Princess Regina Helene Elizabeth Margarete of Saxe-Meiningen, Crown Princess of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia
6 January 1925 – 3 February 2010.
Had history taken a different turn, she would have been Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. She was born in Würzburg, Germany, on January 6 1925, the youngest of four daughters of Duke Georg III of Saxe-Meiningen, and his wife, Countess Klara-Marie von Korff genannt Schmissing-Kerssenbrock. Her father joined the Nazi party in 1933 and died in a Russian prisoner-of-war camp. Her brother, Prince Anton Ulrich, was killed in action in 1940. Another brother became a Carthusian monk.
She married Archduke Otto von Habsburg on May 10 1951 at the Eglise des Cordeliers in Nancy (the burial place of several members of the House of Lorraine), with the blessing of Pope Pius XII. Although Otto was the legitimate heir to the Austrian Empire, he was unusual among "pretenders" in electing to ignore his aristocratic title and sit in the European parliament as Dr Otto von Habsburg, Christian Democrat member for North Bavaria. He never claimed the throne of Austria.
The Archduchess was Protectress of the Order of the Starry Cross, an all-female Roman Catholic order founded in the 17th century; Grand Mistress of the Order of Elisabeth, a similar organisation; and an Honorary Lady Grand Cross of the Sovereign Order of Malta. The Archduchess died at Pöcking über Starnberg, Bavaria, where she had lived with her husband since 1953.
Watch newsreel of the wedding of Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen to Archduke Otto von Habsburg:
6 January 1925 – 3 February 2010.
She married Archduke Otto von Habsburg on May 10 1951 at the Eglise des Cordeliers in Nancy (the burial place of several members of the House of Lorraine), with the blessing of Pope Pius XII. Although Otto was the legitimate heir to the Austrian Empire, he was unusual among "pretenders" in electing to ignore his aristocratic title and sit in the European parliament as Dr Otto von Habsburg, Christian Democrat member for North Bavaria. He never claimed the throne of Austria.
The Archduchess was Protectress of the Order of the Starry Cross, an all-female Roman Catholic order founded in the 17th century; Grand Mistress of the Order of Elisabeth, a similar organisation; and an Honorary Lady Grand Cross of the Sovereign Order of Malta. The Archduchess died at Pöcking über Starnberg, Bavaria, where she had lived with her husband since 1953.
Watch newsreel of the wedding of Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen to Archduke Otto von Habsburg:
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