Archduke Karl Pius of Austria, Prince of Tuscany
Encyclopedia
Archduke Karl Pius of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Prince of Tuscany (4 December 1909 – 24 December 1953), called Carlos Pío de Habsburgo-Lorena y de Borbón in Spain
, was a member of the Tuscan branch of the Imperial House of Habsburg
and a Carlist
claimant to the throne of Spain under the assumed name of "Carlos VIII".
, Austria
, the youngest son of Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria (1863-1931) and of his wife Blanca de Borbón y de Borbón-Parma
(1868-1949). His mother was the eldest daughter of Carlos, Duke of Madrid
, Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain.
Karl was given the baptismal names Carolus Pius Maria Adelgonda Blanka Leopoldus Ignatius Raphael Michael Salvator Chrillus Angelus Barbara. His godparents were Pope Pius X
and the Countess of Bardi
.
Karl grew up in the Palais Toskana
which formerly stood in Argentinierstrasse in Vienna. In 1919 the republican government of Austria confiscated all the properties of the Habsburgs. Karl moved with his family first to Tenuta Reale, a villa belonging to his mother's family near Viareggio
in Italy. Then they moved to Barcelona
in Spain. In 1926 he was given Spanish nationality.
After completing high-school Karl entered the Industrial Engineering School. He returned to Austria in the early 1930s and joined the Heimwehr
, a conservative militia which engaged in street fights with Communists and Socialists.
. The cruzadistas (along with the majority of Carlists) held that Alfonso XIII
, constitutional king of Spain, and his sons were excluded from the succession on account of their liberalism. The cruzadistas also believed that the more junior male lines of the House of Bourbon
were also permanently excluded from the Spanish succession; some, like the Bourbon-Sicilies, were held to be excluded because they had recognised Alfonso as constitutional king of Spain, while others, like the Bourbon-Parmas, were held to be excluded because of French nationality.
Since the cruzadistas believed that there were no more male members of the House of Bourbon eligible to succeed to the Spanish throne, they held that the Carlist claim should pass at the death of Alfonso Carlos to the sons of his closest female relative, Blanca de Borbón. This was a minority view in the Carlist movement, and one which was condemned by Alfonso Carlos himself.
As long as Alfonso Carlos lived, Blanca and her sons, including Karl, were hesitant to press their claims. When Alfonso Carlos died in 1936, Karl at first supported the regent of the Carlist Communion, Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma
, who had been appointed by Alfonso Carlos. In the confused circumstances of the Spanish Civil War
Karl did not make any immediate claim to the throne.
. In 1948 his other brother Anton verbally renounced his rights in Barcelona
. (Both Anton and Franz Josef would take up the claim after Karl died, and Anton's son Dominic is the current claimant.)
Karl was recognised by his supporters as Carlos VIII; his movement is therefore called carloctavismo. He used the title Duke of Madrid as his grandfather had done. Karl received the support of some of the most conservative Carlist leaders. He also received a certain level of support from some of General Franco
's officials in the Movimiento Nacional
; the followers of the Carlist regent Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma claimed that the Francoist support was merely an attempt to divide Carlists.
Karl moved to Andorra
and then returned to Barcelona. Between 1944 and 1951 he gave out fourteen titles of nobility; he also named members to the Order of Proscribed Legitimacy and the Order of Santa Maria of the Lily of Navarre. He established a new order of merit named in honour of Saint Charles Borromeo
. In 1952 he awarded the collar of this order to General Franco and the grand cross of the order to Cardinal Federico Tedeschini
, papal legate to the International Eucharistic Congress
in Barcelona.
Karl and Christa had two daughters:
On November 30, 1990 Alejandra and Inmaculada were given the title Countess of Habsburg by Archduke Otto of Austria
.
Christa left Karl in 1949. In December 1950, they received a civil divorce in Reno, Nevada
. On January 4, 1951 Karl initiated a process petitioning for an ecclesiastical decree of nullity; the case had not been resolved at his death.
