Author Topic: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef  (Read 88670 times)

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Eugenie_of_Montijo

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Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« on: February 09, 2006, 06:10:47 AM »
...and mother of the emperor Franz Josef.

Have anyone pics on her?

:)

Offline Svetabel

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2006, 04:12:49 AM »
I am not sure where I shoul post this pic but just in case. :)

Archduchess Sophie and her spouse Franz Karl


Nathalie

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2006, 07:01:08 AM »
I wonder if anybody has some information about archduchess Sophie, the mother of Franz Jozef I. ? I only read about her in the context of "Sissy", so these books paint a pretty negative picture about her.
I know, that she gave up being an empress in favour of her son-by convincing her husband to abdicate. How was she?

Im sorry, if there is an other thread, I didn't find so far, but also my net connection is very slowly, so search engine is out of the question :(

Offline MarieCharlotte

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2006, 09:15:39 AM »
Dear Nathalie,



I don't know if you understand German, but there are a couple of nice books about Archduchess Sophie.
- Sophie, die heimliche Kaiserin by Gerd Holler
- Kaiserliche Kindheit by Conte Corti (a book about the childhood of Franz Joseph and his siblings)
- Briefe Franz Josephs an seine Mutter, 1838-1872 by Franz Schnürer (this book contains many letters written by Franz Joseph)
« Last Edit: January 22, 2010, 02:03:04 AM by Svetabel »
Ich aber breite trauernd aus
die weiten weissen Schwingen,
Und kehr' ins Feenreich nach Haus -
Nichts soll mich wieder bringen.


Elisabeth

Silja

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2006, 10:05:13 AM »
Also, Hellmut Andics, Die Frauen der Habsburger, has a chapter on Sophie.

Offline Marie Valerie

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2006, 10:48:03 AM »
Quote
Dear Nathalie,

there has already been a thread about the daughters of Maximilian I. Joseph of Bavaria. Maybe you are interested in it.

http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/YaBB.cgi?num=1134318092


I don't know if you understand German, but there are a couple of nice books about Archduchess Sophie.
- Sophie, die heimliche Kaiserin by Gerd Holler
- [highlight]Kaiserliche Kindheit by Conte Corti (a book about the childhood of Franz Joseph and his siblings)[/highlight]
- Briefe Franz Josephs an seine Mutter, 1838-1872 by Franz Schnürer (this book contains many letters written by Franz Joseph)


Isn't "Kaiserliche Kindheit" by Gabriele Praschl-Bichler?

Conte Cortis book is "Vom Kind zum Kaiser".  ;)

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Marie_Valerie »

Offline MarieCharlotte

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2006, 05:05:28 PM »
You're absolutely right, Marie Valérie.  ;)

Kaiserliche Kindheit contains extracts of the diary of Archduke Carl Ludwig when he was a child. It's also a very nice book and you can find some information about Sophie in it.

I enjoyed reading Vom Kind zum Kaiser very much. I think it's the only book in which you can learn more about little Archduchess Maria Anna, Sophie's only daughter.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by MarieCharlotte »
Ich aber breite trauernd aus
die weiten weissen Schwingen,
Und kehr' ins Feenreich nach Haus -
Nichts soll mich wieder bringen.


Elisabeth

Offline KarlandZita

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2006, 09:05:04 AM »
The mother of Franz Josef, the archduchess Sophie, contributed largely to his accession with the throne. Indeed, supported by soldiers and diplomats like Schwarzenberg, she could impose her son after the revolution of 1848, with the detriment of her own husband the archduke François Charles.

Born Princess of Bavaria, she was the sister of Ludovika and thus the maternal aunt of Elisabeth.

Here, archduchess Sophie as a young lady :




Her children in 1838 :


Franz Josef sitting on the wooden horse, Ferdinand Max future emperor of Mexico,
Carl Ludwig and archduchess Maria Pia

Archduchess Sophie a few years later :

« Last Edit: December 30, 2006, 09:09:07 AM by KarlandZita »
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Veronika

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2007, 12:40:45 PM »
Especially the first picture is beautiful! :)

Yseult

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2007, 10:42:23 AM »
Yes, the first picture is really really beautiful!! She looks so fresh and lovely...a romantic princess. Please, Rani...where you have found the picture? It´s a portrait?


