Karl von Habsburg (given names: ''Karl Thomas Robert Maria Franziskus Georg Bahnam''; born 11 January 1961) is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n politician and the head of the

House of Habsburg-Lorraine The House of Habsburg-Lorraine () originated from the marriage in 1736 of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and Maria Theresa of Habsburg monarchy, Austria, later successively List of Bohemian monarchs, Queen ...

, the former royal house of the defunct Austro-Hungarian thrones. As a citizen of the Republic of Austria, his legal name is Karl Habsburg-Lothringen. Karl is the son of Otto von Habsburg and Regina von Sachsen-Meiningen, and the grandson of the last

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

emperor, Charles I. He is head and sovereign of the Austrian

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (, ) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in 1430 in Brugge by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal. T ...

. Karl Habsburg served as a

member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

for the

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party ( , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest p ...

(1996–1999). He is known for being

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

and is also an advocate for the Pan-European movement. Karl Habsburg's career has focused on the issue of protecting

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...

from threats such as armed conflict and natural disasters. He was president of the cultural protection organization

Blue Shield International The Blue Shield, formerly the International Committee of the Blue Shield, is an international organization founded in 1996 to protect the world's cultural heritage from threats such as armed conflict and natural disasters. Originally intended as ...

from 2008 until August 2020. In 1992/1993, he hosted a TV

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

with Austrian public TV broadcaster ORF, called ''Who Is Who''.Ansichtssache: Ranking der Absonderlichkeiten im ORF
, 27 December 2005

Early life and background

Karl Habsburg was born on 11 January 1961 in

Starnberg Starnberg is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany, some southwest of Munich. It is at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the "Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the Starnberg (district), district of Starnberg. Recor ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. He was baptised in Pöcking, Bavaria, as Archduke Karl of Austria (), the name entered in the baptismal records. At the time of his birth, his father was ''de facto'' stateless and possessed a Spanish

diplomatic passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's Identity (social science), identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign ...

(he had grown up in Spain), while his mother was a German citizen. Like his father and siblings, he was banished from Austria for the first years of his life. However, the administrative court of Austria later ruled that applying to return to the country was legal, and his family was granted visa entrance in June 1966.

House of Habsburg titles and issues

In 1961, Karl's father, Otto von Habsburg, renounced all claims to the defunct Austrian throne, as a necessary legal condition to being allowed to

return Return may refer to: In business, economics, and finance * Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense. * Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment * Tax return, a blank document or t ...

to Austria. Karl does not use his ancestral titles, because unlike most European countries, even the unofficial use of such titles is not permitted in Hungary and Austria. Habsburg says:

I don't refer to titles, I'm not that vain. People use these titles out of respect for history and the role of my family in history.

Although the Adelsaufhebungsgesetz (Law on the Abolition of the Nobility) abolished all Austrian and Hungarian noble, royal, and imperial titles in 1919, and their usage is still illegal in those countries, media elsewhere occasionally refer to Karl Habsburg by his ancestral titles ''Emperor of Austria, Hungary and Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia Apostolic king'' of Archduke of Austria, Royal Prince of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia. At the request of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, which was wary of a restoration of the monarchy, the anti-Habsburg laws became mandatory international and constitutional components of the Austrian State Treaty in 1955. The family tried to get their former property returned under rules for victims of the Nazi regime. The attempt of Karl Habsburg failed because the law of expropriation still has constitutional status. On 1 January 2007, his father relinquished his position as the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, a status which then devolved on Karl. In 2008, he became the Grand Master of the

Order of Saint George The Order of Saint George () is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. It was originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) as the highest military decoration of the Russian Empire for commiss ...

. As head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, Karl undertakes numerous commitments. On the one hand, these are cultural, historical, political, but also tourist events and, on the other hand, commitments to orders of chivalry, associations or military units. Many events, such as the participation in the peace flight in 2018 as a pilot with his plane, concerned the centenary of World War I. In 2019 there were many events in honor of his ancestor

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Maximilian I. He is supported in this work by an adjutant general.

Education

Between 1982 and 1989, Habsburg studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

University of Salzburg The University of Salzburg (, ), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university in Salzburg, Salzburg municipality, Salzburg (federal state), Salzburg State, ...