, Spain
. Several funeral masses were celebrated for him, including one on January 16, 1954 in Madrid
, attended by numerous government officials and members of the diplomatic corps. He was buried in the Monastery of Santa Maria de Poblet
.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, was a member of the Tuscan branch of the Imperial House of Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
and a Carlist
Carlism
Carlism is a traditionalist and legitimist political movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Infante Carlos, Count of Molina , and was founded due to dispute over the succession laws and widespread...
claimant to the throne of Spain under the assumed name of "Carlos VIII".
Birth and early life
Karl was born in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, the youngest son of Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria (1863-1931) and of his wife Blanca de Borbón y de Borbón-Parma
Infanta Blanca of Spain
Infanta Blanca of Spain . She was the eldest child of Carlos, Duke of Madrid, Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain under the name Carlos VII and his wife Princess Margherita of Bourbon-Parma. Blanca was a member of the House of Bourbon and an Infanta of Spain by birth...
(1868-1949). His mother was the eldest daughter of Carlos, Duke of Madrid
Carlos, Duke of Madrid
Infante Carlos María de los Dolores Juan Isidro José Francisco Quirin Antonio Miguel Gabriel Rafael de Borbón y Austria-Este, Duke of Madrid was the senior member of the House of Bourbon from 1887 until his death...
, Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain.
Karl was given the baptismal names Carolus Pius Maria Adelgonda Blanka Leopoldus Ignatius Raphael Michael Salvator Chrillus Angelus Barbara. His godparents were Pope Pius X
Pope Pius X
Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...
and the Countess of Bardi
Infanta Adelgundes, Duchess of Guimarães
Infanta Adelgundes of Portugal, Duchess of Guimarães was the fifth child and fourth daughter of Miguel of Portugal and his wife Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. A member of the House of Braganza by birth, Adelgundes became a member of the House of Bourbon-Parma through her marriage to...
.
Karl grew up in the Palais Toskana
Palais Toskana
- History :It was constructed in 1867 for the Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria-Tuscany. The architect is unknown; the facade may have been designed by Carl Tietz. The palace was up to four stories high, and was built in neo-classic style with elaborate figural decoration in its middle part...
which formerly stood in Argentinierstrasse in Vienna. In 1919 the republican government of Austria confiscated all the properties of the Habsburgs. Karl moved with his family first to Tenuta Reale, a villa belonging to his mother's family near Viareggio
Viareggio
Viareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
in Italy. Then they moved to Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
in Spain. In 1926 he was given Spanish nationality.
After completing high-school Karl entered the Industrial Engineering School. He returned to Austria in the early 1930s and joined the Heimwehr
Heimwehr
The Heimwehr or sometimes Heimatschutz were a Nationalist, initially paramilitary group operating within Austria during the 1920s and 1930s; they were similar in methods, organisation, and ideology to Germany's Freikorps...
, a conservative militia which engaged in street fights with Communists and Socialists.
The cruzadistas
In 1932 a section of the Carlist movement, called cruzadistas from the name of the magazine El Cruzado Español, began to entrust their hopes for the future of Carlism to the sons of Blanca de Borbón. At the time the Carlist claimant Alfonso Carlos, Duke of San Jaime, Karl's great-uncle, was in his eighties and childless. There were no other male-line descendants of the first Carlist claimant Carlos VInfante Carlos, Count of Molina
The Infante Carlos of Spain was the second surviving son of King Charles IV of Spain and of his wife, Maria Luisa of Parma. As Carlos V he was the first of the Carlist claimants to the throne of Spain...
. The cruzadistas (along with the majority of Carlists) held that Alfonso XIII
Alfonso XIII of Spain
Alfonso XIII was King of Spain from 1886 until 1931. His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was appointed regent during his minority...
, constitutional king of Spain, and his sons were excluded from the succession on account of their liberalism. The cruzadistas also believed that the more junior male lines of the House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
were also permanently excluded from the Spanish succession; some, like the Bourbon-Sicilies, were held to be excluded because they had recognised Alfonso as constitutional king of Spain, while others, like the Bourbon-Parmas, were held to be excluded because of French nationality.
Since the cruzadistas believed that there were no more male members of the House of Bourbon eligible to succeed to the Spanish throne, they held that the Carlist claim should pass at the death of Alfonso Carlos to the sons of his closest female relative, Blanca de Borbón. This was a minority view in the Carlist movement, and one which was condemned by Alfonso Carlos himself.
