Archduke Felix
Archduke Felix of Austria (given names: Felix Friedrich August Maria vom Siege Franz Joseph Peter Karl Anton Robert Otto Pius Michael Benedikt Sebastian Ignatius Marcus d’Aviano; 31 May 1916 – 6 September 2011) was the last surviving child of the last Austrian Emperor Charles I and a member of the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine. He was a younger brother of the late Crown Prince Otto of Austria.
Archduke Felix was born in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna the third son of the then heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary the Archduke Charles and his wife Zita of Bourbon-Parma. He was christened at Schönbrunn on 8 June 1916 in the presence of his great-grand uncle Emperor Franz Joseph while his godfather was his great-uncle King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, brother of his grandmother Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony. On 21 November 1916 the Emperor Franz Joseph died and Felix’s father succeeded as the new Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.
Archduke Felix was less than three years old when Austria-Hungary collapsed following its defeat in the First World War. As a result, republics were declared in the now-separate countries Austria and Hungary which led to exile of the Imperial Family. Originally exiled in Switzerland the Imperial Family were taken to the Portuguese island of Madeira in 1921 after Archduke Felix’s father’s failed attempts to claim the throne in the Kingdom of Hungary from the regent Miklós Horthy. On 1 April 1922 his father Emperor Charles died in Madeira and was beatified 3 October, 2004.
In the autumn of 1937 Archduke Felix was permitted to return to Austria, entering the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt. He became the first Hapsburg since the abolition of the monarchy to pursue a career as an officer in the Austrian Army. With the Anschluss approaching, Archduke Felix, his sister Archduchess Adelheid and Archduke Eugen fled Austria crossing the border to Czechoslovakia.
During the Second World War while in the United States, Felix and his brother Karl Ludwig volunteered to serve in the 101st US Infantry Battalion known as the “Free Austria Battalion”.
Felix, unlike his brother Otto, always refused to renounce his rights to the Austrian throne and membership of the Hapsburg family, saying that doing so would violate his human rights. As a result he was banned from entering Austria except for a brief three-day stay in 1989 in order to attend his mother’s funeral. On 10 March 1996, after Austria had joined the European Union and the concurrent dropping of staffed border checkpoints between Austria and other EU countries, he crossed into the country from Germany and held a press conference the next day to announce his illegal arrival. After his presence became known, he was warned by the Austrian government that he would face prosecution if he ever tried to enter the country illegally again. Ultimately, a deal was reached between Felix, his brother Karl Ludwig and the Austrian government whereby they declared their allegiance to the republic without any reference being made to their rights to the throne or to their membership in the Imperial Family.
In June 1998, in a joint action with his brother Karl Ludwig, Felix attempted to have the properties which were given to their ancestor Maria Theresa of Austria by her husband Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor restored to them after the properties had been taken from the Hapsburg family by Adolf Hitler during the Anschluss.
Felix built up a number of successful businesses in Mexico and Brussels and worked as a marketing consultant.
Hapsburg coat of arms
During his time in exile Archduke Felix lived in Portugal, Belgium, Mexico and the United States. He lived in the colonia of San Ángel in Mexico City where he died September 6, 2011.
Felix was married civilly on 18 November 1952 at Beaulieu, France, and religiously a day later, to Princess and Duchess Anna-Eugénie of Arenberg (1925–1997). They had seven children.
As they all lived in Mexico, and some still do, they are called by the Spanish equivalent to their names.
