Crown Princess Stéphanie of Austria

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Today marks the 75th Anniversary of the Death of Crown Princess Stéphanie of Austria, who died on this day in 1945! The second child and third daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium and Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria, she grew up in an unhappy atmosphere in Belgium. In 1881, Princess Stéphanie married Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth of Austria, and the couple had one daughter, Archduchess Elisabeth Marie, and an unhappy marriage until her died in a suicide pact with his teenage mistress. Crown Princess Stéphanie married Prince Lónyay de Nagy-Lónya et Vásárosnamény, a Hungarian nobleman, in 1900, settling in his Oroszvár – Rusovce Castle in Hungary, until the advancing Red Army forced them to flee towards the end of the Second World War. Princess Stéphanie’s memoir was published as Ich sollte Kaiserin werden (I Was To Be Empress) in 1937, after being banned in Austria. She passed away at the sanctuary in Pannonhalma Archabbey on this day in 1945.

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2 thoughts on “Crown Princess Stéphanie of Austria

  1. CP Stephanie of Austria’s life is very removed from the enchanted life princesses are supposed to lead. Her husband’s suicide pact with his teen-aged lover literally changed history because it left the Austrian throne without an heir which set forth a series of events that eventually led to WWI. I sincerely hope that CP Stephanie found at least a modicum of happiness with her second husband.

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