Archduke Friedrich (1856-1936) and his family

Would like to start a thread on Princess Isabella of Croy
who married Archduke Fredrick of Austria.  Pictures of her and her family (Children, Brother, Sisters,Mother &
Father). and any information you might have on her life before and after her marriage.  Thanks

Archduchess Isabella of Austria, Duchess of Teschen

Archduke Friedrich of Austria, Duke of Teschen


With grandchildren in 1917

Isabella, Princess of Croy (1856-1931)

daughter of Rudolf, 11th Duke of Croy and Prince de Solre and Princess Nathalie de Ligne

m. (1878) Archduke Friedrich Maria Albrecht of Austria (1856-1936), senior and richest archduke

son of Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria and Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria

Children:  (8 daughters, followed by 1 son!)

*Maria Christina (1879-1962) m. Prince Manuel of Salm-Salm
*Maria Anna (1882-1940) m. Prince Elias of Bourbon-Parma
*Maria Henriette (1883-1956) m. Prince Gottfried of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingfurst
*Natalie (1884-1898)
*Stephanie (1886-1890)
*Gabriele (1887-1954)
*Isabella (1888-1973) m. Prince George Franz of Bavaria
*Maria Alice (1893-1962) m. Baron Friedrich Waldbott von Bassenheim
*Albrecht (1897-1955) m. 3 times

Archduke Friedrich of Austria, Duke of Tuscany

He was not Duke of Tuscany. He was Duke of Teschen.

Once, after the emperor's nephew, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, had visited her home, which he regularly did, he left behind a locket of some sort.  Isabella opened it, expecting to find a picture of one of her daughters, who everyone thought Franz Ferdinand was wooing.  Instead, she found the picture of her her faithful lady in waiting, Countess Sophie Chotek.  Needless to say, Isabella was shocked and immediately sent the poor woman away, which would only be the beginning of Sophie's misfortunes.

He was not Duke of Tuscany. He was Duke of Teschen.

Oops!!  

I've fixed it now....

Isabella's daughter, Maria Christina, Princess of Salm-Salm


Maria Anna and her husband, Prince Elias of Bourbon-Parme


Isabella's children: left, Maria Christina, Gabriele, Henriette, Albert, Isabella, and up front, Maria Alice

Isabella was the daughter of Rudolf Maximilian Konstantin, Duke of Croÿ (1823 - 1902) and his first wife Natalie, Princess de Ligne (1835 - 1863) who died shortly after she had given birth to her youngest daughter.

Isabella was born on February 27th 1856 in Dülmen (Münsterland). She had three sisters (Eugénie 1854-1889, Anna 1857-1893 and Natalie 1863-1957) and a brother (Karl Alfred 1859-1906).
She married Archduke Friedrich, eldest son of Archduke Karl Ferdinand and Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska, at L'Hermitage/Belgium on October 8th 1878. Friedrich was adopted by his uncle Albrecht who didn't have a son himself. That's why Friedrich was very rich.
They had nine children - two daughters died quite young.

The family spent a lot of time at their beautiful castle Halbthurn.

After WW I Isabella and Friedrich had to leave for Switzerland (April 1919) and then for Hungary (1921).
Since 1919 Isabella wanted her only son Albrecht to become King of Hungary.

Isabella loved to take photos. A lot of them can be seen in the great, but rare photobook "Ein Photoalbum aus dem Hause Habsburg".

Isabella became quite fat when sie grew older and so many people called her "Busabella" (there's the German word "Busen" in it which means "breast").

She died in Budapest on September 5th 1931 and was laid to rest at the Church of St. Gotthard in Ungarisch-Altenburg.

I read that Isabella was quite an arrogant and quarrelsome lady. Is this correct?

It's a funny coincidence (?), but I wrote some information about the photographs of/by Isabella on an other thread (Royal Palace Budapest/Habsburgs or sg. like that), so I just copy/paste my reply from saturday for those who are interested:

"By the way, the most interesting photographic documents of (other) "Hungarian" Habsburgs are the pictures from the family of Archduke Friedrich (1856-1936) (from the Teschen line - I mean the line of Archduchess Maria Christina, daughter of Maria Theresia and husband Albrecht von Teschen). His wife, Isabella, princess of Croy was a talented photographer, who documentes almost every moment of their everyday life in their residences in Féltorony (today Halbturm, Austria) and Pozsony (aka Pressburg, today Bratislava, Slovakia - this palace was built in the 18th century by the Grassalkovich family - the builders of Gödöllö, now it's the residence of the President of Slovakia).
At least 150 photos are published (there's a Hungarian and  German edition):
Ein Photoalbum aus dem Hause Habsburg / Vilmos Heiszler, Margit Szakács, Károly Vörös ; Übers. v. Therese Töttösy, Budapest, Corvina Kiadó / Wien ; Köln ; Graz : Böhlau Verlag Gesellschaft m. b. H. und Co. KG., 1989
ISBN: 3205051971
(Copies are available online for 20-27 Euros; but here in Budapest copies of the German edition are usually appear on booksales for less then 3 Euros   ) "

So the best thing to do is to get the book, or I can scan some (or all) of the pics...  

or I can scan some (or all) of the pics...  

Oh, that would be so great!!

Please do!Was Sophie Chotek one of her ladies in waiting?

Yes, Sophie was her lady-in-waiting.

I read that Isabella was quite an arrogant and quarrelsome lady. Is this correct?

They remind me of Vladimir and Miechen, in Russia.