Courts, journeys, entanglements
Habsburg around the world.
From Madrid and Brussels through Italian courts in exile to Mexico and Brazil, seventeen lives reveal a connected world of dynasty, travel, exile, politics and colonial violence.
- 4 chapters
- 17 people
- 1798–1961
1 / 4
Iberian connections and Atlantic routes
Spanish princesses and queens connected Madrid, Seville and other European courts as political actors, authors and patrons.
Image credit
Infanta Isabel of Spain, Countess Gurowski, in 1860
File:Infanta Isabel of Spain, Countess Gurowski, in 1860.jpg · Public domain
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04 · 1821
Iberian connections and Atlantic routes
Isabel von Spanien
Her self-directed marriage to Ignacio Gurowski, life in Brussels and Paris, and political correspondence made Isabel Fernandina a cross-border actor.
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Infanta doña Luisa Fernanda de Borbón
Biblioteca Nacional de España – Unknown photographer
File:Infanta doña Luisa Fernanda de Borbón.jpg · Public domain
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07 · 1832
Iberian connections and Atlantic routes
Luisa Fernanda von Spanien
Luisa Fernanda linked Spanish and French dynastic politics, built a sphere of her own in Seville and gave her palace gardens to the city in 1893.
Image credit
Italian: Ritratto dell'Infanta Eulalia di Spagna label QS:Lit,"Ritratto dell'Infanta Eulalia di Spagna"
Giovanni Boldini
File:Boldini - Maria Eulalia of Spain.jpg · Public domain
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14 · 1864
Iberian connections and Atlantic routes
María Eulalia von Spanien
Eulalia’s published letters, memoirs and social criticism make her an author and first-person witness to the Spanish monarchy.
Image credit
Karaliene Sofija (cropped)
State Chancellery of Latvia
File:Karaliene Sofija (cropped).jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
Resized derivatives are distributed under the same license.
17 · 1961
Iberian connections and Atlantic routes
Königin Sofía von Spanien
Sofía’s engagement and marriage brought her into the Spanish dynasty; as queen and through her foundation she shaped its modern public role.
2 / 4
The Netherlands, Belgium and colonial entanglements
Belgian-Austrian marriages created new court worlds. Leopold II’s personal rule of the Congo Free State confronts the tour with exploitation, violence and Congolese resistance.
Image credit
Leopold II, King of the Belgians by Alexander Bassano (1889)
Alexander Bassano
File:Leopold II, King of the Belgians by Alexander Bassano (1889).jpg · Public domain
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08 · 1835
The Netherlands, Belgium and colonial entanglements
Leopold II. von Belgien
Leopold’s personal colonial regime in the Congo Free State relied on extraction, forced labour and mass violence; this station explicitly includes Congolese resistance.
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Portrait of Charlotte of Belgium
Albert Graefle
File:Carlota Amalia de Bélgica.jpg · Public domain
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09 · 1840
The Netherlands, Belgium and colonial entanglements
Charlotte von Belgien
In Mexico, Carlota conducted government business during Maximilian’s absences and later sought European support for the contested imperial project.
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Queen Marie Henriette of Belgium (neé Archduchess of Austria-Teschen)
Unknown author Unknown author
File:Queen Marie Henriette of Belgium (neé Archduchess of Austria-Teschen).jpg · Public domain
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11 · 1853
The Netherlands, Belgium and colonial entanglements
Marie Henriette von Österreich
Marie Henriette entered the Belgian court in 1853, became queen in 1865 and later created an independent sphere through her own residence in Spa.
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Princess Stéphanie of Belgium
Othmar von Türk
File:Princess Stéphanie of Belgium.jpg · Public domain
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13 · 1864
The Netherlands, Belgium and colonial entanglements
Stephanie von Belgien
Stephanie connected the Belgian and Viennese courts; lawsuits against her birth family, a second marriage and her memoirs show her choices after Mayerling.
3 / 4
Italian cadet lines between Tuscany and the Two Sicilies
Deposed and exiled dynasties continued after losing territory through political ventures, new marriages and personal ruptures.
