Alfred, 2nd Prince of Montenuovo (16 September 1854 – 6 September 1927) was one of the highest court officials of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Among his direct ancestors were members of the House of Habsburg and the Medici family.
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Private life
Prince Alfred of Montenuovo was born in Vienna, Austrian Empire, the only son of Wilhelm, 1st Prince of Montenuovo (1819–1895; son of Adam Albert, Count of Neipperg, and Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, Empress of The French), and his wife, Countess Juliana Batthyány von Németújvár (1827–1871; daughter of Count János Baptist Batthyány-Strattmann and Countess Marie Esterházy von Galántha). His paternal grandmother, Marie Louise, was the Empress consort of Napoleon I of France from 1810 to 1814 and Duchess of Parma from 1814; she was married morganatically to his grandfather Count Adam Albert von Neipperg in 1821.
Alfred married on 30 October 1879 in Vienna Countess Franziska Maria Stephania Kinsky von Wchinitz and Tettau (26 December 1861 – 11 July 1935), daughter of Ferdinand Bonaventura, 7th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau, and his wife, Princess Maria Josepha of Liechtenstein (1835–1905). They had four children:
Princess Juliana Rosa of Montenuovo (Margarethen am Moos, 15 November 1880 – Berg Palace in Berg, 27 June 1961); (1) Married in 1903 to Count Dionys Maria Draskovich of Trakostjan (1875–1909). They were the parents of Countess Maria Draskovich of Trakostjan married to Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria. (2) Married in 1914 to Karl, Prince of Oettingen-Oettingen and Oettingen-Wallerstein (1877–1930), no issue.
Princess Marie of Montenuovo (Margarethen am Moos, 20 October 1881 – Tegernsee, 10 August 1954); married in 1909 to Count Franz Maria of Ledebur-Wicheln (1877–1954), had issue.
Ferdinand, 3rd Prince of Montenuovo (Margarethen am Moos, 29 May 1888 – Márianosztra, 2 May 1951); married in 1927 to Baroness Ilona Solymossy of Loós and Egervár (1895–1988), had issue. Last male of the family.
Princess Franziska of Montenuovo (Margarethen am Moos, 22 August 1893 – Wels, 3 November 1972); married in 1918 to Prince Maria Leopold von Lobkowicz (1888–1933), had issue.
He inherited the title Prince of Montenuovo in 1895 following the death of his father.
The prince died in 1927 in his palace at Löwelstrasse 6 in Vienna's city centre after suffering a heart attack. His body was interred at his family's crypt at Bóly (Német-Bóly) in Hungary.
Career
After studying at the Catholic seminary in Salzburg, Alfred started a career as court official, in 1896/97 becoming Obersthofmeister (Grand Master of the Court) of Archduke Otto of Austria (1865–1906), brother of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the heir to the Austrian throne from 1896).
In 1898 Emperor Franz Joseph made him Second Obersthofmeister of the imperial court, alongside Prince Rudolf of Liechtenstein. In 1900, Montenuovo was honoured by the Order of the Golden Fleece, the personal order of the dynasty. After Prince Rudolf's death, Montenuovo advanced to become First Obersthofmeister in 1909. The Obersthofmeisteramt, as his office was called, among other duties supervised the court theatres. Montenuovo supported the decision to make Gustav Mahler conductor and director (from 1897) of the I.R. Court Opera.
Montenuovo was a long-time enemy of Franz Ferdinand.
Following the assassination of the latter and his morganatic wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, at Sarajevo in 1914, and with the emperor's connivance, Montenuovo decided to turn the funeral into a massive and vicious snub.
Even though most foreign royalty had planned to attend, they were pointedly disinvited and the funeral was attended by just the immediate imperial family, with the dead couple's three children excluded from the few public ceremonies. The officer corps was forbidden to salute the funeral train, and this led to a minor revolt led by Archduke Karl, the new heir to the throne. The public viewing of the coffins was curtailed severely and even more scandalously, Montenuovo tried unsuccessfully to make the children foot the bill. The Archduke and Duchess were interred at Artstetten Castle because the Duchess could not be buried in the Imperial Crypt.
In 1917, the new emperor Charles I (r. 1916–1918) replaced Montenuovo as Obersthofmeister with Prince Konrad of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst.
Honours and arms
Austro-Hungarian orders and decorations
Knight of the Iron Crown, 1st Class, 1897
Knight of the Golden Fleece, 1900
Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, 1908
War Medal (1873)
Golden Jubilee Court Medal, 1898
Golden Jubilee Medal for the Armed Forces, 1898
Jubilee Court Cross
Foreign orders and decorations