Archduchess Yolande of Austria (1923-2023)

 H& RH Archduchess Yolande of Austria died on September 13, 2023, at Brussels.  She was 100 years old.  She was the widow of Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria, the 5th child of Emperor Karl I of Austria and Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma.

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She was born Princess Yolande Marie Jeanne Charlotte de Ligne, second daughter of Eugene, 11th Prince of Ligne and Philippine de Noailles on May 6, 1923, in Madrid, Spain.  

The marriage between Archduke Carl Ludwig and Princess Yolande took place at Schloss Beloeil, the residence of the Prince of Ligne, on January 17, 1950.   The couple were described as childhood sweethearts.  The civil wedding took place at Beloeil's town hall shortly before the Roman Catholic wedding in the castle's chapel.   Following the civil service, "the procession, with its brilliantly liveried footmen before and behind, retraced its steps along the carpet to the chapel especially built in a wing of the chateau," reported the New York Times.

The guests at the wedding included Carl Ludwig's brothers, Archduke Otto, the pretender to the Austrian throne, and Archdukes Rudolf and Robert.  About a half a dozen members of other European royal families, all of whom were relatives of the bride.  No one from the Belgian royal family attended the wedding 

After the wedding, the couple lived in New York City, where the archduke was employed by an "American metals firm."   Archduke Carl told the Associated Press: "After a short stay in Paris, I will get my wife acquainted with her new home, my Fifth Avenue apartment in New York.  A few days later we will leave for a three-week honeymoon in Palm Beach."

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 After several years in the United States, Archduke Carl Ludwig and Archduchess Yolande moved to Brussels, where the archduke worked in finance.   He died in 2007.

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 Archduchess Yolande is survived by her four children:  Archduke Rudolf (1950), Archduchess Alexandra (Alexandra Riesle) (1952) Archduke Carl Christian (1954) and Archduchess Maria Constanza , (1957) the wife of Franz Josef, Prince of Auersperg-Trautson. 

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