Archduke Albrecht (1817-95), and his family

[Clelia]

Thank you MarieCharlotte! You are an angel.

About the short hair, I found out that in old times, when the illness was long, they used to cut the patient's hair short, especially in women, because that way it was easy to take care of it. After all, long hair needed a lot of attention. Besides, it was believed that hair combing in a weakened patient would cause her or his collapse.
And the hair was shaved completely in the case of a fever, so that the brain could get "some air"

[Linnie]

Has anyone noticed the error in the subject? I think that the year of her death should be 1867, and not 1967.

[Imperial_Grounds]

I noticed -

I always found her death so terrible and tragic. First came to know about her, and her death, in the Miniseries 'Sophie - Sissi's Kleine Schwester' about Sophie, Duchess D'Allencon, who died in Paris 1897 during a fire in  a charity bazar as is probably known here. There Elisabeth is briefly mentioned and Sophie is shown as a woman in love with a commoner - which was true - and forced into marriage with the duke, also her betrothal with Ludwig II of Bavaria is shown. Rather a good series, but like the Sissi-movies, highly romanticized. As for Mathilde's appearance in it. Sophie and her mother attended a ball and there Sophie found Mathilde sad and alone, Mathilde and Sophie spoke about Mathilde's treatment after it was found out she had an affair with a commoner and then Ludovika took her daughter away. Then we see Mathilde lighting a cigarette and her dress getting on fire, people watch by terrified. Then Sophie and her mother witness shocked. After this Mathilde's burial is shown and an announcement of her death is called.

Could anyone verify the fact that she had an affair? Just curious to know if this is true.

[synnadene]

I don't know why everybody search always for affairs and illegitimate children in the royals life. Maybe she had a secret love, it is her secret and it is not fair to think/talk about it, I think.

I don't want to hurt you personally, but I'm fed up with this "letstalkaboutherprivatesecrets" things, sorry. :-(

[Imperial_Grounds]

It's alright - I just wanted to know if that series is correct on it, nothing else.

[synnadene]

This is what I talk about: NOBODY can give you the right answer, because Mathilde hadn't got an OFFICIAL fiancée. If she was in love with somebody (morganatic), it was a secret.
(But we know, that the Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Tuscany loved her, maybe somebody can say, if Mathilde loved him too (?) or planned to marry him or so..)

[Imperial_Grounds]

Probably - I must say I have been researching it myself and did not find something that tells she had a relationship whatsoever, that is why I asked here. I don't know what to believe, but in the end all those whou would have known about it are gone now and thus we will never know if such a thing occured. Which in the end might be best, let it all rest.

[paola]

I read Mathilde was intended to marry the future king Humberto I of Italy. If true, had Mathilde  lived, Ludwig Salvator of Tuscany would have lost her  too.

[paola]

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.

Archduchess Mathilde's accident happened on 22nd May and she died two weeks and one day later,  on 6th June

[MarieCharlotte]

Archduchess Mathilde's accident happened on 22nd May and she died two weeks and one day later,  on 6th June

Yes, that's true. Three years ago I didn't have access to the Wiener Zeitung which published the bulletins of Mathilde's doctors.

[Zukunftsseele]

2 weeks... Poor Mathilde had to suffer a long time. She must have suffered massive pain. 

[Ella1886]

What amazes me is how her death was subsequently (possibly only once) used in England to promote 'Bryant and May's Patent Safety Matches'
It seems so typical of modern culture where companies and advertisers try to cash in on everything that happens in the news.

[Trianon]

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.

I've also read in a book about the Albertina that the accident happened there in a small room of here apartment and that she was wearing a evening-dress for a theater-presentation. So there are many different theories of the accident. Maybe because the informations were to less? At this time, nobody knows exactelly what happened to her, except the royal family.

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

What horrible story!! I've read that in other place and I couldn't believe that she hide a cigarrete
on her dress, poor lady, two weeks of a lot of pain :'-(

[Carolath Habsburg]

Hildegard, Mathilde and Maria Theresia.

A neat version of this picture courtesy of the ONB