Archduke Franz Josef of Austria

Archduke Franz Josef of Austria–Tuscany (; 4 February 1905 – 9 May 1975) was the fourth son of Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria, Prince of Tuscany and Princess Blanca of Bourbon. At the fall of Habsburg monarchy he moved to Barcelona, where he became a naturalized Spanish citizen. He married morganatically twice and had a daughter from his second marriage. During World War II he lived in the United States, working in the forestry industry. In 1955 he returned to Austria. He inherited the Carlist pretensions to the Spanish throne of his brother Archduke Karl Pius and called himself Duke of Madrid. He died in 1975.

Early life Archduke Franz Josef of Austria was born on February 4, 1905, in Vienna, the ninth child and fourth son of Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria and Princess Blanca of Bourbon. His father, a member of the Tuscan line of the Habsburg family and thus a descendant of Emperor Leopold II, had been Inspector General of the Austrian Artillery and Commander of the 18th infantry regiment. Franz Josef's mother, Infanta Blanca of Spain, was the eldest daughter of Infante Carlos, Duke of Madrid, who had been, as Carlos VII, pretender to the Spanish throne. Archduke Franz Josef was given the baptismal names Franz Josef Karl Leopold Blanka Adelgunde Ignatius Rafael Michael von Habsburg-Lothringen.

Archduke Franz Josef's early years coincided with the last period of the Habsburg monarchy. His childhood was spent in the various properties owned by his parents, enjoying a comfortable and privileged life. The family's main residences were the Palais Toskana in the district of Wiede in Viena and Schloss Wilhelminenberg, on the Eastern slopes of the Gallitzinberg. Due to World War I, Franz Josef was not educated by private tutors like his three eldest brothers had been, but was sent instead to Stella Matutina, a Catholic school for boys run by Jesuits priest in Feldkirch. He shared the same classroom with Prince Gaetan of Bourbon Parma, the youngest brother of Empress Zita.

Exile At the fall of Habsburg monarchy, the republican government of Austria confiscated all the properties of the Habsburgs. Franz Josef's family lost all its fortune. His two eldest brothers, Archdukes Rainer and Leopold, decided to remain in Austria and recognized the new republic. The rest of the family emigrated to Spain. In January 1919 the family arrived in Barcelona where they settled for over a decade. To continue his education, Franz Joseph was sent to Bonanova, a boarding school run by catholic priest. In 1926, Archduke Franz Josef officially became a Spanish citizen with the name Francisco José Carlos de Habsburgo y Borbón.

While completing his education, Franz Joseph worked in Barcelona as a garage mechanic. He purchased a small airplane with his brother Archduke Anton of Austria. The two brothers worked giving flying tours over Barcelona.

In the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War, Archduke Franz Joseph returned to Austria. He initially lived with his widowed mother and his unmarried siblings, Archduchess Dolores and Archduke Karl Pius of Austria, Prince of Tuscany. Working in advertising, he moved to Paris where he found employment in tourism promotion for two airlines. With his mother's approval, Archduke Franz Joseph married Martha Baumer in London on 22 July 1937. Theirs was a morganatic union. The couple settled in France. During World War II, the archduke emigrated with his wife to the United States. The couple settled in Franconia, New Hampshire, where he worked in the agricultural and forestry industry. During this period of his life, Archduke Franz Josef collaborated with author Bertita Harding in her book Lost Waltz: A Story of Exile, which recounts the story of his family from the last years of the Habsburg dynasty until 1943. After the war, the archduke and his wife returned to Europe. They lived for sometime in Madrid and in Berne Village, Lower Austria. The marriage was childless and ended in divorce in 1954.

From 1955 Archduke Franz Josef lived again in Austria working in the forestry industry. He married, secondly, Maria Elena Seunig, Condesa de Basus, daughter of Egon Seunig and Nella Penelope Gialdini, on 21 January 1962 at Zürich, Switzerland. The couple had one daughter, Patricia of Habsburg-Lorraine.

At the death of his brothers Archduke Karl Pius of Austria, Prince of Tuscany, in 1953, and Archduke Leopold of Austria, in 1958, Archduke Franz Josef inherited the Carlist pretensions to the Spanish throne from them as a nephew of Infante Jaime, Duke of Madrid. He assumed the title of Duke of Madrid and was involved in the Carlist movement, as Francisco I, from 1956 until his death. He died on 9 May 1975 at Hernstein, Austria.

Ancestry