Stefan Franz Austrian

Stephen Franz was born in the family of the Archduke Joseph and his second wife, Princess Hermina of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Khojmskaya ( 1797-1817 ). He had a twin sister, the Archduchess Hermina Amalia Maria ( September 14, 1817 , Buda - February 13, 1842 , Vienna ).

Hermin’s mother died shortly after giving birth, so Stephen Franz and his sister Hermina were raised by a stepmother, the third wife of her father Maria Württemberg . He spent his childhood in Ofen and Alskut family estate. Received a brilliant education.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna in her memoirs “The Dream of Youth (1825–1846)” described it this way:

Stefan stood out for his abilities, which predicted a bright future for him. He loved Hungary and spoke Hungarian as well as German, and in Budapest they saw his father's heir. ^[one]

In the 1840s , he traveled through the countries under the rule of the Habsburg dynasty - Bohemia , Lombardy , Venice . In 1843, Emperor Ferdinand I appointed him civilian governor (Landeschef) of Bohemia. He remained in this post until his father died in January 1847 , after which he was elected Palatine (governor of the emperor) of Hungary on November 12, 1847 .

March 15, 1848 unrest began in Budapest. Proponents of the revolution developed a program of 12 points, among them were: ensuring basic civil liberties, the elimination of the peasants' feudal obligations, the replacement of the class Seimas by an elected parliament. the creation of the Hungarian army and others. Soon, a liberal government headed by Count Battyani was formed. ^[2] Set up quite liberally, Archduke Stefan did not oppose change, but his position became more and more difficult. On April 7, 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I appointed the first Prime Minister of the Hungarian parliamentary government, Lajos Battyani . On September 24, 1848, Stefan Franz rejected the palatinate. In 1850 he retired to his possession in Nassau . The position of Palatina was preserved, but Palatin already had symbolic functions. Formally, Stephen Franz of Austria was Palatine until his death, but he no longer participated in the affairs of the kingdom.

Archduke Stephen Frantz died on February 19, 1867 from tuberculosis and was buried in Budapest.

In the spring of 1839, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich arrived in Vienna , who became friends with Archdukes Albrecht and Stefan. He considered the latter a worthy candidate for his younger sister Olga . Emperor Nicholas I invited Stephen to the wedding of his eldest daughter Grand Duchess Maria , which was to be held in August 1839, in order to meet him personally and so that Stephen could get acquainted with the alleged bride. But the Archduke Albrecht came to the wedding. The imperial court saw in this the intrigues of Stephen's stepmother, who did not want to have a relative Russian princess out of jealousy of the first wife of Archduke Joseph (she was Olga Nikolaevna's own aunt Alexandra Pavlovna ).

In 1840, a letter came from the Archduke Albrecht, in which he requested the hands of Olga Nikolaevna. She wrote in her memoirs:

He was sympathetic to me, I had respect for him and friendly feelings. But, despite all this, for some reason I felt a physical dislike for him, so marriage could not be considered. Immediately due to the fact that negotiations were underway regarding Stephen, a refusal was sent to Albrecht.

But Stephen himself was silent. The answer came from Chancellor Metternich . The letter said that the marriage of Stephen and Olga Nikolaevna is impossible, since they have different faiths and the Orthodox archduchess can become dangerous to the integrity of the state, causing unnecessary fermentation among the Slavic population of Austria-Hungary. Stephen himself told Ambassador Count Medemu that, knowing Albrecht’s feelings for the Grand Duchess, he considered it correct to “step aside” ^{[3] [4]} .

Olga Nikolaevna in 1846 married the crown prince of Württemberg, the future king Charles I. Archduke Stephen was not married and left no offspring.