, passing his first '' staatsexamen'' in 1984; while there, he spent a year studying law and philosophy at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He received graduate degrees in business and law from IMADEC University in 2012.

Career

Military service

Karl Habsburg did his military service in 1981 as a platoon commander of a

Jäger (infantry) (; ; , ) is a German military term referring to specific light infantry units. In German-speaking states during the early modern era, the term ''jäger'' came to denote light infantrymen whose civilian occupations (mostly hunters and fores ...

platoon as a

one-year volunteer A one-year volunteer, short EF (German language, de: ''Einjährig-Freiwilliger''), was, in a number of national armed forces, a Conscription, conscript who agreed to pay his own costs for the procurement of equipment, food and clothing, in return ...

with the Austrian Armed Forces, where he later also completed his pilot training, He is a reserve (captain) in the

Austrian Air Force The Austrian Air Force () is a component part of the Austrian Armed Forces. Aircraft Current inventory History The Austrian Air Force in its current form was created in May 1955 by the victorious Allies of World War II, Allied powers ...

. He is also an Austrian Army Cultural Property Protection Officer, first with the staff of the Military Command of Salzburg, later with the Armed Forces High Command, currently with IHSW at Staff College. As a paratrooper, he was elected President of the European Military Paratroopers Association (Europäischer Militär- Fallschirmsprungverband e.V.) in 2001 - a role that he still holds today.

Activism

Since 1986, Karl Habsburg has been president of the Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union, which co-organised the Pan-European Picnic. In May 1990, Habsburg personally led an aid convoy to

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

with food, medicine and clothing as a representative of the Paneuropean Union, in response to the Soviet Union's blockade of raw materials following the proclamation of Lithuanian independence in March 1990. In 1991 he organized international aid against the destruction in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

and in the former Yugoslavia.Hans Haider
''Kulturgüterschutz: Karl Habsburg-Lothringen.''
In: ''

Wiener Zeitung ''Wiener Zeitung'' () is an Austrian newspaper. First published as the ''Wiennerisches Diarium'' in 1703, it is one of the oldest newspapers in the world. Until April 2023, it was the official gazette of the government of the Republic of Austria ...

,'' 29. Juni 2012, Archived on 9 Februar 2020.

European Parliament

In October 1996, Habsburg was elected as a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

(MEP) for Austria, representing the

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

On 19 January 2002, he was appointed Director General of UNPO ( Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization) by the UNPO Steering Committee. This position is separate from the "Secretary General" as the UNPO Website explains "This is a newly created senior position within the UNPO, aimed at further enhancing the fundamental rights of its Members world-wide."

Blue Shield

From 7 December 2008, he became the President of the Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield, a cultural protection organisation that later became Blue Shield International. Habsburg was a strong supporter of those who created the "No Strike List" of cultural heritage sites and cultural sites that should be preserved when attacks or flight operations were carried out. This particularly moved

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

troops to protect the cultural assets and the economic and cultural basis of the civilian population. Habsburg particularly supports the bringing together of military and civilian personnel and the cooperation of various international organizations for the protection of cultural assets, such as the Blue Shield, UNIFIL and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

deployment in Lebanon in 2019, and the cooperation with the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

in 2020. After the explosion in the port of Beirut in Lebanon in summer 2020, Habsburg helped coordinate the reconstruction and aid on site. He stepped down as President of the Blue Shield at the General Assembly in August 2020. Since 2010 he has been chairman of the advisory board of the Competence Center for Cultural Heritage and Cultural Property Protection at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. He delivers lectures and training courses worldwide on the role of the military in protecting cultural property, such as at the

United States Africa Command The United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM, U.S. AFRICOM, and AFRICOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense, headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. It is responsible for ...

, the Civil-Military Cooperation Centre of Excellence or the Theresian Military Academy. He emphasizes that it is crucial for cultural property protection to be on the spot quickly: "We know the importance to be fast and in a place where there is a potential conflict or an actual conflict; you have to be there really fast to make an assessment and to see what you can do to immediately help." The marriage received the dynastic authorization of Karl's father, as head of the House of Habsburg, despite objections from some members of the family as the bride, although a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

