Emperor Karl I (1887-1922) and Empress Zita ("the Last Empress") (1892-1989)

[geli]

I would like to start this topic on the last empress Zita of Austria (1892-1989) so that all those which appreciate this very great lady can post infos, anecdotes or pics on her, her husband Karl I and their family, in order to pay homage to her.

Everyone is invited to take part.

Thanks in advance.

[Royalist0007]

Geli,Empress Zita never renounced her royal & imperial status after the abolition of the Empire of Austria-Hungary.She supported her son's anti-Nazi exile organisation during World War II.I know very little about her after World War II,however.

Aidan.

[princess olga]

http://www.aeiou.at/aeiou.encyclop.d...z/z648535a.jpg

A photo of her.

[geli]

Royalist0007, thank you for your info, all that relates to her interests me

PrincessOLGA, it's a very nice picture of Zita, thank you for the link

[flcty]

Originally Posted by geli

Royalist0007, thank you for your info, all that relates to her interests me

PrincessOLGA, it's a very nice picture of Zita, thank you for the link

hi geli,
thought you might want to visit the following link. it has more pictures of zita with her children.
http://members.fortunecity.com/verenad/Zita.html

Anyone out there has any information about Zita's life prior marriage to karl?

[princess olga]

Originally Posted by geli

Royalist0007, thank you for your info, all that relates to her interests me

PrincessOLGA, it's a very nice picture of Zita, thank you for the link

You're welcome!

Here's an interesting article on her life from Wikipedia. There's some pictures as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zita_of_Bourbon-Parma

[flcty]

found this little article on zita (which focuses mostly on Karl)...

(taken exactly from above link. the website has pictures )
Karl of Austria was the last Emperor of Austria, the last Apostolic King of Hungary, the last King of Bohemia and the last monarch of the Habsburg dynasty. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Rome on October 3, 2004.
Archduke Karl was born on 17 August 1887 in the castle of Persenbeug in Austria. His parents were the Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josefa of Saxony. Emperor Franz Josef was Karl's great-uncle. When Karl was 8 years old, a famous nun in Sopron, Hungary, prophesied that the child “must be enveloped in prayers, for he will be emperor someday and will have to suffer greatly. He will be a special target of hell.” As a result, Count and Countess Wallis, who were charged with the education of Karl, founded a small prayer circle in 1895. This prayer circle later became the League of Prayers with thousands of members worldwide...
http://www.cryingvoice.com/Picture_8.html

[Vanesa]

How a nice little boy Otto was when very little! Such a cutie pie...

Vanesa.

[geli]

Tkank you with all for your answers which really pleased to me !

Here are two pictures of Zita at the time of her engagement to the archiduke Carl Franz Josef of Austria (1887-1922), later emperor Karl I :

[geli]

The wedding of the Archiduke Charles of Hasburg and Princess Zita of Bourbon Parma was celebrated on October 21, 1911 in the castle of Schwarzau, not far from Vienna, in the presence of the emperor Franz Josef.

Here are two pictures :

[Warren]

Two pics of Empress Zita.

Coronation as Queen of Hungary in 1916

Empress Zita as Princess of Bourbon-Parma 1910

[geli]

Zita as a new archiduchess of Austria, after wedding :



Official portrait of the young couple



Zita alone


Another portrait of Zita


Zita was, we knows it, born in 1892 and was thus 19 years old in 1911 when she married archiduc Karl.

But, on all the photos of this time, she seemed extremely youthful and appeared much younger than her real age.

[Benjamin]

Here are some other nice threads about Zita:
http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/ind...ic,1983.0.html
http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/ind...ic,6568.0.html
http://www.royals-portal.de/forum/in...wtopic=6768&hl

[Next Star]

The former Austrian royal family hard to believe outranks all of the reigning princes and princess of current royals houses and they have not reigned or ruled in thousands of years.There are some nice pictures of the emperor and empress together and some pictures of the empress by herself .I like the tiara she was wearing does anyone know about the history of the tiara and does the royal family of Bourbon-Parma still own the tiara or was it lost or sold?

[TheQueen]

Originally Posted by Next Star

The former Austrian royal family hard to believe outranks all of the reigning princes and princess of current royals houses and they have not reigned or ruled in thousands of years.

Thousands of years? It hasn't even been a 100yrs yet? The monarchy was abolished at the end of World War I.

[Princess Robijn]

I visited Madeira with Christmas and there is a portret of Empress Zita with her family there..

[Next Star]

Okay it is not thousands of years but over eighty years that still does not change the fact they are not of an reigning royal house period.

Originally Posted by TheQueen

Thousands of years? It hasn't even been a 100yrs yet? The monarchy was abolished at the end of World War I.

[Warren]

Originally Posted by Next Star

...that still does not change the fact they are not of an reigning royal house period.

From my reading of the thread no-one has suggested they are. So, there are no "facts" which need changing, apart from the "thousands of years" statement, which should have read 1919 for Austria and 1921 for Hungary.

[Next Star]

Okay I admitted I was wrong if you had read my post you would have know that Warren. And second I know that no one was suggesting that the Austria royal family are of an reigning house I was clearly stating in the previous thread at even though they are not of an reigning house that they outrank royals who are of an reigning house thank you very much.

[Gloria78]

The tiara was used at the wedding between Princess Regina Sachsen-Meinigen and Erzherzog Otto. The tiara (made by Köchert) was a wedding gift from Kaiser Franz Joseph to Zita.