Fürst Ernst von Hohenberg (1944-2023), Grandson of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

 

Fürst Ernst Georg von Hohenberg passed away on 12 January 2023. He was seventy-eight years-old. Ernst was the last surviving grandson of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Duchess Sophie von Hohenberg. Now, the only surviving grandchild of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie is Fürst Ernst's first cousin, Baroness Sophie von Gudenus (b.1929; née Countess von Nostitz-Rieneck)

Fürst Ernst and Fürstin Marie-Thérèse.

Born on 1 March 1944 at Vienna, Fürst Ernst Georg Elemer Albert Josef Antonius Peregrinus Rupertus Maria von Hohenberg was the second son and child of Fürst Ernst von Hohenberg (1904-1954) and Fürstin Marie-Thérèse (1910-1985; née Wood). Ernst joined an older brother, Fürst Franz Ferdinand (1937-1978; married Heide Zechling). 

Franz Ferdinand and Sophie with their three children: Sophie, Maximilian, and Ernst.

The paternal grandparents of Ernst were Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (1863-1914) and Duchess Sophie von Hohenberg (1868-1914; née Countess Chotek von Chotkow und Wognin). As is well known, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, then heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Sophie on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo was the catalyst that led to World War I. The maternal grandparents of Ernst were Captain George Jervis Wood (1887-1958) and Baroness Rosa Lónyay de Nagy-Lónya et Vásáros-Namény (1888-1971).

On 31 August 1973 at Radmer, Fürst Ernst von Hohenberg married Patricia Annette Caesar (b.1950), the daughter of Arthur M. Caesar and Selma Anne Maguire. Ernst and Patricia celebrated their religious marriage on 2 September 1973. The next year, the couple welcome the birth of their only child, Fürstin Eva Anne Marie von Hohenberg, on 1 December 1974 at Graz. Fürst Ernst and Fürstin Patricia divorced in 1999. Their daughter Furstin Eva married Alessandro Geromella in 2005; the pair divorced in 2008. Eva is now happily engaged to Peter Eduard Meier. In 2007, Fürst Ernst remarried to Margareta Anna Ndisi (b.1959). 

Since 1976 until his passing, Fürst Ernst resided in the hunting castle at Radmer in Styria, Austria.

On 28 January 2023, a Requiem Mass for Fürst Ernst von Hohenberg will be held at the Pfarrkirche Artstetten. His burial will be in the vault of Schloss Artstetten on 28 January 2023.

May He Rest In Peace.