King Georg divorced his marriage on February 11, 1903 without hearing his son, Crown Prince Friedrich August, by a special court that he had set up on December 31, 1902.

Before the divorce, the Berliner Börsen-Zeitung reported with reference to a royal Saxon ordinance of January 14, 1903, announced in the official organ of the state government of Saxony, the "Dresdner Journal", that the Crown Princess Luise "on all rights that her on reason had previously admitted her position as Crown Princess of Saxony "," renounced it forever "and the King granted his approval for this with the legal consequence that" the Crown Princess is excluded from rights, titles and dignities based on membership of the Saxon royal house . “Luise led a happy life in Geneva until the divorce and even dared to show herself with her lover in public, but separated from Giron a few days before the divorce for unknown reasons.

However, it was not immediately clear who the expected child she gave birth on May 4, 1903 was. After daughter Anna Monika Pia was born in Lindau , the Saxon court sent the director of the Dresden maternity clinic, Dr. Leopold. Based on the measurements taken on the newborn princess, he determined that, due to the light color of the eyes and hair, as well as her whole appearance, it was clear that Crown Prince Friedrich August was the father of a child. However, the doctor refused a sworn expert opinion. The child was recognized by the Crown Prince of Saxony as his daughter Princess Anna Monika Pia, and in 1924 she married Archduke Joseph Franz from the Hungarian Habsburg line. King Georg granted Luise an appanage and on July 13, 1903 gave her the title of Countess of Montignoso, but demanded that the child should be brought up with the other children at the Saxon court, but Luise never wanted to fulfill this request. Georg died on October 15, 1904. Friedrich August III. had to promise his father not to let Luise return to the Dresden court.

Next life

Luise and Enrico Toselli

Luise first lived at Ramo Castle near Lyon , and from 1903 in Ventnor Castle on the Isle of Wight . In 1904 she moved to Schloss Wartegg, which belongs to her family, on Lake Constance , and later moved to Florence . On December 21, 1904, she tried to get to the Taschenbergpalais in Dresden to see her children again, but in vain because the police had surrounded the building. She traveled with her new lover, Conte Carlo Guiccardi, who lived apart from his wife but was still married.

As a result, they wanted to take away her two-year-old daughter Anna Monika Pia. In the end, she agreed to an increase in her allowance from 30,000 to 40,000 marks, but the handover of the little princess was delayed.

In 1907 she married the composer Enrico Toselli , twelve years her junior , with whom she had a son, Carlo Emmanuele Filiberto (1908–1969). Her first husband then brought Anna Monika Pia to Dresden for good on October 26, 1907. As early as 1908, Luise separated from Toselli, from whom she then divorced in 1912. Their son stayed with his father.

She now called herself Antoinette Maria Comtesse d'Ysette , first moved to Mallorca to live with her uncle Ludwig Salvator , but then went to Brussels, where she initially lived carefree in the suburb of Ixelles . Expelled by the imperial family in Vienna, it was no longer allowed to bear the name of Habsburg. When the payments failed to materialize after the invasion of the German Wehrmacht in World War II, they suddenly found themselves penniless. She died impoverished as a flower woman in Brussels on March 23, 1947. She found her final resting place in an urn grave in the Hedingen Monastery in Sigmaringen , the burial place of the Princes of Hohenzollern. Your estate is in the main state archive in Dresden .

children

Luise of Tuscany and Friedrich August III. had seven children:

Luise von Toskana and Enrico Toselli had a son:

  • Carlo Emmanuele Filiberto Toselli (1908–1969)

Others

The composer and répétiteur at the royal Saxon court theater in Dresden, Georg Pittrich (1870–1934), was temporarily a teacher of the then Crown Princess at the Saxon royal court. Several restaurants bear her name in honor of Luise, for example the Luisenhof in Dresden- Loschwitz and the Café Toscana at the Blue Wonder in Dresden- Blasewitz .

In 1904 a song postcard with the Luisa song was circulated in Dresden , in which Luise was described as the pearl of Saxony . The third stanza says u. a .: If the crown and throne are gone forever, she is and she remains a queen.

Writings

  • My life. (Diary) 1911.

literature

  • Almanac de Gotha. Annuaire généalogique diplomatique et statistique. 124th year 1887 / 168th year 1931.
  • Erika Bestereiner : Luise of Tuscany. Scandal at the royal court. Piper, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-492-23194-2 .
  • Luise von Toscana: My path in life. With an afterword by Jürgen Helfricht. Verlag der Kunst Dresden, Husum 2018, ISBN 978-3-86530-247-2 .

Web links

Commons : Luise von Österreich-Toskana  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Baptismal Register - TFBXIV | Salzburg Cathedral Parish | Salzburg, rk. Diocese | Austria | Matricula Online. Retrieved October 25, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Luise von Toscana: My life. Ueberreuter publishing house, Vienna
  3. ↑ Robert Seydel: Die Seitensprünge der Habsburgs , pp. 144-145
  4. ↑ Tobias Becker: Bathing without pants. In: Der Spiegel , June 2009
  5. ^ Robert Seydel: Die Seitensprünge der Habsburger , pp. 145-146
  6. ↑ Entry from December 27, 1902, in: Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): Diary. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1960, p. 424.
  7. ^ Rudolf Mothes: Memoirs of a Leipzig lawyer, Part A. P. 183 f. (in the archive of the city of Leipzig, quoted from Klaus Schmiedel's website, PDF ), accessed on December 5, 2010
  8. ↑ Berliner Börsen-Zeitung , No. 43 of January 30, 1903, p. 3.
  9. ↑ Robert Seydel: Die Seitensprünge der Habsburg , pp. 149–152
  10. ^ Meyers 1905, keyword: Luise Antoinette Maria von Toskana
  11. ↑ Robert Seydel: Die Seitensprünge der Habsburgs , pp. 151–152
  12. ↑ Robert Seydel: Die Seitensprünge der Habsburg , p. 152
  13. ↑ Main State Archive Dresden: 12568 - Fürstennachlass Ludovica (Luise), Princess of Saxony ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.archiv.sachsen.de
  14. ^ Deutsches Bühnen-Jahrbuch , Volume 46, [Theater History Year and Address Book ]. Ed .: Genossenschaft der Deutschen Bühnen-Members, Berlin 1935, obituary for Georg Pittrich, choir director, composer p. 57
  15. ^ Café Toscana
personal data
SURNAME Austria-Tuscany, Luise von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Austria Tuscany, Luise Antonia Maria Theresia Josepha Johanna Leopoldine Karolina Ferdinande Alice Ernestina von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archduchess of Austria, Crown Princess of Saxony by marriage
DATE OF BIRTH September 2, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Salzburg
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1947
Place of death Ixelles / Elsene near Brussels