Wednesday, August 18, 2021

HI & RH Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria (1939-2021)

Archduchess Maria Magadalena of Austria, Baroness von Holzhausen  (1939-2021) @Marlene Eilers Koenig


HI & RH Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria, Princess of Tuscany died on August 18 at Salzburg, Austria.  She was born on October 2, 1939, at Schloss Mondsee, the 5th of six children of  HRH Princess Ileana of Romania and  HI & RH Archduke Anton of Austria, Prince of Tuscany.

Archduchess Maria Magdalena was 81 years old.

She  married Baron Hanns Ulrich von Holzhausen in Mondsee, Austria in  August 1959.  Maria Magdalena, who was known as Magi, is survived by her husband, and their three children, Baron Johan, Baron Georg,  and Baroness Alexandra, Mrs. Ferch, and eight grandchildren.  She is also survived by two siblings,  Archduchess Alexandra and Archduke Dominic.


Marlene Eilers Koenig Collection


80th birthday of Archduke Anton of Austria in 1981:   Archduke Dominic, Archduchess Maria Magdalena, Arxhduke Anton, Archduchesd Alexandra, Archduchess Elisabeth and Archduke Stefan 
Marlene Eilers Koenig Collection


Archduchess Elisabeth,  Archduke Dominic and Archduchess Maria Magdalena (Castle Bran)

@Castle bran


The Archduchess and two of her siblings, Archduke Dominic and Archduchess Elisabeth  (1942-2019) became the owners of Bran Castle in Brasov, Romania, which had been owned by their late mother, Princess Ileana.  After a five-year legal, the castle was returned to Ileana's children in 2006.  Ileana's two other surviving children, Archduchess Alexandra and Archduke Stefan, the latter of whom lived in the United States, renounced their claims to the property.

In 1997 Archduchess Maria Magdalena attended her 40th high school reunion at Notre Dame de Sion High School in Kansas City, Missouri.  She was a pupil at the school from 1953 until 1957.  After graduation, she returned to Austria to live.  

The school was run by a Roumanian nun, Mother Irene, who, with the help of Princess Ileana, had escaped Roumania after the Communist takeover.   In 1953, the Princess was touring the United States, where she spoke about communism in Roumania and her life as a princess; and, it was during a stop in Kansas City, where Ileana ran into Mother Irene.  The Roman Catholic nun, eager to repay the princess for her kindness, offered scholarships to Maria Magdalena and Elisabeth.   

Maria Magdalena's class was small, with only 14 students. "We always felt that we belonged in Europe.  But I loved being here, especially in Kansas City because of all the wonderful people I met.  We couldn't have afforded the school; we were refugees.  It was very kind and generous of Mother Irene," she told the Kansas City Star.

She married Baron Hanns von Holzhausen two years later and lived in Salzburg where they raised their three children.



Queen Victoria - Alfred - Marie - Ileana - Maria Magdalena






1 comment:

Detlef said...

Do you know the documentary about the Royal Romanian train: https://www.theroyaltrain.at/? It was made by her son Johannes Holzhausen. A very interesting insight in the perception of history in modern Romania.