It is well-known that for 390 years, since 1633, the Habsburg family has been interred in the crypt of the Capuchin Church on Neuer Markt in Vienna. The Necropolis was founded by Empress Anna, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Matthias. Over the centuries, 12 emperors and 18 empresses have been buried in the arched rooms under the church, including the tomb of our namesake. The last funeral service in the crypt was held in the summer of 2011 for Otto von Habsburg.
Due to lack of space, it was understood that only one spot remained free, reserved for the daughter-in-law of the last monarch of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Her obsequy took place on 7 October 2023. Princess Yolande de Ligne of Belgium, the wife of Otto von Habsburg’s brother, Archduke Carl Ludwig von Habsburg, who passed away in 2007, gave her soul back to its creator in Brussels on 13 September 2023. The funeral was attended by close family and friends. In addition to the children and grandchildren of the deceased, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg; Archduke Lorenz of Habsburg-Lorraine, who is directly related to the Belgian royal family and head of the Este branch; Archduke Ferdinand Zvonimir; the trustee of our Foundation, Archduchess Elenora; the heirs of Archduke Karl, the head of the House of Habsburg; and Archduke Mihály Habsburg-Lorraine, representing the Hungarian Habsburg branch, was present at the farewell celebration.
(Photo: Jean-Claude Ernst/Luxpress)
The heartfelt and intimate ceremony was officiated by Maximilian Heim, Archabbot of the Austrian Cistercian Order. The memorial service was concelebrated by several Catholic priests, including Archabbot Frank Bayard, Grand Master of the German Order of Knights, Franz Xaver Brandmayr, former Rector of the Pontifical Institute of Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome, and Jean de Habsbourg, grandson of Archduke Carl Ludwig, and member of the Swiss Eucharistein Community. In his homily, Archabbot Maximilian Heim commemorated the life of Archduchess Yolande de Ligne. He shared how the Princess was born in Madrid in 1923, while her father, Prince Eugène de Ligne, was a diplomat serving in the Spanish capital. As a child, she spent little time in her homeland since the family lived in the countries where the father served, Spain and later Romania, between the two wars. During the Second World War, the family castle in Beloeil, Belgium, sheltered large numbers of persecuted Jewish children, and Archduchess Yolande took her part in caring for them. Archabbot Maximilian Heim emphasised the profound Catholic faith of the departed, which had helped her through all difficulties, and her character traits of courage and the sense of responsibility she had assumed from her youth, which she considered to be inherent to her social status.
Archduchess Yolande, Karl Ludwig, Otto von Habsburg and Rudolf in 1951 in Tuxedo Park (New York, USA)
in front of the house acquired for Empress Zita, the former residence of Mark Twain (Photo: Otto von Habsburg Foundation)
It should be noted that the father of Princess Yolande de Ligne was Belgium’s first ambassador to India from 1947 to 1951 and then to Madrid until 1957. In the latter capacity, Prince Eugène de Ligne supported the cause of the Hungarian Revolution from October 1956 and even backed his daughter’s brother-in-law, Otto von Habsburg, who was trying to organise aid for the uprising against communism through Madrid. Archduchess Yolande was also regularly informed about Hungary through her husband, Carl Ludwig, who worked in Lisbon before their marriage between 1942 and 1944, risking his life to further the Hungarian attempt to secede from the country.
A historical era had permanently come to an end. Four centuries of Habsburg and European history are now a matter of the past. In memory of Archduchess Yolande, the Otto von Habsburg Foundation expresses its sincere condolences to the bereaved family and bids farewell to the late Princess with the hope of the Evangelical verses in her obituary:
“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.”
(Matthew 10:32)
Gergely Fejérdy