ess in the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

of pre-republican Hungary and Transylvania, did not descend in the canonically legitimate male line from a family of dynastic (ruling or formerly ruling or mediatised) status.Enache, Nicolas. ''La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg''. ICC, Paris, 1996, p. 50. (French). de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal and Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. ''Le Petit Gotha''. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 201–202 (French). . After 10 years of marriage, the couple separated in 2003. They divorced in 2017. Karl and Francesca have three children: * Eleonore Maria del Pilar Iona Christina Jelena (born 28 February 1994 in Salzburg). Married civilly to Jérôme d'Ambrosio on 20 July 2020. * Ferdinand Zvonimir Maria Balthus Keith Michael Otto Antal Bahnam Leonhard (born 21 June 1997 in Salzburg). * Gloria Maria Bogdana Paloma Regina Fiona Gabriela (born 15 October 1999 in Salzburg), her godmother is

Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis Gloria, Dowager Princess of Thurn and Taxis (''Mariae Gloria Ferdinanda Joachima Josephine Wilhelmine Huberta''; born Countess Gloria von Schönburg-Glauchau, 23 February 1960) is a German socialite, businesswoman, Catholic activist, art collec ...

. In the spring of 2022 in Portugal, Karl married Christian Nicolau de Almeida Reid, a woman of Portuguese descent. In March 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, he tested positive for the virus. Habsburg self-isolated at home. Karl von Habsburg was officially declared healthy after almost three weeks of quarantine. After his illness, Karl Habsburg encouraged everyone to follow the official protective measures strictly, and asked survivors of the disease to donate blood plasma.

Controversies

In July 1998 an Austrian court fined Karl von Habsburg 180,000 schillings ($14,300); he had failed to declare immediately to customs officials that he had an antique

diadem A diadem is a Crown (headgear), crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of Monarch, royalty. Overview The word derives from the Ancient Greek, Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", fro ...

in his luggage when he crossed the border from

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in July 1996. The diadem belonged to his wife who intended to wear it at a

wedding ceremony A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicities, races, religions, denominations, countries, social classes, and sexual orientations. Most wed ...

. Also in 1998, evidence emerged that during Habsburg's election campaign for membership in the European Parliament two years prior, his political party the

ÖVP The Austrian People's Party ( , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest p ...

, had benefited from at least 30,000

Marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...

worth of World Vision donations via Paneurope Austria while Karl Habsburg sat on the board of World Vision Austria, apparently without noticing the director's dubiously legal activities. His father exacerbated the controversy when he complained that his son was being attacked unfairly and drew a parallel between the name "Habsburg" and a

yellow badge The yellow badge, also known as the yellow patch, the Jewish badge, or the yellow star (, ), was an accessory that Jews were required to wear in certain non-Jewish societies throughout history. A Jew's ethno-religious identity, which would be d ...

. ÖVP did not nominate Karl von Habsburg again for the 1999 elections.. In 2004, Karl von Habsburg paid 37,000 euros to the new World Vision Austria branch.

Honours

Dynastic

: ** Sovereign and Grand Master of the

** Sovereign of the Order of the Starry Cross ** Sovereign and Grand Master of the

House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon that ruled Southern Italy and Sicily for more than a century in the 18th and 19th centuries. It descends from the Capetian dynasty in legitimate male line through Phili ...

: ** Knight of the

Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (; ), also historically referred to as the Imperial Constantinian Order of Saint George and the Order of the Constantinian Angelic Knights of Saint George, is a dynastic order of knighthood ...

National

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

: ** Knight Grand Cross, Special Class of The Most Devoted Royal Household Order of Tonga ** King Tupou VI Coronation Medal * :

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious ...

** Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Other

* Grand Master of the Military Order of Saint Sebastian in Europe (''Ritterschaft vom Heiligen Sebastianus in Europa'') * Supreme Bearer of the Couleur of the Austrian Catholic Student Fraternities ("katholisch-österreichischen Landsmannschaften") * Protector of the Order of Knights of Wine (''Ordo Equestris Vini Europae'') * ''Ehrenritter'' of the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

Ancestry

Notes

References

External links

*
Adjutant General of the House of Habsburg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Habsburg, Karl von 1961 births Living people Karl of Austria, Archduke Grand masters of the Order of the Golden Fleece Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria Knights of Malta Austrian Roman Catholics Austrian expatriates in Germany People from Starnberg MEPs for Austria 1996–1999 20th-century Austrian politicians Honorary knights of the Teutonic Order Exiled royalty Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization