Nikolaus III, Prince Esterházy ( hu, Esterházy III. Miklós, german: Nikolaus III Esterházy (

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

, 25 June 1817 -

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, 28 January 1894) was the ninth prince of the Hungarian

House of Esterházy A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

Life

Unlike his ancestors, Nikolaus did not spend his youth in the Schloss Esterháza in Hungary, but in England, where his father,

Paul III Anton, Prince Esterházy Prince Pál Antal Esterházy de Galántha (German: ''Paul Anton Esterházy von Galantha''; 11 March 178621 May 1866) was a Hungarian prince, a member of the famous Esterházy family. He was the son of Prince Nikolaus II and succeeded his fathe ...

, was Ambassador for the Austrian Emperor. Nikolaus married Lady Sarah Frederica Caroline Child-Villiers (1822–1853), a daughter of

George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey, GCH, PC (19 August 1773 – 3 October 1859), previously George Villiers and styled Viscount Villiers until 1805, was a British courtier and Conservative politician from the Villiers family. He added ...

, and his wife the former Lady Sarah Sophia Fane. Lady Jersey was a close friend of his mother Princess Maria Theresia of Thurn and Taxis, who served with her for many years as a patroness of

Almack's Almack's was the name of a number of establishments and social clubs in London between the 18th and 20th centuries. Two of the social clubs would go on to fame as Brooks's and Boodle's. Almack's most famous establishment was based in assembly roo ...

, the centre of London's social scene. They had three sons, Paul IV, Prince Esterházy (born 1843), Aloys (1844), and Anton (1851). His wife died in 1853. Sarah Child-Villiers

After his return from England, Nikolaus entered into the service of the new Emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the Grand title of the Emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg m ...

, and accompanied him on his travels through Hungary and Transylvania. Like most of his ancestors, in 1862 he received 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 ...

. In 1866, he succeeded his father, but under very difficult circumstances. In 1865 the Esterházy estates had been placed in the hands of curators until 1898, because of the enormous debts caused by his father's and grandfather's extravagance. Nikolaus was forced to sell the family's collection of paintings to the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

, and it still constitutes the core of the collection of the present-day Museum of Fine Arts in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. When he died in 1894 he was succeeded by his eldest son, Paul.

Ancestry

Sources

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Hungarian nobility The Hungarian nobility consisted of a privileged group of individuals, most of whom owned landed property, in the Kingdom of Hungary. Initially, a diverse body of people were described as noblemen, but from the late 12th century only high- ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolaus III, Prince Esterhazy Esterházy family Princes Esterházy of Galántha 1817 births 1894 deaths Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria People from Austria-Hungary