Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria

Archduke Ludwig Viktor Joseph Anton of Austria (15 May 1842 – 18 January 1919) was the youngest child of Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and his wife Princess Sophie of Bavaria, and the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I. He had a military career, as was usual for archdukes, but did not take part in politics. He was openly homosexual and declined to marry princesses who were sought for him. He is well-known for his art collection and patronage as well as philanthropy.

Archduke Ludwig Viktor
Born	(1842-05-15)15 May 1842 Hofburg Palace, Vienna, Austrian Empire
Died	18 January 1919(1919-01-18) (aged 76) Schloss Klessheim, Austria
Burial	Siezenheim Cemetery
Names German: Ludwig Viktor Joseph Anton von Österreich English: Louis Victor Joseph Anthony of Austria
House	Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
Mother	Princess Sophie of Bavaria

Family

Ludwig Viktor (r.) with his brothers Karl Ludwig, Franz Joseph and Maximilian

Ludwig Viktor was born in Vienna. He was the youngest son born to Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and Princess Sophie of Bavaria. His elder siblings included Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and Archduke Karl Ludwig. His family called him by the nickname "Luziwuzi".^[1]

Career

During the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire and the Vienna Uprising, Ludwig Viktor and his family had to flee the Austrian capital, at first to Innsbruck, later to Olomouc. Ludwig Viktor pursued the usual military career and was appointed General of the Infantry, but had no intentions to interfere in politics. He rejected his brother Maximilian's ambitions in the Second Mexican Empire. Instead he concentrated on building up his own art collection and had Heinrich von Ferstel design and build a city palace on the new Schwarzenbergplatz in Vienna, where Ludwig Viktor hosted homophile soirées.

Personal life

Ludwig Viktor's mother attempted to arrange a marriage for him with Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria, youngest sister of Empress Elisabeth, but he declined. He likewise rejected plans to marry him to Isabel, daughter and heir presumptive of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil. In 1863, Ludwig Viktor's brother Maximilian had tried to persuade him to marry her because "such a marriage might found yet another Habsburg dynasty in Latin America.... Maximilian wrote to Franz Joseph that Ludwig Viktor was 'anything but pleased with the idea,'" and asked Franz Joseph to order Ludwig Viktor to marry her. Franz Joseph refused.^[2]

Ludwig Viktor was "a homosexual and cross-dresser with a reputation as a libertine."^[3] After a scandalous incident at the Central Bathhouse Vienna in which he was publicly slapped,^[4][5] his brother Emperor Franz Joseph finally forbade him to stay in Vienna and joked that he should be given a ballerina as adjutant to keep him out of trouble.

Ludwig Viktor retired to Schloss Klessheim near Salzburg where he became known as a philanthropist and patron of the arts. He died in 1919, at the age of 76, and is buried at the Siezenheim cemetery.

He was awarded the Order of the White Eagle.^[6]

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:^[7]

•  Austrian Empire:^[8]
  • Knight of the Golden Fleece, 1862
  • Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, 1893
•  Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion, with Distinction for Jerusalem
•  Russian Empire:
  • Knight of St. Andrew
  • Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky
  • Knight of the White Eagle
  • Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class
•  United Kingdom: Honorary Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 9 October 1903^[9]
• Kingdom of Prussia:
  • Knight of the Black Eagle, 24 August 1863^[10]
  • Knight of the Red Eagle, 1st Class
•  France: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
•  Kingdom of Italy: Knight of the Annunciation, 21 September 1873^[11]
  • Two Sicilian Royal Family: Grand Cross of St. Ferdinand and Merit
  • Tuscan Grand Ducal Family: Grand Cross of St. Joseph
•  Kingdom of Bavaria: Knight of St. Hubert, 1867^[12]
•  Kingdom of Saxony: Knight of the Rue Crown, 1865^[13]
•  Spain: Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, 28 September 1891^[14]
•  Württemberg: Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1867^[15]
• Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Seraphim, 19 April 1885^[16]
•  Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold
• Kingdom of Greece: Grand Cross of the Redeemer
•  Kingdom of Romania: Grand Cross of the Star of Romania
•  Principality of Serbia:
  • Grand Cross of the Cross of Takovo
  • Grand Cross of the White Eagle
• Siam: Knight of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 23 June 1897^[17]
•  Grand Duchy of Hesse: Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 26 July 1858^[18]
•  Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the White Falcon, 2 September 1864^[19]
• Mecklenburg: Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore
• Nassau Ducal Family: Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau
•  Brunswick: Grand Cross of the Order of Henry the Lion, 1876^[20]
• Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order

