Rudolph Habsburg-Lothringen

Rudolf von Österreich, named at birth Rudolf Syringus Peter Karl Franz Joseph Robert Otto Antonius Maria Pius Benedikt Ignatius Laurentius Justiniani Marcus d’Aviano von Habsburg-Lothringen, was born on September 5, 1919, in Prangins, Switzerland. He was an Austrian archduke of the House of Habsburg and the youngest son of the last Austrian Emperor and Hungarian King, Charles I, and his wife, Zita of Bourbon-Parma. He was born after the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy: his father had already been deposed, and the family was living in Switzerland after being exiled from Austria. Rudolf was named after Rudolf I. Rudolf initially grew up with his five older siblings, Otto, Adelheid, Robert, Felix, and Karl Ludwig. Two more sisters, Charlotte and Elisabeth, were born later. His father died when Rudolf was only three years old. In the following decades, the family led a changeable life in exile. They lived in Spain and Belgium and moved to Quebec after the outbreak of the Second World War. There Rudolf studied at Université Laval. The family later went to the United States and settled in New York State. In 1944, Rudolf and his brother Karl Ludwig took part in the Austrian resistance. His involvement ended in 1946, however, when his royal origins became known and he was expelled from the resistance. After the war, he traveled extensively throughout the Americas, Canada, and Africa. He later worked on Wall Street. Rudolf married twice. He entered his first marriage on June 22, 1953, in Tuxedo Park, New York, to the Russian noblewoman Countess Xenia Chernyshova-Besobrazova, daughter of Count Sergei Alexandrovich Chernyshov-Besobrazov and Elisabeth Dmitrievna, née Countess Sheremeteva. They had four children: Maria Anna, Karl Peter, Simeon, and Johann Karl. Maria Anna married Prince Peter Golitsyn, and they had six children. Karl Peter married Princess Alexandra von Wrede in 1998, and they had two children. Simeon married Princess Maria of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and they had five children, including Johann, Ludwig, Isabella, Charlotte, and Philipp of Austria. Rudolf’s marriage to Xenia ended tragically. She died in an airplane crash on September 20, 1968. Rudolf survived the crash but suffered numerous injuries. Their son Johann Karl had already died in 1975 at the age of twelve. On October 15, 1971, Rudolf married for a second time in Ellingen, Bavaria. His bride was Princess Anna Gabriele von Wrede. They had one daughter, Katharina Maria. In 1998, she married Count Maximilian Secco di Aragon, and they had three children. Even after the end of the monarchy, Rudolf remained connected to the Habsburg tradition. His distinctions included the Order of the Golden Fleece of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy. His life was shaped by the consequences of the political upheaval following the First World War, his family’s exile, resistance to National Socialism, and his later professional and family activities outside Europe. Rudolf von Österreich died in Brussels on May 15, 2010, at the age of 90. At that time, his older brothers Otto and Felix were still alive; both died the following year.