Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria

Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria

Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria (German: (Erzherzog) Josef Karl (Ludwig) von Österreich, Hungarian: Habsburg–Toscanai József Károly (Lajos) főherceg; Pressburg, 2 March 1833 – Fiume, 13 June 1905) was a member of the Habsburg dynasty. He was the second son of Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary (7th son of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor) and Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg.

Like many junior members of royal families, Archduke Joseph Karl entered the military. He became a Major General in the Austrian Army in 1860. In 1867, he became Palatine of Hungary after the death of his childless half-brother Stephen, though the post by that time was symbolic only.

The archduke had an interest in Romani language and occasionally wrote on this topic to Albert Thomas Sinclair, an American lawyer who shared this interest. A bio of Sinclair notes that the archduke sent a copy of his work, “a large octavo volume handsomely bound It is a most important and valuable philological work comparing the gypsy words with Sanskrit, Hindustani Persian, etc.”^[1]

Marriage and issue

On 12 May 1864 in Coburg, Archduke Joseph married Princess Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1846–1927), the elder daughter of Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Clémentine of Orléans. They had seven children :

• Archduchess Elisabeth Klementine of Austria (18 March 1865 – 7 January 1866)
• Archduchess Maria Dorothea of Austria (14 June 1867 – 6 April 1932)
• Archduchess Margarethe Klementine of Austria (6 July 1870 – 2 May 1955)
• Archduke Joseph August of Austria (9 August 1872 – 6 July 1962)
• Archduke László of Austria (16 July 1875 – 6 September 1895)
• Archduchess Elisabeth Klothilde of Austria (9 March 1883–8 February 1958)
• Archduchess Klothilde of Austria (9 May 1884 – 14 December 1903)

Ancestry

References