Archduke Maximilian Eugen of Austria

Archduke Maximilian of Austria (Maximilian Eugen Ludwig Friedrich Philipp Ignatius Joseph Maria), , Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia (April 13, 1895 in Vienna – January 19, 1952 in Nice) was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and the younger brother of the Emperor Charles I of Austria. From April 10, 1919 according to republican Austrian law his name was Maximilian Eugen Habsburg-Lothringen.

Maximilian was the second son of Archduke Otto of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony.

In 1915 Maximilian was made a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the special order of the dynasty, by his great-uncle Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.

During World War I Maximilian served as a major in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He also had the rank of corvette captain in the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

In February 1917 Maximilian was sent to Berlin to formally notify the German Emperor Wilhelm II of the accession of Maximilian's brother Charles as Emperor of Austria. In 1917 / 1918, with consent of Charles I, Maximilian established his household at Belvedere Palace in Vienna, held to the disposition of the imperial family by the government of Austria.

In June 1918 Maximilian led the Austrian assault on the Dosso Alto. The air pressure of a shell which landed near him broke his ear-drum and caused a certain deafness. Maximilian was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold (with the war decoration and swords) for the Austrian victory. However, in August the Italians re-captured the Dosso Alto.

After the end of World War I, in December 1918 some monarchists suggested that he succeed his brother as emperor. As Charles I, not anymore participating in state affairs since November 12, 1918, still considered himself emperor, this suggestion did not conform to the family rules of the dynasty.

Meanwhile, on November 12, 1918, the Provisional National Assembly of German Austria had declared the country a republic. On April 3, 1919, the Habsburg Law passed by the Constitutional National Assembly elected in February stipulated members of the former ruling family could only live in Austria if they cancelled their membership to the Habsburg Dynasty with its monarchial aspirations and if they declared themselves loyal citizens of the republic. Maximilian obviously preferred to live outside of Austria, following the example of the last imperial couple.

Maximilian Eugen Habsburg-Lothringen and his family in 1919 were given permission to live in Switzerland on condition that he did not engage in political activity. (The same permission was given to Charles I, Zita and their children, who had moved there in March 1919.) Maximilian's family then moved to Bavaria, where they lived in Munich and along Lake Starnberg. Later they moved to France.

In exile Maximilian sometimes used the aliases Count Wernberg and Count von Kyburg. He graduated from law school and earned the degree Doctor of Laws.

In April 1922 Maximilian attended the funeral of his brother Charles in Funchal, Madeira, after which Zita and her children returned to mainland Europe. In June 1923 Maximilian sued his late brother's secretary Baron von Steiner for fraud in the sale of some family jewels.

In November 1930 Maximilian attended the ceremony in Ham, Belgium commemorating the coming-of-age of his nephew Otto, from then onwards until January 1, 2007 chief of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

In November 1933 the government of the Republic of Austria under chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, who earlier this year had declared the parliament to have dissolved itself and did not undertake any action to hold elections, gave permission for Maximilian to reside in Austria. Per April 27, 1945, the second Republic of Austria returned to the republican laws valid before dictatorial rule.

Maximilian died in 1952 of a heart attack in a hotel in Nice; he was 56. His remains lie in a sarcophagus in the crypt of the schloss church in Altshausen (the burial place of the dukes of Württemberg).

Maximilian married on November 29, 1917 in Schloss Laxenburg (near Vienna), Princess Franziska zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, daughter of Prince Konrad of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst and Countess Franziska von Schönborn-Buchheim.

Maximilian and Franziska had two children, seven grandchildren and thirteen grandchildren:

• Archduke Ferdinand (1918-2004) married in 1956 to Countess Helene zu Törring-Jettenbach (1937), daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Greece and Denmark. They had three children and six grandchildren:
  • Archduchess Elisabeth Caecilia Helen of Austria (15 March 1957-18 May 1983) she married James Litchfield on 9 October 1982.
  • Archduchess Sophie Franziska Maria Germaine of Austria (19 January 1959) she married Prince Mariano Hugo of Windisch-Graetz on 11 February 1990. They have three children:
    • Prince Maximilian Hugo of Windisch-Grätz (4 August 1990)
    • Prince Alexis Ferdinando of Windisch-Grätz (10 December 1991-9 February 2010)
    • Princess Larissa Maria Luisa of Windisch-Grätz (11 December 1997)
  • Archduke Maximilian Heinrich Ferdinand of Austria (9 February 1961) he married Maya al-Askari on 2 July 2005. They have three children:
    • Archduke Nikolaus Heinrich of Austria (6 December 2005)
    • Archduke Constantin of Austria (4 June 2007)
    • Archduchess Katharina of Austria (8 November 2010)
• Archduke Heinrich of Austria (7 January 1925-20 March 2014) he married Countess Ludmila of Galen on 23 September 1961. They have four children and seven grandchildren:
  • Archduke Philipp of Austria (16 October 1962) he married Mayasuni Heath (the daughter of fourth son of the 13th Duke of St Albans) on 11 February 2006. They have one daughter:
    • Archduchess Amaya Anna Maria of Habsburg-Lotheringen (27 March 2011)
  • Archduchess Marie-Christine Franziska Sophie of Austria (14 March 1964) she married Clemens Guggenberg von Riedhofen on 10 February 1996. They have two daughters:
    • Annaliva Guggenberg von Riedhofen (6 February 1997)
    • Sofia Guggenberg von Riedhofen (24 December 2001)
  • Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (born 1965) married Countess Katharina von Hardenberg. They have three children:
    • Archduke Jakob-Maximilian of Austria (22 January 2002)
    • Archduchess Pauline of Austria (14 January 2004)
    • Archduchess Lara of Austria (9 October 2007)
  • Archduke Konrad of Austria (11 September 1971) he married Ashnita Goswami on 11 December 2005. They have one daughter:
    • Leonie of Habsburg-Lothringen (2011)

(As far as Austrian citizens are concerned, the titles Archduchess and Archduke had to be omitted from April 10, 1919 onwards.)

Maximilian's official title in German until April 10, 1919 was Seine Kaiserliche und Königliche Hoheit Erzherzog Maximilian Eugen Ludwig Friedrich Philipp Ignatius Joseph, Königlicher Prinz von Ungarn und Böhmen.