Alfred Konstantin Chlodwig Peter Maria Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (31 March 1889 – 21 October 1948) was an Austrian aristocrat and diplomat.
Early life
editPrince Alfred was born in Salzburg, Austria on 31 March 1889. He was the eldest son of Prince Konrad of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and Countess Franziska von Schönborn-Buchheim (1866–1937).[1] Among his siblings were Prince Erwin (who married Alexandra Olga Eugenia (née Countess Festetics de Tolna) Windisch-Graetz);[2] Prince Hubertus (who married Contess Eleonora "Elly" Hadik-Barkóczy);[3] Princess Franziska (who married Baron Franz IV Mayr-Melnhof);[4] and Princess Franziska (who married Archduke Maximilian of Austria).[4]
His paternal grandparents were Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, k.u.k. Chief Intendant and General of the cavalry, and Marie, née Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (a daughter of Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, known for her liaison with Franz Liszt). Through his father, he was a grand-nephew of Viktor I, Duke of Ratibor, of Chancellor Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, and of Gustav Adolf, Cardinal Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst.[5] His maternal grandparents were Erwein, 4th Count of Schönborn-Buchheim, and Countess Franziska von Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg.[1]
Career
editPrince Alfred was an officer in the Austrian cavalry and served as a chamberlain to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria until his death in November 1916. As an Austro-Hungarian diplomat, he served as the attaché to the embassy in Montreal (where he was arrested on "the instance of the militia headquarters" in 1914 before being released),[6] and then in Washington, D.C.[7] Reportedly, to stifle his romance with Catherine Britton, he was sent to the consular service in San Francisco.[8]
At the end of World War I, he reached out to the United States, through Swiss contacts, to inform the American government that the Austrian Government desired a separate peace independent of Germany.[9] He also warned of the rise of Bolshevikism in Austria which "may lead to chaos and anarchy against which no continental country is today immune" and to request help with the starvation threatening Austria and an end to the "military offensive now in progress is causing needless loss of life without its being possible for it to secure greater concessions since the capitulation of Austria-Hungary is already intended to be complete."[9]
Personal life
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On 14 December 1916, Prince Alfred was married to Catherine Britton (1892–1929)[10] at her parent's home in Washington, D.C. The best man was Stephen Hedry de Hedri et de Genere Aba, the Second Secretary of the Embassy, and the wedding was attended by Ambassador Count Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff.[7] The couple had met shortly after Catherine returned from a brief stinkt working in a French hospital with Nona McAdoo, daughter of William Gibbs McAdoo, the Secretary of the Treasury.[8] She was the eldest daughter of prominent Washington lawyer Alexander B. Britton and Louise Schneider (née Reed) Britton.[8] Before her death in Vienna in 1929,[10] they were the parents of three sons:
- Prince Alexander Konrad Maria (1918–1984),[11] who married Margaret Thompson Schulze, a granddaughter of mining magnate William Boyce Thompson and stepdaughter of diplomat Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr., in 1939.[12][13] After their divorce, she married singer Morton Downey,[14] and he married actress Patricia "Honeychile" Wilder in 1951.[15]
- Prince Konrad Maximilian Alfred Maria (1919–1943), who married Baroness Ladislaja Mayr von Melnhof in 1942. After his death, she married Jakob Graf zu Eltz.[16][17]
- Prince Viktor Konstantin Maria (1922–2005), who married Countess Viktoria Margarita von Lüttichau in 1948.[18]
After her death, he married Felicitas Aletta Mechthild (née von Schoeller) Southard (1900–1975) on 29 January 1934. The widow of James Wendell Southard, she was the only child of Ritter Richard von Schoeller and Emmi (née Siedenburg) von Schoeller.[4]
Prince Alfred died in a plane crash over Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland, on 21 October 1948, on his way to visit his son and his family.[19][a]
Notes
