, title = Prince of Isenburg and Büdingen , image = Karl zu Isenburg-Birstein.jpg , reign = , coronation = , predecessor = , successor = , succession = , spouse = Archduchess Maria Luisa of Austria-Tuscany , issue = Prince Leopold Wolfgang
Princess Maria Antonia
Princess Maria Michaele
Prince Franz Joseph
Prince Karl Joseph
Prince Victor Salvator
Prince Alfonso Maria
Princess Marie Elizabeth
Princess Adelaide , house =House of

Isenburg-Büdingen Isenburg-Büdingen was a County of southern Hesse, Germany, located in Büdingen. It was originally a part of the County of Isenburg. There were two different Counties of the same name. The first (1341–1511) was a partition of Isenburg-Cleberg ...

, father = Prince Victor Alexander of Isenburg-Büdingen , mother = Princess Maria of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg , birth_date = , birth_place =

Birstein Birstein is a municipality on the northeastern edge of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis in Hesse, Germany with approximately 6,600 inhabitants. It was the home of the former principality of Isenburg-Birstein. Geography Location The town lies at the southern ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

, Germany , death_date = , death_place = Schlackenwerth bei Karlsbad , place of burial = , religion = Roman Catholicism Karl, Prince of Isenburg-Büdingen (full name: ''Karl Viktor Amadeus Wolfgang Kasimir Adolf Bodo'') (29 July 1838 – 2 April 1899) was head of the mediatised German house of Isenburg and Büdingen.

Biography

Karl was born in

, as the second child of Victor Alexander, Prince of

, son of Karl, last sovereign Prince of Isenburg, and his wife, Princess Maria of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg.''Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser'' XIII. "Isenburg/Ysenburg". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1987, pp. 237-239. (German). After the early death of his father in 1843, Karl was placed in the charge of his uncle, Wolfgang Ernst III, Prince of Isenburg-Birstein, who had him raised in his Protestant denomination, but he was exposed to the Catholic faith by his mother and in 1861, converted to Catholicism. On May 31, 1865, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Archduchess Maria Luisa of Austria-Tuscany (1845–1917), daughter

Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II( it, Leopoldo Giovanni Giuseppe Francesco Ferdinando Carlo, german: Leopold Johann Joseph Franz Ferdinand Karl, English: ''Leopold John Joseph Francis Ferdinand Charles''. (3 October 1797 – 29 January 1870) was Grand Duke of Tusc ...

and his second wife,

Princess Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies it, Maria Antonietta Giuseppa Anna , image = Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies by Morelli 1840.jpg , caption = Maria Antonia in the early 1840s, painted by Carlo Morelli , reign = 7 June 1833 – 21 July 1859 , ...

. The couple had nine children. In 1866, after the death of his uncle, Karl succeeded him as Prince of Isenburg-Birstein. Karl died at the age of sixty in 1899, and his wife Maria Luisa died in 1917. They are the ancestors of

Sophie, Princess of Prussia Sophie, Princess of Prussia (born Princess Sophie Johanna Maria of Isenburg;In 1919 royal family, royalty and nobility were mandated to lose their privileges in Germany, hereditary titles were to be legally borne thereafter only as part of the su ...

, wife of Georg Friedrich, head of the House of Prussia which reigned as

German emperor The German Emperor (german: Deutscher Kaiser, ) was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the offi ...

s until 1918.

Issue

Karl and Maria Luisa had nine children: * Prince Leopold Wolfgang (1866–1933), succeeded his father as Prince of Isenburg. In 1902 he wed Princess Olga of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1869–1924), daughter of

Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

, and had issue. He married secondly in 1924 Countess Marie von Dürckheim-Montmartin (1880–1937), without issue. * Princess Maria Antonia (1867–1943). * Princess Maria Michaele (1868–1919). * Prince Franz Joseph (1869–1939), married Princess Friederike of

Solms-Braunfels Solms-Braunfels was a County and later Principality with Imperial immediacy in what is today the federal Land of Hesse in Germany. Solms-Braunfels was a partition of Solms, ruled by the House of Solms, and was raised to a Principality of th ...

, and had issue. They are the great-grandparents of

. * Prince Karl Joseph (1871–1951), married morganatically Bertha Lewis. * Prince Victor Salvator (1872–1946), married Leontine Rohrer. * Prince Alfonso Maria (1875–1951), married in 1900 Countess Pauline Marie of Beaufort-Spontin (1876–1955), and had issue. * Princess Marie Elizabeth (1877–1943), married Georg Beyer * Princess Adelaide Maria (1878–1936).

Orders and decorations

* : Grand Cross of the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of Ludwig, ''12 January 1881'' * : Knight of the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...

, ''1867'' * : Grand Cross of the

Order of the Red Eagle The Order of the Red Eagle (german: Roter Adlerorden) was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful se ...

Grand Duchy of Tuscany The Grand Duchy of Tuscany ( it, Granducato di Toscana; la, Magnus Ducatus Etruriae) was an Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Republic of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence. In th ...

: Grand Cross of the

Order of Saint Joseph The Order of Saint Joseph was instituted on 9 March 1807 by Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany during his reign as Grand Duke of Würzburg. It was transformed into a Tuscan Roman Catholic Dynastic Order in 1817. The constitution of the Order ...

References

Bibliography

* ''Das katholische Deutschland, repräsentirt durch seine Wortführer. Porträts hervorragender Katholiken in Lichtdruck ausgeführt mit kurzen Character- und Lebensbeschreibungen.'' 2. Serie, 1. Heft, Verlag Leo Woerl, Würzburg 1878. * Manfred Hermanns: Weltweiter Dienst am Menschen unterwegs. Auswandererberatung und Auswandererfürsorge durch das Raphaels-Werk 1871-2011. Friedberg 2011, , hier S. 25, 26, 39, 53, 84. * David August Rosenthal:
Fürst Karl zu Isenburg-Birstein.
' In: ders.: ''Konvertitenbilder aus den neunzehnten Jahrhundert.'' Band 1: ''Deutschland'', Teil 3, Manz Verlag, 3. Auflage, Regensburg 1901, S. 431–433. {{DEFAULTSORT:Karl, Prince of Isenburg-Budingen 1838 births 1899 deaths People from Main-Kinzig-Kreis House of Isenburg-Büdingen Members of the First Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria