Archduchess Renata of Austria

Archduchess Renate
Princess Radziwill
Born (1888-01-02)2 January 1888
Pula, Austria–Hungary
Died 16 May 1935(1935-05-16) (aged 47)
Balice, Poland
Spouse Prince Hieronim Mikołaj Radziwiłł
Issue Dominik Rainer Radziwiłł
Full name
German: Renata Maria Caroline Raineria Theresia Philomena Desideria Macaria
House House of Habsburg-Lorraine (by birth)
House of Radziwiłł (by marriage)
Father Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria
Mother Archduchess 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.

Background and early life

Archduchess Renate was a 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 grand son of archduke Karl of Austria who had led the Austrian army against Napoleon Bonaparte. Her father was 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. On her mother line she was a grand daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies.

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 main residence was in Żywiec Castle in western Galicia.

Marriage

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 he did not belong to a ruling family, 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 Żywiec Castle.

They 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 the Austrian Hungary Empire 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 Russian troops and he was taken behind the Iron Curtain. He died in a concentration camp in May 1945. The Radziwiłł properties were all lost.

Children

Archduchess Renate and Prince Jerome Radziwiłł had six children:


Ancestry

References

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