The Daughters of Leopld II of Belgium

[Svetabel]

Louise & Stéphanie (the sisters were very close and saw much of each other in Vienna despite Queen Marie Henriette's repeated efforts to separate them. Between themselves they use the nicknames "Ulyse" and "Stiena") :

I wonder why Queen Marie Henriette tried to separate her daughters??

[Agneschen]

She thought that Louise was too frivolous, too much of a flirt, spent too much money, had "bad" readings and played with her reputation. She feared that her influence on her sister might be bad. She warned Stéphanie in her letters to avoid her sister but Stéphanie loved Louise and stood by her.

[Agneschen]

Did Stephanie keep her daughter with her after her marriage to Lonyay or did she have to leave her in Vienna?

Did they (Stephanie and her daughter) have much to do with the Austrian court after Rudolf's death?  

Since she was remarrying a non-royal, Stéphanie lost her imperial title and was not allowed to keep her daughter with her. The Emperor's granddaughter could not be raised by a mere count & countess Lonyay (Elemer was only created prince in 1917 by Emperor Karl I). Erzsi was thus placed under the care of her grandfather until her own wedding to Otto von Windish-Graetz.
The Lonyays had no contact with court and lived mostly on their Hungarian estate of Oroszvàr. However Stéphanie never forgot that she was a king's daughter and always behaved in consequence. They received a lot and were said to entertain in great style - among their guests in Oroszvàr were Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his morganatic wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg. Sophie was snobbed by many people at court but Stéphanie welcomed her and treated her with kindness, for which Franz Ferdinand was very grateful. Stéphanie and Franz Ferdinand shared the same kind of situation : both were royal, had married for love outside their circle and enjoyed cloudless marriages. (Franz Joseph and King Léopold II had apparently hoped that, after she became a widow, Stéphanie would consider remarriage to Franz Ferdinand but this was not to be).

[grandduchessella]

Thanks agneschen. Clementine is my favorite of the daughters. I always found her love story with Victor Napoleon very touching. Thankfully that old goat LII (detestable man!) finally died and they were allowed to marry and have a family.

Marie-Henriette wasn't an affectionate mother to say the least. Only after the death of their only son was she basically ordered back into LII's bed to try and have another son--Clementine was the result. I wonder if this had any bearing on her treatment of her daughter?

[YaBB_Jose]

Clementine is ot a very common name among royalty.
Was she named after her gr.aunt Clémentine of Orléans ?
Does anybody know if she was her God-mother ?

[YaBB_Jose]

 Only after the death of their only son was she basically ordered back into LII's bed to try and have another son--Clementine was the result. I wonder if this had any bearing on her treatment of her daughter?

It's ironic that Leopold would have lost his only son with M.Henriette but he got two sons with his mistress Blanche Delacroix, baroness de Vaughan.
Are there any photos of her and her sons ?

[Svetabel]

Thanks for info, Agneschen! I did not know that Stephanie treated well Sophie of Hohenberg.

[grandduchessella]

Yes, Stephanie, along with GV & QM and (somewhat surprisingly) Kaiser Wilhelm II all treated Sophie well.

Stephanie maintained close ties with England and was close to QV who supported her in her controversial 2nd marriage. One of the prominent wreaths, with a touching message, at QV's funeral was from Stephanie.

[Svetabel]

Stephanie in idyllic picture with her spouse and his parents, Franz Joseph and Elisabeth.

[thijs]

Stephanie

I think this is the loveliest portrait I have seen of princess Stephanie. I remember reading a book about Sisis daughters. It appaered to me that she was not liked neither by Kronprinz Rudolph, nor his sisters or his mother Sisi. I wonder why was that because she seems to me like a nice woman.

[Agneschen]

You are right. Stéphanie seems to have been disliked by many at the Austrian court, especially by her mother-in-law who said she was ashamed of her and that she looked like a dromedary (Stéphanie may not have been as beautiful as Sisi but she was certainly not ugly). Her sister-in-law Marie Valerie was not fond of her either - as for Gisela, I do not know what her opinion on her was.
Stéphanie also seems to have been despised by history and is always presented in bios on Rudolf as a nagging egocentric opportunistic and proud little princess - very unjustly IMO. She was human and had her faults of course. But I think she was dutiful and took her role as crown princess of Austria-Hungary in a very serious way (something her mother-in-law refused even to consider). Maybe she failed in bringing peace and stability in Rudolf's life (though they seem to have been quite happy together during the 1st years of their marriage) but we musn't forget that she was a mere childish unexperimented 16 year old when she was married to one of the most unstable (to say the least) and unbalanced of men. According to me NO ONE could have delt with Rudolf. People blamed her for not producing a male heir but it was Rudolf who infected her with the gonnorea which left her sterile. And I admire the way she refused of being deprived of her happiness and fought to remarry to count Lonyay.

Personally I find her a very interesting character. There is a very good bio of her by Irmgard Schiel.

[thijs]

Thanks Agneschen, I will try to get a hold on her bio. She was almost still a child then, when she married Rudolph and Rudolph himself suffered his whole life from not being loved by his mother. Sisi had had the same faith, also aged sixteen married to the Austrian emperor. I guess Sisi couldn`t change destiny for her daughter in law.

[Agneschen]

I guess Empress Elisabeth did not even try ! She was against the projected match between Rudolf & Stéphanie. She seems to have disliked her daughter-in-law right from the first and did absolutely nothing to please or help her or made her fell welcome though Stéphanie was a mere child when she arrived at the Viennese court.

[YaBB_Jose]

I guess Empress Elisabeth did not even try ! She was against the projected match between Rudolf & Stéphanie. She seems to have disliked her daughter-in-law right from the first and did absolutely nothing to please or help her or made her fell welcome though Stéphanie was a mere child when she arrived at the Viennese court.

Had Sissi someone in sight for Rudolf ( maybe any bavarian cousin ) or didn't she even bother with whoever he might marry ?

What was the cause of her dislike towards Stephanie ?
Didn't she consider the Saxe-Coburgs some royal upstarts ?

[Agneschen]

Several princesses were considered as potential brides for Rudolf but I do not know if Elisabeth had a word in it. I guess she did not really care.
She probably despised the Coburgs for what she considered their thirst for power (when her own dream was to remain far away from people and to be left in peace). She did not get along at all with her sister-in-law Charlotte who was Stéphanie's aunt. She dismissed both Charlotte and Stéphanie as proud and conceited.