Archduke Albrecht (1817-95), and his family

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.

It was allowed to smoke in public since the revolution of 1848. At the beginning of the 1860's smoking came into fashion. But, of course, only men had the permission to smoke. If a woman smoked, she was compared to a prostitute. Just image: An Archduchess, member of the Imperial Family of Habsburg, was smoking ...   This was absolutely impossible.

Here's a photo of her little brother's tomb, probably beside hers or near hers.

The tomb of Archduke Karl Albrecht, Mathilde's elder brother, stands between the tombs of Mathilde and Archduke Leopold Salvator, Prince of Tuscany.

Mathilde's tomb is located next to the one of her mother, Archduchess Hildegarde, too.

Mathilde on her deathbed

It was nice to see the pictures of her; she wasn't a great beauty, but her looks were typical of that family. I did think smoking would be considered improper for a high ranking royal lady at that point in time. I guess she paid a very high price for just wanting to smoke.

Empress Elisabeth & her sister Queen Marie of Naples both smoked. It has not been established whether they did it because they liked it or just to annoy their mothers-in-law though.  

Yes, perhaps they did just do it to annoy their mothers in law. Mathilde must have done it because she actually liked to, I imagine. I'm not saying high ranking royal women didn't smoke, they did, but it was considered improper in public.

Could someone please repost the pictures that dissapeared? I would love to see them...

Could someone please repost the pictures that dissapeared? I would love to see them...

Guess you should ask Marie Charlotte ; )

Dear Veronica,

sorry that it took some time, but here are a few pictures of Archduchess Mathilde:





with her parents Archduchess Hildegard and Archduke Albrecht and her sister Marie Therese





with mother Archduchess Hildegard (née Princess of Bavaria) and sister Archduchess Marie Therese



Mathilde shortly before her death

Oh MarieCharlotte thank you very much!!!
You're very kind!

All new pictures for me :-)  I specially like the one of her with the dogs.

Thank you again!

What a pretty girl and what a horrible way to die.

 My own great great Grandmother as a child wandered too close to the fireplace and her long skirt went up in an instant.  There was no time...so her Father beat out the flames with his hands. Yes, I think this happened more than We think of....

Terrible accident, in one of my books there is a picture of Archduchess Mathilde on her death-bed and she has very short hair there (like a short hair cut), whereas the picture here still shows her with longer hair, maybe it all was destroyed by the flames...oh dear...

In the 1860's Women smoking was badly seen not only at the Viennese court but also throughout the different European countries. Women who smoked went to the "smokers" room at the castle or hid someplace. It is plausible that Archduchess Mathilde's robe caught fire while secretly smoking appart from anyone that could help her.

Someone mentioned Princess Sophie Charlotte of Bavaria, later Duchesse d'Alencon, as another royal relative of Mathilde who died as a result of fire.   Though not a contemporary of Mathilde, one might also mention Archduke Alexander Leopold (1772-1795), the fourth son of Emperor Leopold II of Austria, who died of accidental burns acquired while arranging a fireworks display at Laxenburg Castle at the age of 23.

Perhaps the truly lethal thing about accidental fires back in those times was the lack of readily available fire extinguishing equipment, as well as lack of appropriate medical attention, more so than flammable clothing.

I think she  was treated with olive oil baths but to no effrect. She must have suffered a lot. She lived around two weeks after the accident and it is a sad that no medical treatment could save her during these weeks. I also saw a her deathbed picture and she had short hair. Maybe they were burned , but her face doesn't look burned. I think she had heavy burns mostly in her body.