Archduchess Yolande of Austria (née Princesse Yolande Marie Jeanne Charlotte de Ligne; 6 May 1923 – 13 September 2023) was a Belgian princess 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 t ...

, and an Austrian archduchess by her marriage to the

Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria Archduke Karl Ludwig Josef Maria of Austria (30 July 1833 – 19 May 1896) was the younger brother of both Franz Joseph I of Austria and Maximilian I of Mexico, and the father of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (1863–1914), whose assassinat ...

, being the daughter of Eugène, 11th Prince of Ligne and Princess Philippine de Noailles.

Family

Yolande was born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

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 Belœil A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaki ...

, Belgium (the

family seat A family seat, 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 t ...

of the

), 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 I, the last monarch of Austria-Hungary. She was also the last Empress o ...

, 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 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 in a couple ...

ed in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, eventually settling in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where Carl Ludwig worked for the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

. They had four children: *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 (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

with the style of ''

Serene Highness His/Her Serene Highness (abbreviation: HSH, second person address: Your Serene Highness) is a style (manner of address), style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Thailand. Until 1918, it was also associated with the p ...

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

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

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. Yolande

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

on 6 May 2023. She died in Brussels on 13 September 2023 and was buried in the

Imperial Crypt The Imperial Crypt (), also called the Capuchin Crypt (''Kapuzinergruft''), is a burial chamber beneath the Capuchin Church and monastery in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in 1618 and dedicated in 1632, and located on the Neuer Markt square of ...

in Vienna.

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 An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic disc ...

'', 64 (July 1989): 171–78. {{DEFAULTSORT:Yolande Of Austria, Archduchess 1923 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Roman Catholics House of Ligne Princesses of Ligne Austrian princesses Belgian women centenarians Belgian expatriates in Spain Belgian people of French descent Belgian Roman Catholics