Line of succession to the former Austro-Hungarian throne

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The dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary was abolished in 1919. The current Head of the House of Habsburg is Karl Habsburg-Lothringen. The succession law used is Semi-Salic. [1] [2]

Contents

History

Pragmatic Sanction

Equal marriages

During the monarchy and for a number of decades afterwards members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine had to be born of an Imperially approved, equal marriage to be deemed dynastic, according to the Imperial Family's house law of 1839. On the authorization of the Emperor, that law was amended with addenda on 12 June 1900 (two weeks prior to a declaration to the Austrian and Hungarian legislatures of the morganatic nature of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's impending marriage to Countess Sophie Chotek), requiring a spouse to belong to one of the following: the Imperial Family of Austria-Hungary, a currently or previously sovereign Christian dynasty, or a mediatised family. It further clarified the pool of eligible marital partners to include 1. a list of 32 mediatised, princely families, and 2. only members of the specified mediatized families who were born in compliance with their own family's equality of birth house law or who could prove 16 noble, knightly quarterings (i.e., all great-great-grandparents) and beyond that at least 300 years of tournament, fief-holding nobility in the paternal and maternal lines. [3] [2]

By the time of the marriage of Archduke Karl in 1993 to Baroness Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza, who did not meet the old equality requirements, the rules regarding equal marriages had been relaxed [2] (In 1953 Archduke Rudolf's marriage to Countess Xenia Tchernichev-Besobrasov and in 1976 that of another Archduke Rudolf to Baroness Marie-Hélène de Villenfagne de Vogelsangck had been approved as dynastic). [4] Currently for a marriage to be dynastic all that is needed is the consent of the head of the house and a religious marriage. [2] On 30 November 1990 the head of the house Crown Prince Otto recognized the title Count or Countess von Habsburg to the issue of morganatic marriages contracted after the dynasty ceased to reign. [2] [5] The descendants of archdukes whose wives had been of comital rank were retroactively integrated into the dynasty with traditional titles of Counts of Habsburg (e.g., the children and male-line descendants of Archduke Leo Karl {1893-1939} and his wife since 1922, Countess Maria-Klothilde von Thuillières von Montjoye-Vaufrey et de la Roche {1893-1978}), [5] except those of Archduke Clemens Salvatore of Austria-Tuscany (1904-1974) who, on 2 April 1930, had renounced his Tuscan succession rights and dynastic titles, receiving authorization from Crown Prince Otto for himself, his wife and male-line descendants to bear the title and name of Prince or Princess von Altenburg on 15 December 1949. [5]

Archduchesses

Although under the semi-salic succession law, archduchess possess the right of succession when there are no males of any Habsburg-Lorraine branch left to succeed, during the monarchy (from 1719) upon marriage they renounced their succession rights to the Austro-Hungarian thrones in favor of the heiress of the last male ("Erbtochter" in German). [6] [7]

Present line of succession

Line of succession in November 1918

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References

  1. ↑ Almanach de Gotha (142 ed.). Justus Perthes. 1905. p. 658.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 169-275. French. ISBN   2-9507974-3-1.
  3. ↑ Wien, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv. Familienstatut. Familienurkunden 1839, Daran geheftet und durch Hängesiegel damit verbunden: Authentische Interpretation des Tit. I § 1 des Familienstatuts von 1839 ddo. 12. Juni 1900. Vienna. (German).
  4. ↑ Enache, Nicolas. La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg. ICC, Paris, 1996. pp. 46-47. (French). ISBN   2-908003-04-X
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XVI. "Haus Österreich". C.A. Starke Verlag, 2001, pp. 87-90, 119-120, 563, 568-569, 577. ISBN   978-3-7980-0824-3.
  6. ↑ "Prince Weds Archduchess" (PDF). New York Times . 11 February 1912. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  7. ↑ The House Laws of the German Habsburgs, renunciations of archduchesses (Heraldica.org)
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