Ancestry

Ancestors of Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria

8. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor[21] 4. Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor[22] 9. Infanta Maria Louisa of Spain[21] 2. Archduke Franz Karl of Austria 10. Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies[23] 5. Princess Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily[22] 11. Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria[23] 1. Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria 12. Frederick Michael, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken[24] 6. Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria[25] 13. Countess Palatine Maria Franziska of Sulzbach[24] 3. Princess Sophie of Bavaria 14. Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden[26] 7. Princess Caroline of Baden[25] 15. Princess Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt[26]

References

1. "Ludwig Viktor – Erzherzog "Luziwuzi"". Die Welt der Habsburger (in German). Retrieved 18 April 2022.
2. Shawcross, Edward, The Last Emperor of Mexico, New York: Basic Books, 2021, pp. 92-93.
3. Shawcross, Edward, The Last Emperor of Mexico, New York: Basic Books, 2021, p. 92.
4. Kastl, Robert. "Gay and Lesbian Life in Vienna". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2007.
5. "Ludwig Viktor – Erzherzog "Luziwuzi"". Die Welt der Habsburger (in German). Retrieved 18 April 2022.
6. Acović, Dragomir (2012). Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik. p. 581.
7. "Genealogie des Allerhöchsten Herrscherhauses", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1918, p. 3, retrieved 28 August 2020
8. "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1912, pp. 50, 53, retrieved 28 August 2020
9. The London Gazette, issue 27604, p. 6147
10. "Schwarzer Adler-orden", Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (in German), vol. 1, Berlin, 1886, p. 6 – via hathitrust.org{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
11. Italia : Ministero dell'interno (1898). Calendario generale del Regno d'Italia. Unione tipografico-editrice. p. 53.
12. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Bayern (1908), "Königliche Orden" p. 8
13. Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen: 1865/66. Heinrich. 1866. p. 4.
14. "Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III", Guía Oficial de España, 1911, p. 168, retrieved 23 July 2020
15. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1907), "Königliche Orden" p. 27
16. Sveriges Statskalender (in Swedish), 1905, p. 440, retrieved 6 January 2018 – via runeberg.org
17. Royal Thai Government Gazette (8 January 1898). "พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์ ที่ประเทศยุโรป" (PDF) (in Thai). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
18. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1879), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" p. 11
19. Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1869), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 12 Archived 8 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine
20. Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Herzogtums Braunschweig für das Jahr 1897, "Herzogliche Orden Heinrich des Löwen" p. 10
21. Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1860). "Habsburg, Franz I." . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 6. p. 208 – via Wikisource.
22. Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1860). "Habsburg, Franz Karl Joseph" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 6. p. 257 – via Wikisource.
23. Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Maria Theresia von Neapel" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 7. p. 81 – via Wikisource.
24. Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 94.
25. Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Sophie (geb. 27. Jänner 1805)" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 7. p. 149 – via Wikisource.
26. "Karoline Friederike Wilhelmine Königin von Bayern". Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte [House of Bavarian History] (in German). Bavarian Ministry of State for Wissenschaft and Kunst. Archived from the original on 1 December 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2018.

• Helmut Neuhold: Das andere Habsburg. Homoerotik im österreichischen Kaiserhaus, Tectum-Verlag

External links

Media related to Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria at Wikimedia Commons

• Ludwig Viktor - 'Archduke Luziwuzi' at The World of The Habsburgs