Archduchess Dorothea of Austria (1920-2015)

The wedding of Princess Dorothea of Bavaria and Archduke Gottfried of Austria (Marlene A. Eilers Koenig collection)

Archduchess Dorothea of Austria,  Dowager Grand Duchess of Tuscany, died on July 5.  She was 95 years old.

She was the widow of Archduke Gottfried of Austria, Grand Duke of Tuscany, (1902-1984).

Princess Dorothea Theresa Maria Franziska of Bavaria was born on May 25, 1920 at Schloss Leutstetten, the fifth of six children of Prince Franz of Bavaria and Princess Isabelle of Croy.

She married Archduke Gottfried of Austria at Sarvar, Hungary, on August 3, 1938.   They had four children:  Archduchess Elisabeth; Archduchess Alice; Archduke Leopold, and Archduchess Marie Antoinette, Freiherrin von Proff zu Irnich.
 [The marriages of the three elder children have all been dissolved by divorce.]

Archduke Leopold succeeded his father as Grand Duke in 1984.  He renounced his rights in favor of his elder son, Archduke Sigismund in 1993, following his divorce from Laetitia de Belzunce d'Arenberg and a second marriage to Marta Perez-Fernandez.

Archduchess Dorothea lived for many years in Salzburg.  She is survived by her four children and numerous grandchildren, including Archduke Sigismund, who lives in Switzerland.