Prinz Johannes, 7. Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Bartenstein

Johannes Friedrich Michael Karl Maria, Prince of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein and Jagstberg, was born on August 20, 1863, at Bartenstein Castle and died there on August 19, 1921, one day before his 58th birthday. He was a German officer, a mediatized nobleman of the Kingdom of Württemberg, and a member of the House of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein. His parents were Prince Karl of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein and Rosa, née Countess von Sternberg. Johannes had two sisters: the elder Marie and the younger Nora, who later became known as a salonnière at the Viennese court. Around 1864, his father fell ill with what was considered incurable melancholy, and his mother moved with the children to her parents in Bohemia. Their grandfather, Count Jaroslav von Sternberg, owned the castles of Častolovice and Zasmuk and also made Nedielischt Castle available to his daughter; it later passed into her possession. The family regularly moved between Bohemia, Prague, and Vienna. They spent the winter in the Sternberg family residence on Radetzky Square in Prague and the spring in Vienna. The children received private instruction at these different residences. Johannes later attended a grammar school in Vienna. After completing his schooling, he studied political science at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. In 1887, he joined the Corps Suevia Tübingen and wore its corps ribbon. In April 1888, he began his military career in the Württemberg Army. He eventually rose to the rank of colonel of the Uhlan Regiment “King Karl” (1st Württemberg) No. 19, which he commanded in 1915. He also held high military ranks in the Bavarian and Saxon armies. When his father died in 1877, Johannes became head of the House of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein, although he was still a minor. This position was connected with a seat in the Chamber of Mediatized Lords of the Württemberg Estates in Stuttgart. Since he was initially unable to exercise the mandate himself, his uncle Albert of Hohenlohe-Jagstberg represented him. In 1886, Johannes took his seat in the chamber personally and remained a member until the Württemberg Estates came to an end in 1918. From 1911 to 1918, he served as president of this so-called First Chamber. He was also a hereditary member of the Chamber of Imperial Councillors of the Bavarian Crown. Alongside his military and political responsibilities, Johannes managed the family’s princely estates. After the death of his uncle, Prince Albert of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein-Jagstberg, in 1898, he was able to reunite the mediatized lordships of Jagstberg and Niederstetten with the main Bartenstein line. His position was also recognized through several high honors. In 1896, he received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown. He was also a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the House Order of the Rautenkrone, and the Order of Saint George. During the First World War, Johannes served as a field-delegation representative for voluntary nursing with an army detachment under General of the Infantry Ludwig von Falkenhausen. This assignment connected his military service with the care and organization of voluntary nursing behind the front. Johannes was a Roman Catholic. On February 12, 1901, he married Anna Maria Theresia, Archduchess of Austria-Tuscany, at the Salzburg Residence. She was born on October 17, 1879, in Lindau, and died on May 30, 1961, in Baden-Baden. Anna Maria was the daughter of the deposed Grand Duke Ferdinand IV of Tuscany and his second wife, Alicia of Bourbon-Parma. The couple had six children. Their daughter Maria was born in Bartenstein in 1903 and died in Lahr in 1999. Karl, born in 1905 and later styled Prince of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein, married Clara von Meyern-Hohenberg in 1936; they had three children. Albrecht, born in 1906, was styled Prince of Hohenlohe-Jagstberg. He also married in 1936, to Therese, Countess von Geldern-Egmont, and they likewise had three children. Their daughter Elisabeth was born in 1907 and died in 1927 in Aigen Glas near Salzburg. Margarethe was born in 1909 and died in Rome in 1985. Their youngest son, Friedrich, was born in 1910 in Aeschach near Lindau. He married Marie Claire Buet de Villars in 1959, and they had one daughter. Johannes zu Hohenlohe-Bartenstein thus combined several public roles. He served in the Württemberg and other German armies, led a mediatized noble house, became a member and ultimately president of the Württemberg First Chamber, and administered extensive family estates. His life was shaped by the political structures of the German monarchies, the dynastic ties of the European high nobility, and the upheavals of the First World War.