Archduke Albrecht (1817-95), and his family

Here's a new post on Archduchess Mathilde of Austria-Hungary. She was born in Vienna on the 25th of january 1849. Her parents were Archduke Albrecht of Austria-Hungary (1817-1895) and Princess Hildegarde of Wittelsbach, Princess of Bavaria and daughter of King Ludwig I (therefore a sister of Maximilian II Josef of Bavaria and Otto I of Greece. Archduke Albrecht was also Duke (Herzog) of Teschen, and was the uncle of Maria Cristina of Habsburg-Lorraine, who became Queen of Spain in 1879. Little has been written so far about Mathilde. She ahd an elder sister, Maria Theresia (1845-1927) and a deceased elder brother, Karl Albrecht Ludwig (1847-1848) who, had he lived, would have inherited the dukedom of Teschen.  Maria Theresia married  Duke Philipp of Württemberg in 1865 and had five children between 1865 and 1877. Of her three sons, two married Austrian archduchesses, while the other remained single. Of her two daughters, one never married and the other married Johann Georg of Saxony, but had no children.
Mathilde was unofficially betrothed when she was a teenager to her distant cousin Ludwig Salvator of Tuscanny, son of Leopold II of Tuscanny. Negotiations apparently came to nothing, and she was thus again betrothed to the Hereditary Prince of Italy, the future Umberto I, which would close the secret treaty negotiations performed between Rome and Vienna. On June 6th 1867 she attended a ball Hertzendorf, Austria, and she lit a cigarette. Not long after her father (according to Daniel de Rauglaudre, her governess) surprised her and she hid it between the foldings of her dress or sleeve. The fabric evidently caught fire, and she was unable to put it out. Tragically, she died before the guests, including her old adolescence sweetheart Ludwig Salvator, who from then on led a sad, emotionless life and retired discreetly to his Palace named "Miramar" (not to be confused with that one at Trieste) in Majorca (Spain). He was thought as a good candidate for his widowed niece, the dowager Countess of Girgenti and Princess of Asturias, María Isabel Francisca of Spain, but again, negotiations came to nothing. Archduke Albrecht survived his son, youngest daughter and wife, dying in 1895. He was a brave soldier and a quiet man. He became field marshal in 1888.

Here are a couple of pictures of the people I've just mentioned:

Mathilde before her terrible death at 18.




Her father, Archduke Albrecht:




His eldest daughter Maria Theresia, later Princess of Württemberg:






Prince Philipp of Württemberg, Mathilde's brother-in-law








Any more on her please?

How very awful Thomas... so what I've read isn't true, she didn't die at a ball before her ex-fiancé? Hmmm... I've heard several versions of her death I really don't know which to believe... However it happened, it was a most terrible way to die.
Here's a photo of her little brother's tomb, probably beside hers or near hers.

cimbrio, you are so knowlegable!! What a tragic story!! Poor Mathilde . . . she went to those lengths just to not be seen smoking by her father . . .

Thea Leitner writes in her book "Habsburgs vergessene Kinder"( translate "Habsburgs forgotten children") at page 256 about the accident.
The clothes burned ablaze because the skirt of musselin was impregnate with glycerin.So the clothes had more volume and were puffed out. But what a tragedy for the young girl.

Thanks Rita. Gosh, poor girl... Ihadno idea about that... this is getting interesting though, keep them coming please..any images?

Quite sad indeed and eerie in light of Sophie of Bavaria (Duchess of Alencon, Sisi's sister) dying in a fire as well when her skirt caught fire at that charity bazaar.  

  Unrelated to royalty but similar in incident-- the wife of poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, also died in this tragic manner.

Here is a short excerpt from an internet bio of the poet:

In 1861, the happy life of the family came to an end. Longfellow's wife died of burns she received when packages of her children's curls, which she was sealing with matches and wax, burst into flame. Longfellow faced the bitterest tragedy of his life. He found some solace in the task of translating Dante into English and went to Europe for a change of scene.

Those long skirts were a hazard and caused many a tragic death, I am sure.

Can somebody post me pics about the Archduchess Hildegard, wife of Archduke Albrecht, born princess of Bavaria?

Are there any of them in colour?

Hildegard, Mathilde and Maria Theresia.

Thank you MarieCharlotte!!!!!!!!!!!! The pics are enthralling!  

MarieCharlotte, you are great! Where do you get those wonderful photo's?!
Post some other, please!!!

Daniela

Daniela, especially for you ...  



Mathilde, Hildegard, Albrecht and Maria Theresia.

That is a very tragic story, very sad. Did her father disaprove of smoking, did she regularly smoke or not? Back then, it was not considered unhealthful, but it was considered unproper for ladies to smoke most of the time. It is too bad she died like that, a kind of freak accident. You would think a ball would have been a safe place.

On June 6th 1867 she attended a ball Hertzendorf, Austria, and she lit a cigarette. Not long after her father (according to Daniel de Rauglaudre, her governess) surprised her and she hid it between the foldings of her dress or sleeve. The fabric evidently caught fire, and she was unable to put it out. Tragically, she died before the guests, including her old adolescence sweetheart Ludwig Salvator ...

That's not true. Mathilde attended a ball in the famous Weilburg in Baden near Vienna. Nobody knows the exact date of her accident. But you could read in the newspaper "Badener Wochenblatt" on May 26th 1867 that Archduchess Mathilde had a terrible accident. As the newspaper was published weekly, the accident must have happend between 17. and 24. May.
We actually don't know who of the guests saw Mathilde when her dress was in flames - maybe Ludwig was with her. Mathilde smoked secretly in a seperate room, so I guess there weren't many poeple around her.
After the incident Mathilde was brought to Schloss Hetzendorf near Vienna. Her skin was treated with water and creme which contained lead. She sufferd a lot. On June 6th 1867 - a week, maybe even two, after her accident - she died in Hetzendorf.