Archduke Johann of Austria & Anna Plochl, their family & descendants

[britt.25]

This is a bit strange..because in "der Brandhofer und seine Hausfrau" she is always adressed Nani by Johann, always called  like that in letters and so. Maybe other people called her Nannerl and there existed two nicknames? 

[MarieCharlotte]

In a letter of Archduchess Sophie of Austria I read that she found it really funny that Emperor Franz who was against the marriage of Johann and Anna Maria Joséphine was the godfather of little Franz of Meran.

Another question, Britta: I heard that Nani was a close friend of Queen Maria Henriette of Belgium. Is there any information about their relationship in your book?

[Daniela]

Yes , I think that is right. It must be Count Franz of Meran, who was born in 1964.




Please do also take a look at this website, where there is written the story about his familybackground and heritage, sorry this is a German page 

http://www.schloss.stainz.at/geschichte2.html

Yes, it has always impressed me how many people are related to the Hapsburgs, often people, where you would not have expected this...I did not know the Harnoncourts as well before I read about that family backgound. I am usually not so interested in music, rather in art, so I did not know him as well until I did some research after having read about Johann´s descendance
For me in Countess Ladislaja I can see a bit Nani and in Nikolaus a bit Johann, but maybe I´ve gone too far.

Count Franz is not married, right? If he will not have descendants and his brother also will not have descendants, who is next in line for the "title"?

Daniela

[britt.25]

I am not sure, but I suppose it will be a male relative of another line of the counts of Meran, if there is nobody, it will get over the female lines...

[MarieCharlotte]

I've always thought that it is really impressive how many descendants Archduke Johann and his wife Anna have, although they had only one son.

To your question, Daniela:
I just checked the family tree of the Counts of Meran. Franz, who is head of the house at the moment, has a younger brother called Friedrich (born 1965), but he is also unmarried. If Franz and his brother won't have children, the next male line would be the one founded by Philipp (1894-1950). Philipp was a grand-grand-son of Archduke Johann and the younger brother of Franz (1891-1983), the grandfather of the current head of the house Franz (born 1964). Philipp's third child is his son Franz (born 1924). But I don't think that this Franz will survive the other Franz (born 1964). So I guess the next head of the house would be the only son of Franz (born 1924): Stephan (born 1974). He was born in Nairobi! 

Oh ... too many Franz for me ... 

[britt.25]

Maybe Franz (born 1964) will still marry and have a child. He is now 42, but I think there is still the possibility of a marriage...

[MarieCharlotte]

Dear Britta,

I think you haven't seen the question I posted some days ago: Do you know anything about the relationship between Anna Countess of Meran and Queen Marie Henriette of Belgium? I heard that they were close friends, but I can't believe it. Is there any information about them in your book?

[britt.25]

I am very busy at the moment because of different things, but I have taken a look in the book "Erzherzog Johann, der Brandhofer und seine Hausfrau", where there are a lot of personal letters, infos and pictures, and even if the book is very detailled I could not find anything about a relationship between Nani and the queen of Belgium, Henriette. Through Nanis marriage she was the aunt of Henriette, who was daughter of Joseph Anton of Hungary, brother of Archduke Johann, but I did not find anything about any conmunication or visit of them, I even did not see the name Henriette there. For me it´s not so easy to imagine this close friendship as Henriette lived somewhere else than Johann  and Nani, who had residence at the Brandhof.. there is only one picture of the imperial family at Schönbrunn, where Nani is presented to her brother in law, emperor Franz II. and the other Archdukes, but Henriette isn´t on the picture. They could have communicated with another via letters, but I don´t think that there was a close relationship, because the name isn´t mentioned at all in the whole book (or I have very bad eyes )
It´s quite strange...where have you read about that friendship? Really sorry

[MarieCharlotte]

Thanks for having a look.  A friend told me about the friendship of Anna to Marie Henriette. But I think that she didn't name a source.

[britt.25]

What an interesting picture! I only know paintings of Anna. In my book there are only paintings, but in many different dresses, one with a hunting dress, too, but I have no photo...that´s wonderful. I think, this funny nose can be seen also in later generations...for example the mother of N. Harnoncourt, Ladislaja, (mentioned before) reminds me of this.There is also one other descendant, count Philipp of Meran, an author of hunting literature, and he has that similar nose, too.

[Daniela]

In an earlier post britt.25, you posted that Johann and Anna lived in lived in Brandhof. Can you tell where in Austria is this place located, please?
The Meran family also lived in the castle Schenna which was purchesed by Archduke Johann. Can someone post a photo of this castle? On the internet I've saw a couple of photos but they were small!

Thanks

Daniela

[britt.25]

Thanks for this photo, did you take it yourself, MarieCharlotte?

The region, where the Brandhof is, must be a very nice landscape, because in the book about Johann there are a lot of very nice pictures and paintings of that region and it seems very idyllic to me and very beautiful. Have you been there?
Maybe today it is not the same as in the century of Johann, so I would be interested to know, how this place is today, and if anybody has been there!

[MarieCharlotte]

No, I didn't take this picture. I got it from the book Habsburgs Häuser by Anna Maria Sigmund. The author writes writes that Johann's descendants still live there.

[britt.25]

I have to look it up, do you know, if todays head of the family (see other posts) still lives there frequently? For the moment I don´t know it, but would be interested.

[Zukunftsseele]

Hi everyone. A few days ago I was watching a movie about Archduke Johann (20 January 1782 – 11 May 1859), son of Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany and Marie Louisa of Spain, and his morganatic wife Anna Plochl who later became a Duchess of Meran. In the movie, it was said that the court respectively the Emperor and Metternich tried to make Johann marry Caroline Princess of Württemberg. But I couldn't find a princess with that name on the internet. Does anyone know who they were referring to? I don't know if that is historically correct at all. Maybe it's fiction. But I'm curious.