🔓 Décès de l'archiduchesse Sárolta d'Autriche (1940-2020), fille du dernier duc de Teschen

Sárolta Wutholen en 2015.

Le 2 novembre 2020, Sárolta von Habsburg-Lothringen Wutholen est décédée à l'âge de quatre-vingts ans en Suisse.

L'archiduc Albrecht d'Autriche et Katalin Bocskay de Felsö-Bánya le jour de leur mariage.

Née à Budapest le 3 mars 1940, Sárolta (Charlotte) Isabella Mária Krisztine Eszter Katalin Pia von Habsburg, était la première enfant de l'archiduc Albert d'Autriche (1897-1955), duc de Teschen, et de sa seconde épouse Katalin Bocskay de Felsö-Bánya (1909-2000). Albrecht et Katalin se marièrent en 1938 et eurent deux filles : Sárolta et Ildikó (née en 1942). La Seconde Guerre mondiale et ses conséquences furent dévastatrices pour la famille. La Hongrie étant derrière le rideau de fer, Albrecht perdit la plupart de ses biens, des domaines qui avaient fait de son père l'un des Habsbourg les plus riches. Son mariage était alors terminé, sauf en nom. La famille dut donc chercher de nouveaux endroits où reconstruire sa vie dévastée. En tant que personne déplacée, Katalin a déménagé aux États-Unis avec ses filles en 1949. L'archiduc Albrecht a obtenu le divorce mexicain de sa femme en 1951. 

Katalin avec ses filles Sárolta et Kathy, 1949.

After their move to the United States, Katalin gave several interviews to the press in the summer of 1949. “‘Tis is a wonderful feeling, the freedom of America. No furtive looks for ever-present harassing officials. We even can go from one city to another without registering and rigamarole. Fear has almost left our hearts.” About the fate of her husband Albrecht, who had ostensibly been captured by the Soviets, Katalin mused: “It seems almost hopeless. He vanished on a business trip between Hungary and Austria, in both of which he had properties, now confiscated.” By 1955, Katalin and her daughters had settled in San Francisco. Shortly after learning of the death of her former husband following a heart attack in Buenos Aires, Katalin again spoke to the press: “I am not divorced from him. We are just legally separated. I never filed a divorce; I never received notice of one. In fact, I have heard nothing from my husband in all these years.” She continued, elaborating on her concern for her daughters Sárolta and Kathy: “You must promise, please, to not mention my age. This is not just because of the vanity, you understand, but it might make a difference in my future. I am no longer teenaged, and I must think of my girls’ future. I am their sole support and have only what I earn. This expression, ‘middle-aged,’ I would not object to that.” Katalin and her younger daughter eventually became US citizens. Katalin von Habsburg first worked in a department store before becoming an office employee at the University of California. 

Katalin with her daughter Kathy, who holds a picture of her father Archduke Albrecht, 1958.

Sárolta von Habsburg in 1958.

Countess Sárolta von Habsburg, Princess of Hungary, attended San Diego College for Women. While she was a freshman at university in 1958, she and her mother and sister learned that a Vienna court ruled that Katalin was the legal widow of Archduke Albrecht, which entitled the family to substantial compensation. Sárolta commented on the development in the amelioration of her family’s financial situation: “Well, I’m going to continue attending classes here. This won’t change my plans. And, when I graduate, I still want to enter the foreign service.“

In 1967, Sárolta von Habsburg married Ferdinand Joseph Wutholen (1927-2018). The couple had four children: Isabella (b.1968), Alessandra (b.1970), Marina (b.1973), and Misha (b.1981). While entitled to use the title of Archduchess of Austria, Princess of Hungary (due to titulature changes proclaimed by the Head of the House), Sárolta chose not use them. She and her family always sought to be private people and never sought public exposure. Sárolta is survived by her children, their partners, and her four grandchildren, as well as by her sister Ildikó Kathy Fortier. 

L'archiduc Otton et l'archiduc Charles, chefs actuels et défunts de la famille impériale autrichienne, ayant reconnu rétroactivement comme dynastiques les mariages d'archiducs ayant épousé des chrétiennes (qui étaient considérées comme inégales à l'époque de leur union), Sárolta avait droit au titre et au titre de Son Altesse Impériale et Royale l'archiduchesse Sárolta d'Autriche, princesse de Hongrie. Cependant, sa famille a confirmé qu'elle n'avait jamais revendiqué ni utilisé aucun titre.

Que Sárolta repose en paix.

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