An Imperial Union That Was Not To Be: Archduke Karl of Austria and (now) Archduchess Camilla of Austria

Archduke Karl and Archduchess Camilla of Austria, 2019.

Photo (c) IMAGO / Viennareport.

In the late 1980s or early 1990s, Archduke Karl of Austria (b.1961) was in a relationship with his distant cousin Camilla Habsburg-Lothringen (b.1962). Karl was the eldest son and heir of Archduke Otto of Austria, Crown Prince of Hungary, and his wife Archduchess Regina (née Princess of Saxe-Meiningen). Camilla was the only child of Maximilian Habsburg-Lothringen, called Prince of Florence, and his wife Doris Williams. According to reports, Archduke Karl wished to marry Camilla. However, she was not of equal rank and possessed no noble title, despite her illustrious Habsburg ancestry. Although the timeline of subsequent events is not definitely established, Archduke Otto of Austria upgraded Habsburg morganauts to the rank of Count and Countess of Habsburg around 1990. It is believed that Otto took this step so that Karl could wed Camilla, who would now qualify as a noble spouse (if not totally "equal"). Alas, Karl and Camilla did not become engaged and they ended their relationship. In 1993, Archduke Karl married Baroness Francesca von Thyssen-Bornemisza; the couple are now divorced. Countess Camilla never married. In 2013, Archduke Karl of Austria sent a letter to members of the Habsburg family notifying them that they were now Archdukes and Archduchesses of Austria. This upgrade likely only applied to those members of the family who had already been upgraded to become Counts and Countesses of Habsburg in 1990. As a result of this letter, Countess Camilla of Habsburg (née Habsburg-Lothringen), Archduke Karl's onetime love, became Archduchess Camilla of Austria. Although there are no photographs of Karl and Camilla during their long-ago courtship, the couple did meet in February 2019 at Vienna for the International Conference on The Future of Europe hosted by the Pan-European Movement.

Archduke Karl of Austria and Archduchess Camilla of Austria. Photo (c) IMAGO / Viennareport.

To learn more about Archduke Karl of Austria, one may visit his website: Karl von Habsburg.

To learn more about Archduchess Camilla of Austria, one may read this article: Interview with Camilla Habsburg-Lothringen: Culture as a binding factor in our society