Mathilde von Österreich-Teschen

Archduchess Mathilde Marie Adelgunde Alexandra of Austria was born on 25 January 1849 in Vienna. She belonged to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and was the second daughter of Field Marshal Lieutenant Archduke Albrecht and his wife, Princess Hildegard Luise of Bavaria. Through her mother, Mathilde was a granddaughter of the former Bavarian King Ludwig I and a niece of King Maximilian II of Bavaria. Her given names commemorated her mother’s three sisters, with whom Hildegard had shared a close relationship. Mathilde had an older sister, Maria Theresa, and an older brother, Karl Albrecht. Her brother, however, died of smallpox at the age of 18 months. Maria Theresa married Duke Philipp of Württemberg in 1865. The family lived in very affluent circumstances. Archduke Albrecht owned the Weilburg, a splendid summer residence in Baden near Vienna that he had inherited from his mother. The family spent almost every summer there. Mathilde’s mother, Hildegard, was highly esteemed by the public for her charitable work and was even known as the “Angel’s Heart.” She also raised her daughters to engage in charitable activities. During the colder months, the family lived in the Palais Erzherzog Albrecht in Vienna, which stood directly next to the Hofburg and is known today as the Albertina. This location brought Mathilde into close contact with the imperial family. Empress Elisabeth, her cousin, enjoyed spending time in the company of Mathilde’s mother. Because of Archduke Albrecht’s military duties, however, the family was often separated. Mathilde was initially raised in Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, and Munich. After her father was appointed military and civil governor of Hungary, the family lived together for periods in Ofen, present-day Buda, including in the city’s castle palace. A serious turning point came with the death of her mother in 1864. Hildegard fell ill on her journey back from Munich, where she had gone to attend the funeral of her brother Maximilian II, and died in Vienna in early April. Mathilde was only 15 years old at the time. Her upbringing was shaped by conservative Catholic values. On 28 October 1865, she was confirmed in the chapel of Vienna’s Hofburg. The sacrament was administered by Cardinal Prince-Archbishop Rauscher, and her sponsor was her aunt Adelgunde of Bavaria, who was married as the Duchess of Modena. That same year, Mathilde acted as a proxy sponsor for Queen Victoria at the baptism of her niece Marie Amelie of Württemberg. The ceremony took place in the presence of the emperor and numerous members of the imperial household. At the emperor’s request, Mathilde received instruction in history and literature in 1866 and 1867 from Leopold Neumann, a University of Vienna professor of diplomatic history and international law. Her circle of friends included the same-aged Archduchess Marie Therese, who later became Queen of Bavaria. A distant cousin, Archduke Ludwig Salvator, was reportedly in love with Mathilde and regarded her as his future bride, but no engagement took place. Instead, it was intended that Mathilde would marry Prince Umberto of Savoy and become Queen of Italy. Such a union might have helped improve the strained relations between Austria and Italy. Mathilde’s life ended tragically shortly before her nineteenth birthday. On 22 May 1867, her dress caught fire for an unknown reason at the Palais Erzherzog Albrecht in Vienna. In the accident, she suffered severe burns, including to her neck, shoulders, back, and parts of her arms. A contemporary account states that she first noticed the flames herself and ran into the corridor, where servants attempted to extinguish the fire with a coat and water. One possible cause suggested was that she had stepped on a match. Another version connected the fire with a highly flammable, glycerin-impregnated muslin dress and a cigarette smoked secretly. Mathilde was said to have hidden the cigarette behind her full skirt out of fear of her father, causing the fabric to catch fire. Despite attempts to rescue her, the archduchess died from her injuries at six o’clock in the morning on 6 June 1867 at the imperial guesthouse, Hetzendorf Palace near Vienna. She died as a result of the burns, which were described as having caused “exhaustion.” On 10 June, her body was transferred by torchlight to the Hofburg chapel amid the participation of the court household and a large, silent crowd. The following day, her heart was buried separately in the Habsburg Heart Crypt in the Loreto Chapel of Vienna’s Augustinian Church. The solemn funeral took place in the Imperial Crypt beneath Vienna’s Capuchin Church. Her sarcophagus was placed beside that of her mother. Today, Mathilde, her mother Hildegard, and her brother Karl Albrecht, who had died young, rest beside one another in the so-called New Crypt of the Capuchin Crypt.