Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Habsburg brothers' double engagement


As reported at the Tea at Trianon Forum, Royal Musings, and Tageblatt (German), Archdukes Imre (b 1985; right photo with Miss Walker) and Christoph (b 1988; left photo with Miss Drapé-Frisch) of Austria-Hungary, sons of Archduke Carl Christian and Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg, have jointly announced their engagements respectively to American Catholic writer and activist Kathleen Walker and French diplomat's daughter Adélaide Drapé-Frisch.

My fellow royalist blogger "Elena Maria Vidal" met Archduke Imre in Pennsylvania at a TFP event hosted by monarchist Michael Drake in 2010 and had a delightful experience. Congratulations and best wishes to both couples!

In a nod to any readers disappointed by these young ladies' lack of royal birth, I'd like to add that while I admire the way many members of formerly reigning royal families (including the Archdukes' older sister Archduchess Marie-Christine who married a count from an ancient noble family of the Holy Roman Empire) have maintained traditional standards in their choices of spouses, I don't think it would be reasonable to expect all of them to continue to do so indefinitely when the nations ruled by their ancestors continue to refuse to accord them their rightful status. Privilege and responsibility are meant to go together--and the Habsburgs since the tragic fall of their Empire 93 years ago have demonstrated plenty of responsibility. It is their would-be subjects who have failed them by stubbornly refusing to restore them to their thrones despite ample evidence that the fall and dismemberment of the Habsburg Empire was a disaster for humanity.