Alfred, 12th Prince of Salm, 7th Prince of Salm-Salm

Alfred Ferdinand Stephan Maria Fürst zu Salm-Salm (13 March 1846 – 20 April 1923) was a German nobleman in the Kingdom of Prussia and a member of the Prussian House of Lords.

Early life

Alfred zu Salm-Salm was born on 13 March 1846 at Anholt Castle. He was sixth of eleven children of Alfred Konstantin, 5th Prince of Salm-Salm and Princess Auguste Adelheid Emanuele Constanze von Croÿ (1815–1886). Among his siblings was elder brother, Prince Leopold zu Salm-Salm, who married Princess Eleonore of Croÿ. His maternal grandparents were Prince Ferdinand Victor Philippe of Croÿ (a son of Auguste, 9th Duke of Croÿ and grandson of Anne Emmanuel, 8th Duke of Croÿ) and Princess Constance Anne Louise de Croÿ-Solre (a daughter of Emmanuel Marie de Croÿ, Prince of Spire-le-Châus). From 1912 to 1913, he commissioned the construction of a new building for the Salm-Salm Archives. He also succeeded in transferring the archives of the Wildgraves, the Rhinegraves, the Counts, and the Princes of Salm-Horstmar and the Princes of Salm-Kyrburg to the joint archives of the Princes of Salm-Salm and Salm-Horstmar in Anholt. Together, they were the parents of three sons and five daughters, including:

Emanuel Alfred Leopold Franz, Hereditary Prince of Salm-Salm (1871–1916), who was killed in battle at Pinsk; he married Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria, the eldest child of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen, and Princess Isabella of Croÿ. (Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (1879–1962) was granddaughter of Karl Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria (a daughter of Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary) through her father, and Rudolf, 11th Duke of Croÿ, and Princess Natalie of Ligne (a daughter of Eugène, 8th Prince of Ligne) through her mother.) Princess Marie Emma Henriette Franziska of Salm-Salm (1874–1966), who died unmarried. Princess Rosemary of Salm-Salm (1904–2001), and, his heir, Nikolaus Leopold, 8th Prince of Salm-Salm (1906–1988).

Ancestry