Archduchess Yolande of Austria (née Princesse Yolande Marie Jeanne Charlotte de Ligne; born 6 May 1923) is the widow of Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria.

Family

Yolande was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

as the second daughter of Eugène, 11th Prince de Ligne and his wife Philippine de Noailles (1898-1991). Her father was the Belgian ambassador to India from 1947 to 1951, ambassador to Spain from 1951 to 1958, and the head of one of Belgium's historically most influential noble families. He died in 1960. Each of Yolande's two brothers became the Prince de Ligne ( Baudouin, 12th Prince de Ligne and Antoine, 13th Prince de Ligne). Antoine is the father of Michel, 14th Prince de Ligne and Princess Christine, wife of Prince Antônio of Orléans-Braganza (second-in-line to the defunct Brazilian throne). Antoine's youngest daughter is named after Yolande.

Biography

Marriage and issue

On 17 January 1950 at the Château de Beloeil, Belgium (the

family seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families ...

of the

House of Ligne The House of Ligne is one of the oldest Belgian noble families, dating back to the eleventh century.''Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser'' XIV. "Ligne". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1991, pp. 495-500. . The family's name comes from the v ...

), Yolande married

Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria (1918–2007) Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria (Carl Ludwig Maria Franz Joseph Michael Gabriel Antonius Robert Stephan Pius Gregor Ignatius Markus d'Aviano; 10 March 1918 – 11 December 2007), also known as Carl Ludwig Habsburg-Lothringen, was the fifth c ...

. The fifth child of Austria's last emperor,

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

and his wife

Zita of Bourbon-Parma Zita of Bourbon-Parma (''Zita Maria delle Grazie Adelgonda Micaela Raffaela Gabriella Giuseppina Antonia Luisa Agnese''; 9 May 1892 – 14 March 1989) was the wife of Charles, the last monarch of Austria-Hungary. As such, she was the last Empres ...

, Carl Ludwig and Yolande were childhood sweethearts. Wedding guests included Carl Ludwig's eldest brother Crown Prince Otto (claimant to the Habsburg throne) as well as members of half a dozen other royal families; representatives of the Belgian royal family did not, however, attend. The couple

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...

ed in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, eventually settling in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where Carl Ludwig worked for the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...

. They had four children:Brook-Shepherd, p. 170. *Archduke Rudolf (b. 1950), married Baroness Hélène de Villenfagne de Vogelsanck (b. 1954) in Brussels 3 July 1976, their family taking up residence in Belgium thereafter.de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. ''Le Petit Gotha''. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, p. 193-198 (French) On 29 May 1978 he and his children and male-line descendants were incorporated in the nobility of Belgium by royal

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, tit ...

with the style of ''

Serene Highness His/Her Serene Highness (abbreviation: HSH, second person address: Your Serene Highness) is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Thailand. Over the past 400 years, it has also used as a style for senior members ...

'' and the hereditary title "Prince of Habsburg-Lorraine". *Archduchess Alexandra (born 1952); married

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an ambassador to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

Héctor Riesle Contreras. They have three children. * Archduke Carl Christian (born 1954) married Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg on 6 February 1982 in Luxembourg. They have five children. *Archduchess Maria Constanza (born 1957) married Franz Josef, Prince von Auersperg-Trautson. They have four daughters.

References

Sources

* * Coddington, John Insley, "The Franco-American Ancestry and Connections of the Archduchess Yolande of Austria: Murat, Fraser, Noailles et al.," ''

The American Genealogist ''The American Genealogist'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal which focuses on genealogy and family history. It was established by Donald Lines Jacobus in 1922 as the ''New Haven Genealogical Magazine''. In July 1932 it was renamed ' ...

'', 64 (July 1989): 171–78. {{DEFAULTSORT:Yolande Of Austria, Archduchess 1923 births Living people House of Ligne Princesses of Ligne Austrian princesses Belgian Roman Catholics 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Roman Catholics Belgian people of French descent Belgian expatriates in Spain