Yseult

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2007, 01:32:18 PM »
It´s a wonderful portrait!! Please, if anyone have the full portrait in colour...it would be nice to see it here!!

By the way, Rani...I suppose you read easily german and you have read the book with the beautiful cover? I really wish to know more about the grand duchess, but I can´t find a bio wrotte in english or french, neither a translation to spanish  :-[

Yseult

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2007, 02:41:50 PM »
MarieCharlotte...Rani...you´re the best!! Have you got more wonderful portraits of young Sophie? She was a very pretty girl, I think. Now I can understand why the people gossiped about her relationships with Gustav Wasa or Franz duke of Reichstadtt ;) It seems a great mistake to marry such a beautiful and energetic princess with the gentle but not very bright Franz Karl ;)

Yseult

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2007, 03:57:35 PM »
Anyone has a portrait of Franz Karl when he was a young husband?  ::)

Yseult

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #13 on: February 13, 2007, 06:42:37 AM »
You´re very gentle, Rani! I like so much all the portraits of young Sophie. Almost all the people think about Sophie as the not fair mother in law of Sissi, so they never think Sophie was also a beautiful and energetic bavarian princess into the circle of the viennese court.
I wonder if anyone knows how deep were Sophie´s relationship with her parents and siblings. She was a daughter, a half-sister and a sister before and after her marriage with Franz Karl (by the way, he was not an ugly man, neither a patetic figure as poor Ferdinand...). Was Sophie fond of her father and mother? Was she close to her half-sisters and half-brothers? I wonder what she was thinking about her half-brother Ludwig I, and the other half-brother who married morganatically twice...

Offline MarieCharlotte

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Re: Archduchess Sophie,mother of Franz Josef
« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2007, 04:26:06 AM »
Sophie Friederike was very close to her parents and to her siblings. I have never had the impression that the children of Max I. made a real difference between siblings and half-siblings.

Sophie adored her mother Caroline. When she came to Vienna, she started to write very emotional letters to her beloved mother in which she informed Caroline about everything that happened at court and Vienna, but also about her own feelings, fears and opinions.These letters were much more initmate than Sophie's diaries she started to write after her mother's death in 1841.
Sophie was of course very close to her twin-sister Maria Anna, but she also wrote thousands of letters to her sisters. If you look at the sources in different books, you may find out that she wrote most of the letters to Auguste, Marie, Amalie and Ludovica. Maybe there hasn't been a historian yet who had a look at Queen Elise of Prussia's estate.
Sophie's relationship to her sister Charlotte - or Caroline Auguste - was a bit, let's say, tense. Charlotte was Empress of Austria which means she had the position Sophie had always longed for. After Emperor Franz I.'s death, Charlotte still lived with the imperial family and was quite popular with the Austrians and also at court. Sophie seemed to be a bit jelous and didn't want her (half-) sister to have such a strong position at court and even in family life. Charlotte realized that and retired. But this doesn't mean that they didn't get along well with each other. If you read the diary or the letters of young Franz Joseph you can see that he spent a lot of time with his "Großmama". Sometimes he even called her "Tante Großmama" (= aunt grandma).

When Ludwig I., who prefered his real siblings Auguste, Charlotte and Carl Theodor, had the well-known love affair to Lola Montez, Sophie was shocked and was also afraid that her brother would lose his throne (which later really happend).
Prince Carl was the favourite brother of almost every daughter of Max I. Especially Ludovica loved him a lot. Carl once said that there is a difference between his private and his public life. In his opinion it was nobody's business to know with whom he was in love. So Carl's morganatic marriages weren't that important. Sophie often met him at Tegernsee when she had already been married.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2007, 04:29:16 AM by MarieCharlotte »
Ich aber breite trauernd aus
die weiten weissen Schwingen,
Und kehr' ins Feenreich nach Haus -
Nichts soll mich wieder bringen.


Elisabeth