edit- ^ In 1915, Prince Alfred had survived an automobile crash in Cheshire, near Lenox, Massachusetts. During a "moonlight drive" he missed a sharp bend in the road and went over an embankment but his car was stopped, temporarily, by a wire fence allowing him just enough time to escape the car before it went over the embarkment.[20]
References
edit- ^ a b Nemec, Norbert (2010). Erzherzogin Maria Annunziata (1876-1961): die unbekannte Nichte Kaiser Franz Josephs I. (in German). Böhlau Verlag Wien. p. 227. ISBN 978-3-205-78456-2. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
- ^ "The Catalogue | Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, Princess Erwin zu, née Countess Alexandra Festetics; other married name Princess Karl Windisch-Grätz". www.delaszlocatalogueraisonne.com. The de Laszlo Archive Trust. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
- ^ Monarchy, Austro-Hungarian (1912). Handbuch des allerhöchsten Hofes und des Hofstaates seiner K. und K. Apostolischen Majestät ... (in German). K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. p. 415. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
- ^ a b c Gothaischer genealogischer Hofkalender nebst diplomatisch-statistichem Jahrbuch (in German). J. Perthes. 1919. p. 151. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
- ^ The Titled Nobility of Europe: An International Peerage, Or "Who's Who", of the Sovereigns, Princes and Nobles of Europe. Harrison & Sons. 1914. p. 790. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ "PRINCE ARRESTED IN CANADA. Hohenlohe, Austrian Consulate Attache, Released on Parole". The New York Times. 14 August 1914. p. 6. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ a b The New York Times, Special to (15 December 1916). "MISS BRITTON WED TO AUSTRIAN PRINCE; Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alex. Britton Marries Alfred zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst. HE IS EMBASSY ATTACHE Mgr. Russell Officiates at Simple Ceremony Attended by Diplomats of the Central Powers". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ a b c The New York Times, Special to (28 November 1916). "WILL WED PRINCE DEC. 11.; Miss K. Brltton to be Alfred zu Holche-Schillingsfurst Bride". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ a b "File No. 763.72119/2420 The Minister in Switzerland ( Stovall) to the Secretary of State Telegram] Berne, October 29, 1918, 3 p.m. [Received October 30, 1.07 p.m.]". history.state.gov. Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute United States Department of State. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ a b "AMERICAN PRINCESS IS DEAD IN VIENNA; Former Catharine Britton of Washington Wed to Prince Alfred Hohenlohe in 1916". The New York Times. 25 June 1929. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Obituary for Prince Hohenlohe (Aged 71)". The Orlando Sentinel. 14 January 1984. p. 22. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ "Miss Schulze Married; She Is Bride in Paris of Prince Alexander Hohenlohe of Poland". The New York Times. October 15, 1939. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "EX-PRINCE HOHENLOHE SHOOTS HIMSELF HERE". The New York Times. September 26, 1949. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ "MRS. DOWNEY, 42 WIFE OF EX‐SINGER; Charity Worker Dies—Was Active in Family Business". The New York Times. May 22, 1964. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "TROTH ANNOUNCED OF MISS O'CONNOR; Twin of Countess Crespi to Be Bride of Alexander Hohenlohe, Who Is a Former Prince". The New York Times. 26 February 1950. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ von), Wilhelm Karl Isenburg (Prinz (1956). Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der europäischen Staaten: (Europäische Stammtafeln) (in German). Stargardt. p. 15. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ Lohse, Eckart; Wehner, Markus (2011). Guttenberg: Biographie (in German). Droemer. p. 92. ISBN 978-3-426-27554-2. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ Almanach de Gotha: Annual Genealogical Reference. Almanach de Gotha. 2004. p. 549. ISBN 978-0-9532142-5-9. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
- ^ "KLM CRASH FATAL TO 39 IN SCOTLAND; One Man Survives Fall, Burning of New York-Bound Airliner Going Into Prestwick". The New York Times. 22 Oct 1948. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
- ^ "WIRE FENCE SAVES PRINCE. Halts Austrian Attache's Auto in Dash Down an Embankment". The New York Times. 26 July 1915. p. 11. Retrieved 10 September 2024.