Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

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Sophie
Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary
BuriedArtstetten Castle, Artstetten-Pöbring
Noble family
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1900)​
Issue
FatherCount Bohuslaw Chotek von Chotkow und Wognin
MotherCountess Wilhelmine Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau

Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg (

Austro-Hungarian throne. Their assassination in Sarajevo sparked a series of events that led, four weeks later, to World War I
.

Early life

Countess Sophie Chotek von Wognin was born in

Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (1838–1886). Her father was a Bohemian aristocrat, by birth member of an old House of Chotek, who served as Austrian Ambassador to the royal courts Stuttgart, Saint Petersburg and Brussels.[1][2][3][4]

As a young woman, Sophie became a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella,[3] the wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen, head of the Bohemian cadet branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

Courtship with Franz Ferdinand

It is unknown where Sophie first met Archduke Franz Ferdinand, although it may have been at a ball in Prague in 1894. Franz Ferdinand, who was stationed at a military garrison in Prague, paid frequent visits to Halbturn Castle, the home of Archduke Friedrich, and it was assumed that he had fallen in love with Friedrich's eldest daughter, Archduchess Marie Christine.[3] The liaison was discovered by Archduchess Isabella, herself only born into a mediatised family (the House of Croÿ). When Isabella discovered Franz Ferdinand's locket lying on the tennis court, she opened it, expecting a photo of her daughter. Instead, the locket contained a photo of Sophie. From this, a scandal ensued.

Franz Ferdinand had become

Rudolph I of Germany, Franz Ferdinand's ancestor).[3]

Seal of Albert IV, Count of Habsburg, mutual ancestor of Sophie and Franz Ferdinand.

Franz Ferdinand refused to renounce Sophie to marry equally and beget an heir to the throne, compounding the scandal surrounding the death and illicit affair of the emperor's previous heir.

Marriage with Franz Ferdinand

Pre-1910 pastel painting of Sophie, held at Artstetten Castle
The Duchess with her family

In 1899, under pressure from family members (especially 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.[3][5]

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.[3]

Upon her marriage, Sophie was given the title

Herzogin (Duchess) and accorded the higher style of Hoheit ("Highness
").

Nonetheless, all of the archduchesses,

King George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, who warmly welcomed the couple to Windsor Castle from 17 to 21 November 1913. Queen Mary's father, Francis, Duke of Teck, was the offspring of a morganatic marriage and was shunned by royal families in Europe.[6]

The couple had four children:[4]

Assassination

In reports of the assassination, the Duchess was often referred to specifically as the morganic (or morganatic) wife, the caption of the image in this report further asserting that "because she was not of royal blood, she was cordially detested by all Austrians".[7]
Main article: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was invited by General Oskar Potiorek, Governor of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to watch troops on maneuvers for three days in Sarajevo, the provincial capital. Sophie was not usually allowed to accompany her husband on ceremonial visits because of her lower status, but on this occasion, Franz Ferdinand was invited as a military commander rather than a royal personage.[8]: 17  The archduke therefore arranged for Sophie to join him on 28 June, the third and final day, for a troop review followed by a visit to the city to dedicate a new museum before returning to Vienna. The date coincided with the 14th anniversary of their Oath of Renunciation and was a rare opportunity to celebrate in public together, although he knew that the visit would be dangerous.[citation needed]

At 10:10 am of Sunday, 28 June 1914, when the procession passed the Sarajevo central police station,

hand grenade at the archduke's car. The driver accelerated when he saw the object flying towards the car and the grenade exploded under the wheel of the next car. Two of the occupants, Eric von Merizzi and Count Boos-Waldeck, were seriously wounded. Fourteen spectators were hit by bomb splinters.[citation needed
]

