Maria Henriette von Österreich-Teschen

Maria Henriette of Austria-Teschen, whose full name was Maria Henriette Caroline Gabriele, was an archduchess from the House of Habsburg. She was born on 10 January 1883 in Pressburg and died on 2 September 1956 in Mariazell, where she was also buried. She was the third daughter of Archduke Friedrich of Austria-Teschen and his wife, Isabella of Croÿ-Dülmen. Between 1879 and 1897, the couple had eight daughters in total; it was not until 1897 that a son, Albrecht, was born. Maria Henriette was the first child in the family to be born at the Palais Grassalkovich in Pressburg. The family lived there predominantly until 1905, while they usually spent the summer months at one of their numerous estates. Her birth is said to have been difficult. As a result, her baptism, which was already unusually late by the standards of the time, had to be postponed several times. It was finally celebrated on 22 January 1883 in the great hall of the Palais Grassalkovich. The ceremony was staged as an elaborate court event: a magnificently decorated altar had been erected, members of the imperial family took part in the baptismal procession, and Bishop Heiller conducted the baptism. Because of her health, Maria Henriette’s mother attended the religious ceremony while resting in an adjoining room. On 3 June 1908, Maria Henriette married Prince Gottfried Maximilian Maria of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. The wedding took place in the Gothic chapel of Weilburg Castle near Baden in Lower Austria. Emperor Franz Joseph I and the entire court attended the celebration. The nuptial blessing was performed by Laurentius Mayer, court chaplain and the emperor’s confessor. Her husband was the son of Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and his wife Marie, née Sayn-Wittgenstein. He was also a nephew of the German Chancellor Chlodwig of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. Gottfried Maximilian himself served as Austria’s ambassador in Berlin before the First World War. Through her marriage, Maria Henriette was therefore connected both to the Austrian imperial court and to an important German princely family. The couple had three children. Their eldest daughter, Elisabeth of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingfürst, was born on 27 September 1909 and died on 30 March 1987. Her sister Natalie was born on 28 July 1911 and died on 11 March 1989. Their only son, Friedrich of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingfürst, was born on 18 February 1913. During the Second World War, he was taken prisoner by the Soviet Union as a German soldier. He died in December 1945 at the LAZ camp near Twikbuli, close to Kutaisi in the Caucasus, in what is now Georgia, at the age of 32. Maria Henriette’s life was shaped by her origins in the Habsburg imperial family, her marriage to a member of the House of Hohenlohe, and the political upheavals of the first half of the twentieth century. She experienced the end of the imperial era and the severe consequences of both world wars, particularly through the fate of her son. After her death in Mariazell, she was buried there.