Archduke Joseph announces engagement

February 4, 1928

The New York Times is reporting the engagement of Archduke Joseph Ferdinand of Austria to Gertrude Tomanek von Beyerfels-Mondsee of Prague.

Joseph Ferdinand is 51 years old, and his bride-to-be, the daughter of a former Colonel in the Austrian Army, is 24.

The Archduke was the commander of the Austrian Army when it was defeated by the Russians at Luck in 1916. He was relieved of his command by Emperor Franz Joseph, "who blamed him personally for this greatest defeat to his forces during the war." The archduke was hunting at the time of the Russian attack and he did not "arrive on the scene until his forces lost all opportunity for a counter-offensive." The Austrians were already in retreat when Joseph Ferdinand reached the front.

As Czechoslovakia has refused permission for members of the Habsburg family to enter the country, Archduke Joseph Ferdinand's marriage will take place on his estates near Salzburg or on the Riviera.

As Miss Tomanek is a commoner, the marriage will be morganatic, and she and any children born of the marriage will not bear the archducal title.

This will be the archduke's second marriage.  His first marriage to Rosa Kaltenbrunner was recently dissolved by divorce.