After attending the official reception at the

City Hall, Franz Ferdinand asked about the members of his party that had been wounded by the bomb. When the archduke was told they were badly injured and had been taken to the hospital, he insisted on being taken to see them. A member of the archduke's staff, Andreas, Freiherr von Morsey, suggested this might be dangerous, but General Oskar Potiorek, who was responsible for the safety of the Imperial party, replied, "Do you think Sarajevo is full of assassins?"[citation needed] However, Potiorek did accept it would be better if Sophie remained behind in the city hall. When Freiherr Morsey told Sophie about the revised plans, she refused to stay, arguing: "As long as the Archduke shows himself in public today I will not leave him."[citation needed
]

In order to avoid the city centre, Potiorek decided that the Imperial car should travel straight along the

Latin Bridge, the driver took a right turn into Franz Joseph Street. One of the conspirators, Gavrilo Princip, was standing on the corner at the time. Oskar Potiorek immediately realized the driver had taken the wrong route and shouted "What is this? This is the wrong way! We're supposed to take the Appel Quay!"[citation needed
]

The driver put his foot on the brake, and began to back up. In doing so he moved slowly past the waiting Gavrilo Princip. The assassin stepped forward, drew his pistol, and at a distance of about five feet, fired twice into the car. Franz Ferdinand was hit in the neck and Sophie in the abdomen. Sophie said to her husband, "For God's sake, what has happened to you?!" She then fell bleeding. Before losing consciousness he pleaded, "Sopherl! Sopherl! Don't die! Stay alive for our children!", using his pet name for the duchess.[8]: 11  They were both dead within an hour.[citation needed]

The assassination triggered the

First World War
.

Funeral and burial

The bodies were transported to

Hofburg Palace attended by the immediate imperial family. The Archduke and Duchess were then taken to be entombed side by side as he had requested[8]: 17  in the crypt of Artstetten Castle, the Habsburgs' summer home, because burial in the Imperial Crypt was forbidden to Sophie.[10]
Today the castle houses a museum in their memory.

Arstetten Castle, its chapel, and the final resting place of the couple, showing each resting at equal heights.
Photo montage (2012) showing Artstetten Castle, its chapel, and the final resting place of the couple, showing each resting at equal heights

Commemorative coin

Duchess Sophie's castle of

Hohenberg family
crypt, with left-set overlay profile portraits of Sophie and Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Arms of Sophie as Duchess of Hohenberg 1909–1914
Arms of Sophie as Princess of Hohenberg 1900–1909

Titles and styles

  • 1 March 1868 – 1 July 1900: Countess Sophie Chotek von Chotkow und Wognin
  • 1 July 1900 – 1905: Her Grace The Princess of Hohenberg
  • 1905 – 4 October 1909: Her Serene Highness The Princess of Hohenberg
  • 4 October 1909 – 28 June 1914: Her Highness The Duchess of Hohenberg

Honours

Ancestry

References

  1. ISBN 0-220-66222-3
  2. ^ Willis, Daniel A., The Descendants of King George I of Great Britain, Clearfield Company, 2002, pp. 153, 613
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Enache, Nicolas. La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg. ICC, Paris, 1996. pp. 54, 58. French.
  4. ^ a b Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XV. "Hohenberg". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1997, pp.600–601.
  5. ^ "Pragmatic Sanction of 1713". heraldica.org. 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  6. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780192683120.013.31560
    , retrieved 14 April 2022
  7. ^ "Austria Will Avenge Murder". The Winnipeg Tribune. 29 June 1914. p. 1.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-1-74045-970-9
    .
  9. ^ "Time Magazine Milestones (as Leopold Lojka)". Time.com. 9 August 1926. Archived from the original on 12 November 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  10. ^ "The Funeral of the Archduke". The Independent. New York. 13 July 1914. p. 59. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  11. ^ a b c Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie (1915), Genealogy p. 2
  12. ^ a b "Ritter-orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, Vienna: Druck und Verlag der K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1914, pp. 232, 246
  13. ^ Justus Perthes, Almanach de Gotha (1913) page 6

Further reading

  • Brook-Shepherd, Gordon. Victims at Sarajevo: The Romance and Tragedy of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie (Harvill, 1984)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Countess Sophie Chotek.
Titles of nobility
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Duchess of Hohenberg

1909–1914 		Vacant
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