Image credit
Portrait of Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, Duchess of Berry label QS:Lfr,"Portrait de Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, duchesse de Berry" label QS:Len,"Portrait of Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, Duchess of Berry"
Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot
File:Haudebourt-Lescot - Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, Duchess of Berry.jpg · Public domain
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01 · 1798
Italian cadet lines between Tuscany and the Two Sicilies
Maria Karolina von Neapel-Sizilien
Born at the Neapolitan-Sicilian court, the future Duchess of Berry independently pursued her son’s claim and organized an attempted uprising in 1832.
Image credit
Portuguese: Dona Tereza Cristina Portrait of Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies title QS:P1476,pt:"Dona Tereza Cristina " label QS:Lpt,"Dona Tereza Cristina " label QS:Len,"Portrait of Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies" label QS:Lpt-br,"Dona Tereza Cristina"
Victor Meirelles
File:Victor Meirelles - Dona Tereza Cristina.jpg · Public domain
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05 · 1822
Italian cadet lines between Tuscany and the Two Sicilies
Teresa Maria Cristina von Neapel-Sizilien
Teresa Cristina connected Naples and independent imperial Brazil as a cultural actor through archaeological exchange and the development of classical collections.
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Luise von Toskana as Marie-Antoinette
Unknown author Unknown author
File:Luise von Toskana as Marie-Antoinette.jpg · Public domain
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15 · 1870
Italian cadet lines between Tuscany and the Two Sicilies
Luise von Österreich-Toskana
Luise grew up in the displaced Tuscan dynasty’s Salzburg court in exile; her 1902 flight made resistance to dynastic expectations central to her life.
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Peter Ferdinand
Carl Pietzner
File:Peter Ferdinand.jpg · Public domain
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16 · 1874
Italian cadet lines between Tuscany and the Two Sicilies
Peter Ferdinand von Österreich-Toskana
Peter Ferdinand represents the institutional survival of the deposed Tuscan line; marriage, an Austrian military career and Swiss exile show its life without territory.
4 / 4
Dynastic projects and monarchies in Mexico and Brazil
Brazil was an independent Braganza monarchy; Mexico a French-backed imperial project resisted by republicans — neither was a Habsburg colony.
Image credit
Portrait of Dom Pedro, Duke of Bragança title QS:P1476,en:"Portrait of Dom Pedro, Duke of Bragança" label QS:Len,"Portrait of Dom Pedro, Duke of Bragança"
Unidentified artist; after John Simpson (1782–1847) Details on Google Art Project
File:Portrait of Dom Pedro, Duke of Bragança - Google Art Project edited.jpeg · Public domain
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02 · 1808
Dynastic projects and monarchies in Mexico and Brazil
Peter I.
Pedro came to Brazil with the Portuguese court in 1808 and, as regent and emperor, shaped the independence of the distinct Braganza monarchy.
Image credit
Bernhard von Guérard Porträt Erzherzogin Maria Leopoldine 1816
Bernhard von Guérard
File:Bernhard von Guérard Porträt Erzherzogin Maria Leopoldine 1816.jpg · Public domain
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03 · 1816
Dynastic projects and monarchies in Mexico and Brazil
Maria Leopoldine von Österreich
In 1822 Leopoldina helped shape Brazilian independence as regent, adviser and political mediator — not as an agent of Austrian rule.
Image credit
Pedro II circa 1887b transparent
Alphonse Liébert
File:Pedro II circa 1887b transparent.png · Public domain
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06 · 1825
Dynastic projects and monarchies in Mexico and Brazil
Peter II. von Brasilien
Born in Rio, Pedro II represents the long history of independent imperial Brazil, its connection with Naples and its fall in 1889.
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Isabel Princess Imperial of Brazil c 1887
Joaquim Insley Pacheco
File:Isabel Princess Imperial of Brazil c 1887.jpg · Public domain
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10 · 1846
Dynastic projects and monarchies in Mexico and Brazil
Isabella von Brasilien
Isabel served three regencies and sanctioned the Lei Áurea in 1888; abolition was also the achievement of abolitionist mobilization and resistance by enslaved people.
Image credit
Maximilian of Mexico bw
Original glass negative (LC-BH824-4754) made by Andrew Burgess, one of Mathew Brady's operators, on a trip to Mexico City.
File:Maximilian of Mexico bw.jpg · Public domain
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12 · 1860
Dynastic projects and monarchies in Mexico and Brazil
Maximilian I.
Maximilian’s Brazilian journey and later French-backed imperial project, resisted by Mexican republicans, connect both poles without turning either into an Austrian colony.