Monday, August 11, 2008

Archduchess Hedwig engaged



August 11, 1917

Archduchess Hedwig of Austria, Princess of Tuscany, has become engaged to the American-born Count Bernhard of Stolberg-Stolberg, according to several news reports.

 Count Bernhard was born in Mankato, Minnesota, in 1881 where his parents lived for a time. He is the son of Count Leopold of Stolberg-Stolberg and the Dublin-born Mary Elizabeth Eddington.

Archduchess Hedwig is the fourth child of Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria, Prince of Tuscany, and Archduchess Valerie of Austria, the youngest child of the late Emperor Franz Joseph.

Count Bernhard is from a devout Roman Catholic family. One brother, Aloys, (Father Martin), is a priest at a Benedictine Monastery in Cottonwood, Idado. Two sisters, Marie and Elisabeth, are nuns in convents in Breslau.

Due to Count Leopold's marriage to Mary Eddington, the family emigrated to Minnesota in 1875. Mary had been a governess in the Stolberg family when she met and fell in love with Count Leopold. The marriage was considered a mesalliance at the time although the marriage would eventually be accepted by the head of the house.

Leopold and Mary, "a devout Catholic," lived in Mankato from 1875 until 1890, when they returned to Germany. They currently reside at Linsen in Westphalia.

Until recently, the young count served as the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg's chamberlain. He has the rank of captain in the Saxon and Austrian armies.

The marriage will take place at Schloss Wallsee on April 24, 1918.

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