Prince Franz Joseph of Battenberg

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Prince Franz Joseph of Battenberg

Prince Franz Joseph of Battenberg was the youngest child of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Countess Julia Hauke, Princess of Battenberg. He was born in Padua, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, part of the Austrian Empire, now in Italy, on September 24, 1861, joining four older siblings:

Following his schooling, Franz Joseph received a military education in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Brandenburg. He then served in the Bulgarian Military, while his brother Alexander was the Reigning Prince of Bulgaria from 1879-1886.

Consuelo Vanderbilt. source: Wikipedia

While in London in 1894, Franz Joseph met the American heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt. He was one of several men who proposed, but Consuelo did not like him and refused his marriage offer. She later went on to marry Charles Spencer-Churchill,9th Duke of Marlborough.

Princess Anna of Montenegro. source: Wikipedia

Several years later, while visiting Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom who was on holiday in Cimiez, France, Franz Joseph met Princess Anna of Montenegro. She was the daughter of King Nikola I of Montenegro and Milena Vukotić, and was in Cimiez visiting her sister and brother-in-law. The two quickly fell in love, and their engagement was announced. They married in Cetinje, Montenegro on May 18, 1897, in both Eastern Orthodox and Protestant ceremonies. The marriage was a very happy one from all accounts, but the couple did not have any children.

In the years leading up to World War I, Franz Joseph and his wife spent much of their time living in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in the German state of Hesse, but were advised to leave the country when the war broke out and settled in Switzerland. As the war progressed, they found their financial situation more and more precarious and they sometimes struggled to make ends meet. After 1920, they began to receive some financial support from Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of Franz Joseph’s nephew Louis Mountbatten, the future 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Until her own death in 1960, Edwina continued to send money to Princess Anna as well.

Prince Franz Joseph died in Territet, Switzerland on July 31, 1924, having outlived all of his siblings. He is buried in the Schaffhausen Forest Cemetery in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

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