Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg

Prince Francis Joseph
Born	(1861-09-24)24 September 1861 Padua, Austrian Empire
Died	31 July 1924(1924-07-31) (aged 62) Territet (near Montreux), Switzerland
Spouse	Princess Anna of Montenegro ​ ​ (m. 1897)​
House	Battenberg
Father	Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
Mother	Julia, Princess of Battenberg

Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg GCVO, KCB (German: Franz Joseph; 24 September 1861 – 31 July 1924) was the fourth and youngest son and child of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and his morganatic wife Julia, Princess of Battenberg.

Biography

At one time, he was considered for the throne of Bulgaria, which eventually went to his brother Alexander;[1] nonetheless, as Alexander was unmarried and without legitimate heirs at the time, Francis Joseph was considered heir presumptive to the throne. He followed his brother to Bulgaria, where he served as a colonel in the Bulgarian cavalry, seeing action during the Serbo-Bulgarian War.[2] During the coup of 1886, he was arrested and expelled from Bulgaria, along with his brother.

From an early age Francis Joseph showed great interest in science, and unlike his brothers – who pursued careers in the military – he pursued a career in academics; in 1891 he published an academic study on Bulgarian economic history, which he dedicated to his brother.[3]

At a family reunion in London in 1894 Franz Joseph met Consuelo Vanderbilt, the daughter of an extremely wealthy American railway tycoon William Kissam Vanderbilt. He made a marriage proposal to Consuelo, but she disliked him and turned him down.[1][4]

In 1897 he married Princess Ana Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro (1874–1971), the sixth daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro; they had no children. He served as a colonel in the Montenegrin Army during the Balkan Wars.[5]

They lived in Prinz Emil Palais, but upon the outbreak of World War I, he and his wife moved to Switzerland, where he lived until his death in 1924. He was a close friend of his brother-in-law King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, whom he visited often; their wives were sisters.

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:[5]

•  Grand Duchy of Hesse:[6]
  • Grand Cross of the Merit Order of Philip the Magnanimous, with Swords, 18 August 1878
  • Military Merit Cross, 27 November 1885
  • Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 17 November 1886
•  Kingdom of Italy:
  • Knight of the Annunciation, 29 November 1904[7]
  • Grand Cross of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
•  Ottoman Empire: Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class in Diamonds
•  Principality of Bulgaria:
  • Grand Cross of St. Alexander, with Swords and Collar
  • Order of Bravery, 4th Class
  • Officer of the Military Merit Order[8]
  • Commemorative Medal for the Liberation of Bulgaria
  • Commemorative Medal for the Serbo-Bulgarian War, 1885
  • Distinguished Service Cross (10 years)
•  Principality of Montenegro:
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Danilo I
  • Knight of St. Peter of Cetinje
  • Medal for Bravery
•  United Kingdom:
  • Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee Medal, 1887
  • Honorary Knight Commander of the Bath (civil), 6 February 1896[9]
  • Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 26 April 1897[10]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg

8. Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine 4. Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine 9. Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt 2. Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine 10. Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden 5. Princess Wilhelmine of Baden 11. Princess Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt 1. Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg 12. Friedrich Karl Emanuel Hauke 6. Count John Maurice Hauke 13. Maria Salomé Schweppenhäuser 3. Julia, Princess of Battenberg 14. Franz Leopold Lafontaine 7. Sophie Lafontaine 15. Maria Theresia Kornély

Notes

1. Stuart, Amanda Mackenzie, Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and Mother in the Gilded Age, Harper Perennial, 2005, p. 101
2. "Royal Wedding at Cettinje; Francis Joseph of Battenberg United to Princess Anna of Montenegro" (PDF), The New York Times, Cettinje, 19 May 1897
3. von Battenberg, Franz Joseph (1891). Die volkswirthschaftliche Entwicklung Bulgariens von 1879 bis zur Gegenwart. Leipzig: Veit.
4. Stasz, Clarice (1999). The Vanderbilt Women: Dynasty of Wealth, Glamour, and Tragedy. Lincoln, NE: toExcel Press. p. 118. ISBN 1-58348-727-1. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
5. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1912/13), Genealogy p. 3
6. Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste (in German), Darmstadt: Staatsverlag, 1914, pp. 4, 21, 195
7. Italy. Ministero dell'interno (1920). Calendario generale del regno d'Italia. p. 57.
8. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1894), Genealogy p. 5
9. Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 294
10. Shaw, p. 423

External links