As long as Alfonso Carlos lived, Blanca and her sons, including Karl, were hesitant to press their claims. When Alfonso Carlos died in 1936, Karl at first supported the regent of the Carlist Communion, Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma
Xavier, Duke of Parma
Xavier, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, known before 1974 as Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma was the head of the ducal House of Bourbon-Parma, pretender to the defunct throne of Parma, and Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain under the name Javier I.-Early life:Xavier...
, who had been appointed by Alfonso Carlos. In the confused circumstances of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
Karl did not make any immediate claim to the throne.
Carlist claimant
On June 29, 1943 Karl issued a manifesto in which he claimed to be the legitimate successor to the Spanish throne. At the time, he had three older brothers still living, but none of these had shown an interest in claiming the throne for himself. In 1947 Karl's older brothers Leopold and Franz Josef formally renounced their rights in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. In 1948 his other brother Anton verbally renounced his rights in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. (Both Anton and Franz Josef would take up the claim after Karl died, and Anton's son Dominic is the current claimant.)
Karl was recognised by his supporters as Carlos VIII; his movement is therefore called carloctavismo. He used the title Duke of Madrid as his grandfather had done. Karl received the support of some of the most conservative Carlist leaders. He also received a certain level of support from some of General Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's officials in the Movimiento Nacional
Movimiento Nacional
The Movimiento Nacional was the name given to the nationalist inspired mechanism during Francoist rule in Spain, which purported to be the only channel of participation to Spanish public life...
; the followers of the Carlist regent Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma claimed that the Francoist support was merely an attempt to divide Carlists.
Karl moved to Andorra
Andorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
and then returned to Barcelona. Between 1944 and 1951 he gave out fourteen titles of nobility; he also named members to the Order of Proscribed Legitimacy and the Order of Santa Maria of the Lily of Navarre. He established a new order of merit named in honour of Saint Charles Borromeo
Charles Borromeo
Charles Borromeo was the cardinal archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Milan from 1564 to 1584. He was a leading figure during the Counter-Reformation and was responsible for significant reforms in the Catholic Church, including the founding of seminaries for the education of priests...
. In 1952 he awarded the collar of this order to General Franco and the grand cross of the order to Cardinal Federico Tedeschini
Federico Tedeschini
Federico Tedeschini was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Papal Datary in the Roman Curia from 1938 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1935 by Pope Pius XI.-Biography:...
, papal legate to the International Eucharistic Congress
International Eucharistic Congress
In the Roman Catholic church, a Eucharistic Congress is a gathering of clergy, religious, and laity to bear witness to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, which is an important Roman Catholic doctrine...
in Barcelona.
Marriage and family
On May 8, 1938 in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Karl married Christa Satzger de Bálványos (1914-2001), daughter of Geza Satzger de Bálványos and of his wife Maria Alexandrina Friedmann. The marriage was morganatic, and the children born to it had no dynastic rights of succession.Karl and Christa had two daughters:
- Alejandra Blanca de Habsburgo (born January 20, 1941, at ViareggioViareggioViareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
), married in 1960 to Jose Maria Riera - Maria Immaculada Pia de Habsburgo (born July 3, 1945, at BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
), married in 1969 to John Dobkin (divorced)
On November 30, 1990 Alejandra and Inmaculada were given the title Countess of Habsburg by Archduke Otto of Austria
Archduke Otto of Austria
This name can refer to the following members of the Austrian Royal or Imperial family:* Archduke Otto of Austria , "Otto der Schöne" - father of the last Emperor of Austria....
.
Christa left Karl in 1949. In December 1950, they received a civil divorce in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
. On January 4, 1951 Karl initiated a process petitioning for an ecclesiastical decree of nullity; the case had not been resolved at his death.
Death
Karl died of a cerebral hemorrhage December 24, 1953, in BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Several funeral masses were celebrated for him, including one on January 16, 1954 in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, attended by numerous government officials and members of the diplomatic corps. He was buried in the Monastery of Santa Maria de Poblet
Poblet Monastery
The Royal Abbey of Santa Maria de Poblet is a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1151, located at the feet of the Prades Mountains, in the comarca of Conca de Barberà, in Catalonia . It was founded by Cistercian monks from France on lands conquered from the Moors...
.