The family of Hohenberg

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Franz Ferdinand became heir presumptive of the throne in 1889 after the suicide of his cousin Crown Prince Rudolf and after the death of his father Karl Ludwig in 1896. This gave him a great deal of trouble, for he could not marry the woman he loved: Sophie, Countess of Chotek. Her family was not of dynastic rank.Franz Ferdinand refused to renounce Sophie to marry.

A marriage

In 1899, under pressure from family members (especially the Archduchess Maria Theresa, the emperor's formidable sister-in-law and Franz Ferdinand's stepmother) the couple were granted permission to wed. 

Franz Ferdinand was allowed to retain his place in the order of succession and a suitable title was promised for his future wife. However, to prevent Franz Ferdinand from attempting to proclaim his wife
empress-queen or declaring their future children dynasts and thus eligible to inherit the crown (especially that of Hungary, where morganatic marriages were unknown to law) once he ascended the throne, he was compelled to appear at the Hofburg Imperial Palace before the gathered archdukes, ministers, and dignitaries of the court, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Vienna and the Primate of Hungary on 28 June 1900  to execute by signature an official instrument in which he publicly declared that Sophie would be his morganatic wife, never to bear the titles of empress, queen or archduchess, and acknowledging that their descendants would neither inherit nor be granted dynastic rights or privileges in any of the Habsburg realms.

Sophie and Franz Ferdinand were married on 1 July 1900 at Reichstadt (now Zákupy) in Bohemia. The Emperor did not attend the nuptials, nor did any of the archdukes, including Franz Ferdinand's brothers. The only members of the Imperial family who were present were Franz Ferdinand's stepmother, Archduchess Maria Theresa, and her two daughters, Maria Annunciata and Elisabeth Amalie.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand &  Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

A new title

Upon her marriage, Sophie was given the title Fürstin von Hohenberg ("Princess of Hohenberg") with the style of Durchlaucht ("Serene Highness"). In 1909, she was elevated to Herzogin (Duchess) and accorded the higher style of Hoheit ("Highness").

Humiliated

Nonetheless, all of the archduchesses, mediatized princesses and countesses of Austria and Hungary took precedence before her. For the fourteen years of their marriage, Sophie never shared her
husband's rank, title, or precedence. Her position at the Imperial court was humiliating.

Problems of protocol prevented many royal courts from hosting the couple despite Franz Ferdinand's position as heir to the throne. Nonetheless, some did so, including King George V and Queen Mary
of the United Kingdom, who warmly welcomed the couple to Windsor Castle from 17–21 November 1913. 

Assassination

On 28 June 1914, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were assassinated in Sarajevo. This event caused the start of World War I. 



See also on this link . 

The Hohenberg Family

The couple had four children:

1: Princess Sophie of Hohenberg (1901–1990), who married Count Friedrich von Nostitz-Rieneck (1891–1973)

2: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg (1902–1962), who married Countess Elisabeth von Waldburg zu Wolfegg und Waldsee (1904–1993).

3: Prince Ernst of Hohenberg (1904–1954), who married Marie-Therese Wood (1910–1985)

4: stillborn son (1908)

To continue

Thus, Maximilian became the first Duke of Hohenberg, with the dukedom being hereditary according to primogeniture in the male line. Following the collapse of the monarchy, the Austrian nobility, along with hereditary titles and such nobiliary particles as von, were abolished by law in 1919.


Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg
 
In 1938, several members of the family who were opposed to Adolf Hitler were arrested by the Nazis and sent to Dachau concentration camp, most notably Maximilian and his brother Ernst. 


Ernst of Hohenberg

The former head of the family, Georg, was ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the Holy See during part of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. He was also a Knight of the Golden Fleece.


Members of the Hohenberg family are not only descended from, and married into, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, but are also related through marriage to several other European dynasties, including the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg and the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. 

They also descend from King George II of Great Britain through his daughter Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange and are therefore distantly related to the British Royal Family.


👉 More about the House of Habsburg on this link.


Luckily the royal weddings are nowadays less complicated


source pictures: Wikipedia
Location: Wenen, Oostenrijk

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