Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg

Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg, also known as Prince Franz Joseph of Battenberg, GCVO, KCB, (24 September 1861 – 31 July 1924), was the fourth and youngest son and child of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Countess Julia von Hauke.

Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg
Born(1861-09-24)24 September 1861
Padua, Kingdom of Italy
Died31 July 1924(1924-07-31) (aged 62)
Territet (near Montreux), Switzerland
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1897)​
HouseBattenberg
FatherPrince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
MotherCountess Julia Hauke

Biography

At one time, he was considered for the throne of Bulgaria, which eventually went to his brother Alexander.[1] Francis Joseph nevertheless followed his brother to Bulgaria, where he served as a colonel in the Bulgarian cavalry.[2] 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), daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro. They had no children.

Honours

Ancestry

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 Großherzogs Hessen (1879), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" p. 46
  6. Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, pp. 294, 423
  7. Italy. Ministero dell'interno (1920). Calendario generale del regno d'Italia. p. 57.
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