Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

1863 – 1914 · Generation XXI · Archduke · Habsburg-Lorraine

Franz Ferdinand (1863 – 1914). Archduke. Married Sophie in 1900. Heir presumptive to Franz Joseph; his assassination in Sarajevo triggered World War I. Born in Graz, he became one of the wealthiest men in Austria at eleven, when his cousin Francis V of Modena made him his heir, provided he took the name Este as well. Rudolf’s suicide at Mayerling in 1889 and his father’s death from typhoid in 1896 left him next in line; his dealings with the emperor were stormy. A compulsive hunter, he recorded more than 270,000 kills in his diaries and filled his Bohemian castle of Konopiště with trophies and antiquities. He refused to marry anyone but Countess Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting; Franz Joseph consented only to a morganatic union, and no archduke attended the wedding. Through his own military chancery he shaped the army, securing Conrad von Hötzendorf as chief of staff in 1907. Gavrilo Princip shot him and Sophie in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914; the couple were buried together at Artstetten Castle.

Place in the family

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was a nephew of Franz Joseph I of Austria.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was the elder of 2 children of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria and Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies recorded in this archive.

One of 24 people of Habsburg-Lorraine (from 1736) in this archive. Maria Theresa’s marriage carried the inheritance into a new name, which its heirs still bear.

Parents

Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria (1833 – 1896)
Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1843 – 1871)

Siblings

Archduke Otto of Austria (1865 – 1906)

Partners

Married Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg (1868 – 1914) in 1900

Life

1863 — Born
1900 — Married Sophie
1914 — Died