From one of our fellow posters living in Romania comes the following question:
"Does anybody know what happened to Archduke Franz Ferdinand's children (expecially with Sophie) after his & his wife's assassination in 1914? the only thing i found over the internet is that she got married in 1920 to some count, but that's about all. i remember they 'used' her in one of episode of 'The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones'."
This was discussed here once before I believe.
Sophie Marie Franziska Antonia Ignatia Alberta
b.Konopischt 24 Jul 1901
d.Thannhausen 27 Oct 1990)
m.Tetschen 8 Sep 1920 Friedrich Gf von Nostitz-Rieneck b.Prague 1 Nov 1891 d.Graz 29 Dec 1973
[Has descendants]
Maximilian Karl Franz Michael Hubert Anton Ignatius Joseph Maria Herzog von Hohenberg
b.Schloß Belvedere 29 Sep 1902
d.Vienna 8 Jan 1962
m.Wolfegg 16 Nov 1926 Elisabetha Bona Gfn von Waldburg zu Wolfegg u.Waldsee
b.Waldsee 10 Aug 1904
d.Salzburg 13 Mar 1993
[Has descendants--one of whom is married to a daughter of the late GDss Charlotte of Luxemburg]
Ernst Alfons Franz Ignaz Joseph Maria Anton
b. Konopischt 27 May 1904
d.Graz 5 Mar 1954
m.Vienna 25 May 1936 Marie-Therese Wood
b. Vienna 9 May 1910 d.Radmer 28 Nov 1985
[Has descendants]
At the time of their assassination, Sophie's family became the guardians, I believe, of the children. Alternately, I've heard that Sophie, Maximilian and Ernst were raised by Maria Teresa of Bragança, Infanta of Portugal , the 3rd wife of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria whose 2nd wife was FF mother. (Perhaps a joint custody kind of thing?) Karl I (their first cousin) , also looked after the welfare of the chldren during his brief reign. FF had been wealthy, with large holdings both in Bohemia & Austria, as well s inheriting a good amount from a distant relative. Unfortunately, after WW1 Bohemia became part of the new nation of Czechoslovakia & the government nationalized most of the properties there on the grounds that they were Crown property (which seeing as how FF purchased them and he never wore the crown seems a stretch). I don't know if they kept the Austrian estates afterward though. However, because they were excluded from the succession and therefore not barred by the law of exile they were allowed to remain in Austria. Sophie married Count Nostitz when she was 19 and lived a pretty happy marital life. Fate tossed her some more tragedies though. She had 3 sons & a daughter. One son was KIA in WWII, another died in a Soviet POW camp. The couple also had a stillborn son in 1908. During the 1930s, Maximilian and Ernst led the Austrian monarchist party which had as its goal the restoration of their cousin Archduke Otto (very generous seeing as how if not for their mother's birth, they would've been the heirs to the throne--I guess that shows there wasn't bad blood there) to the throne. They were also fierce opponents of Nazism and were arrested in March 1938 by the German authorities and interned in Dachau.
Most of the Hohenbergs and their descendants seem to have done well, leading productive and often distinguished lives. For example, Max's younger son, Georg, 3rd Duke von Hohenberg was named
Austrian ambassador to the Holy See in 1988. (Quite a nice spot for a good Catholic!).
Remebering what has been quoted as FF's last words to his already-dead wife,"Sophie! Don't die! Live for our children!" it's just too sad. Despite FF's faults he was a devoted family man and they were a happy little group despite the slights Sophie had to contend with. It was due in part to this marital happiness that I believe she accompanied him on that fateful trip.
