Posted 10 years ago
vetraio50
(756 items)
I love a mystery. It is even better to solve one! In the case of this card the mystery lay in the identity of the couple. There was nothing on the card itself that gave any hint as to their identity. But the back of the card had multiple language versions of the word Post Card – 10 different languages. In a way that gave me a hint. They were extremely well known in middle Europe. Hungarian is one of those ten languages, German, Italian etc..
It suggested the Austro-Hungarian Empire to me. I was researching a couple of the other Royal Belgians and decided to look a little further afield. Finally I came across another version of the image. Bingo.
She is the important figure rather than her husband. It is actually a photo taken on the day before their wedding. It was January 22 1902. The location was the château de Ploschkowitz in Bohemia,
He is Prince Othon de Windisch-Graetz. He was ten years older than his young bride. She was just nineteen!
She was Elisabeth Maria Henriette Stephanie Gisela, Archduchess of Austria.
Now that is an important title. She was the grand-daughter of the Emperor Franz-Joseph. The emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
She was quite a catch!
After the marriage Prince Othon de Windisch-Graetz became "prince souverain" (Fürst). He had definitely stepped up in the world.
The important character is the beautiful young Archduchess. Her life reads like a novel. If you have read the novel or seen the movie “Mayerling” then you will know something about the background of the young Archduchess whose nickname within the family was the Hungarian “Erzsi".
Erszi’s mother was a Belgian princess: Princesse Stéphanie de Belgique.
Erszi’s father was the Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria. He was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But he was in love with another young woman called Marie Vetsera. The bodies of the 30-year-old Archduke and the 17-year-old baroness were discovered in the Imperial hunting lodge at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods, fifteen miles southwest of the capital, on the morning of 30 January 1889.
Murder-suicide!
Erzsi was just five years old.
These events actually shaped the course of history and led to the destabilization of Europe that led to the First World War.
The marriage to Prince Otto Windisch-Graetz did not go well although they did have four children. The Prince did wander! Erzsi is known these days as the “Archiduchesse rouge” or the Red Archduchess. She was political. She was a member of the Social Democratic party. A feminist!
Erzsi and Otto both flaunted their much discussed affairs and on one occasion Erszi used a gun to scare off one of Otto’s mistresses. They finally separated in 1924 after a long battle over the children. I love this description she made of her husband: “Un dandy dépourvu de sens moral, pétri de lâcheté et de médiocrité”.
There is much more to Erzsi's story that just this period in her life. Perhaps you can find out some more information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduchess_Elisabeth_Marie_of_Austria
This is a nice photo essay :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGgekUm38n4
Many thanks MOON!
Kevin, fantastic read!!! I loved your bio...many thanks!!! XOXOXO
Fascinating!!
Many thanks AGHCOLLECT, MANIKIN, AMBER, VIOLET ORANGE & KAREN too!!!!!
Many thanks MIKELV, DON 'n AUSTRO too!
Many thanks GEO!!!
Beautiful!!!
Wow! Great history!!! I too love "discovering" just about anything...sooo exciting! Thanks for sharing.
Many thanks SHAREURPASSION, SEAN, GARY, PHIL, TOM 'n KERRY too!!!
Many thanks BLUNDERBUSS!!!!
Many thanks TTOMTUCKER, WINDWALKER 'n PETEY!!!
Many thanks POPS52!!!!
Many thanks ELISABETHAN!!!!
What a great post vetraio...I am passionate about the stories behind each object and my greatest fun is to discover them. Thank you for sharing!
No thanks to you MCHECONI!!!!
Many thanks MILITARIST!!!
Many thanks JENSEN!!!
Wow....what a Detective You are!!
Nice Research!!
By brother told me this some time ago when the movie " Mayerling"was being made in Laxenburg it was winter and a friend of his was working as an electrician, he just had a break. The door to the constuction Container opened and
who came in to warm up Omar Sharif and James Mason!
Many thanks ANTIQUEROSE 'n RADEGRUNDER too!
That must take you back to 1967 or 68?
Amazing! I love it.
Many thanks FRIEND OF VINCENT !!!!
Many thanks JEWELS 'n GUARDIAN too!!!!!
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing. I love the vintage postcard pics. It was certainly a different time.
Happy New Year!
Hi
vetraio50
Fabuleux,et Merveilleux,What a nice post and solving here.
We feel so good(don't we)when we do kind of detective research, and so cool, it's free to do..just need ,time, passion, and patient.
And when it's done, what a praise.....
Happy New Year 2015, and lot more to come.
Regards
Alan
Many thanks MISTER ESOTERIC 'n ALAIN too !!!
many thanks ELISABETHAN 'n FREIHEIT too !!!!!
Good write up!! Otto was as morally unfit as his old man.
Many thanks MILITARIST !!!!!!
HAD to love again ~ Such an Amazing Story !!
Thanks so much Rose ... CW has just been reorganising their cards and gave this one a new heading. This is a personal favourite .... the two of them were like chalk and cheese.
Many thanks KATHERINESCOLLECTIONS !!!!!!
Many thanks CATBURGLAR !!!!
Very interesting!!! You are an excellent detective! Sorry for correcting one little mistake: the name must be Erzsi. The letter 'zs' sounds different from the letter 'sz' in Hungarian - it's my first language
Many thanks MARTIKA, I will fix that up !!!!
Thanks too to AURA, TTOMTUCKER, CAPERKID & VERBATIM too !!!!!
Many thanks THOMAS & RADEGRUNDER !!! !!!! !!!
Many thanks NH10 ! !!! !!! !!! !