Helene Caroline Therese, born a
Duchess in Bavaria, was the eldest daughter of Maximilian Joseph, Duke in
Bavaria, and his wife, Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. Helene, who was called “Néné”
by her family, was born on April 4, 1834 in Munich and lived with her parents
and siblings at the family home of Possenhofen Castle near Lake Starnberg. Her
lineage and her mother’s desire for her daughters to marry into royal or noble
European families prompted her father to agree to send her to the Kingdom of
Austria to be examined as a possible bride for the young Franz Joseph I, the
newly crowned Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. Franz’s controlling
mother, Princess Sophie of Bavaria, who wanted to have a niece as a
daughter-in-law instead of a complete stranger, had suggested the marital
arrangement.
So, in 1853, the nineteen year-old Helene
travelled to the resort of Bad Ischl in Upper Austria with her ambitious mother
and her younger sister, the fifteen year-old Elisabeth. Both Helene and her
mother hoped that upon meeting Franz Joseph, he would accept the attractive and
religious Helene as his wife (Helene’s one flaw that would have been frowned
upon at the strict Habsburg court was her tendency to be regularly late for
everything). Franz Joseph, who was four years Helene’s senior, was also her
first cousin, as his mother – Princess Sophie of Bavaria – was the sister of
Helene’s mother. But the handsome Emperor of Austria was disappointed with
Helene, as his ambassadors had exaggerated her person beyond reality. Instead,
Helene’s younger and extremely beautiful sister, Elisabeth, instantly
captivated Franz Joseph. Within just a few days, Franz Joseph became smitten
with the spirited teenage girl and wanted to marry her. He even told his mother
that if he couldn’t marry Elisabeth, then he would never marry at all. The
quiet Helene felt jilted, of course, and had no choice but to hide her
disappointment and shame behind a gracious smile at her sister’s wedding to the
Emperor of Austria just eight months later.
Helene (located in the middle) and her surviving siblings, excluding Elisabeth of Austria (Joseph Karl Stieler, 1854) |
Helene returned home to Bavaria with her
mother and family after her sister’s wedding, depressed and miserable from the
whole engagement fiasco. Her desolation was so severe that Ludovika feared that
her pious daughter would become a nun rather than every try to marry again.
After years of failing to find a husband to match Franz Joseph’s rank, Helene
was ready to resign to the fact that she would be single for the rest of her
life. But her mother could never accept spinsterhood as her eldest daughter’s
fate, so she arranged for the twenty-two year old Helene to meet the very rich
Maximilian Anton Lamoral, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis at a hunting
party held at Possenhofen.
Maximilian Anton, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis |
Prince Maximilian fell in love with Helene
as soon as they met and wasted no time in informing his parents of his plan to
propose to the Bavarian duchess. Although Maximilian’s parents immediately
consented to their son’s request, there remained a roadblock in the match.
While Maximilian had a title, he was not considered to be of the same status as
Helene, who belonged to the regal House of Wittelsbach. Thurn and Taxis was one
of the richest areas in the entire landmass of Europe but because they were not
officially of royal blood, Helene’s cousin, King Maximilian II of Bavaria, did
not permit the marriage at first. But luckily for Helene, her sister Elisabeth
helped the sibling she had “stolen” her first fiancée from by using her
influence on the King. Maximilian eventually gave in to his royal cousin’s
charms and agreed to the union.
On August 24, 1858 at Possenhofen, the
twenty-four year old Helene married the twenty-seven year old Prince of Thurn
and Taxis. Her new in law’s gifted her with a lavish necklace that was worth
160,000 Gulden to commemorate the occasion. Ironically enough, although
Helene’s marriage to Maximilian was not as grand as her sisters’ regal
marriages, Helene had arguably the happiest life as a married woman. She and
Maximilian were deeply in love with one another and had a total of four
children, two daughters and two sons.
- Princess Louise of Thurn and Taxis (1859-1948) married: Prince Frederick of Hohenzollem-Sigmaringen – no issue
- Princess Elisabeth of Thurn and Taxis (1860-1881) married: Miguel, Duke of Braganza – had issue
- Maximilian Maria, 7th Prince of Thurn and Taxis (1862-1885) died unmarried and without issue from a pulmonary embolism
- Albert, 8th Prince of Thurn and Taxis (1867-1952) married: Archduchess Margarethe Klementine of Austria – had issue
Maximilian’s family owned large amounts of
land in Prussia and Bavaria but Helene and Maximilian lived with their children
in Regensburg in southeast Germany. Here, Helene used her husband’s immense
wealth to build a palace that would match that of her sister, Elisabeth’s,
which she and her family could live in. But Helene’s happiness was eclipsed by
the declining health of her husband, who was suffering from chronic kidney
disease. Although he went to the best doctors money could buy and underwent a
course of treatment in Karlsbad, his illness only worsened over the years.
After much suffering, Prince Maximilian died on June 26, 1867 at the age of
thirty-five in his home of Regensburg with his beloved wife by his side.
Helene's daughters, Louise & Elisabeth |
In 1883, Helene’s oldest son, Maximilian,
turned twenty-one and began to take a dominant role in the family business, a
role which Helene had performed herself for years. Although he was trained and
educated in every way for his future position, he soon fell ill. Maximilian had
never been a healthy man; as a child his heart had been seriously weakened by a
bout of scarlet fever and he suffered from serious heart spasms for years
afterwards. His heart troubles eventually caught up to him in 1885, when he
died at the age of twenty-two from a pulmonary embolism. His death left the
grief-stricken Helene as the head of the family once again but only for a brief
period of time, as her youngest son, Albert, would become old enough to take up
the mantle in 1888.
Helene's youngest son, Albert, 8th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, with his fiancée, Archduchess Margarethe Klementine of Austria (1890) |
No comments:
Post a Comment