It is with regret that we announce the passing of Fürst Ferdinand zu Hohenlohe-Bartenstein. After a long illness, he succumbed yesterday at hospital in Schwäbisch Hall.
Ferdinand zu Hohenlohe-Bartenstein was born at Bartenstein, the family estate, on March 6, 1942. He was the only son of Karl, 8th Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Bartenstein (1905-1950) and of his wife the former Baroness Clara von Meyern-Hohenberg (1912-2001). Ferdinand had two older sisters, both surviving him: Franziska (b. 1937), married firstly to Alexander Frowein, and secondly to Baron Maximilien de Watteville-Berckheim (1940-2013); and Henriette (b. 1938), married since 1964 to Count Hans Veit zu Toerring-Jettenbach (b. 1935), Head of House.
Among Ferdinand’s most illustrious ancestors was Archduchess Anna of Austria-Tuscany (1879-1961), one of the children of Grand Duke Ferdinando IV of Tuscany (1835-1908) and his second wife, the former Princess Alicia of Bourbon-Parma (1849-1935). Among Archduchess Anna’s siblings were two notorious ‘black sheep’: Archduchess Louise, who married and bolted King Friedrich August III of Saxony, and Archduke Leopold Ferdinand, who renounced his titles and adopted the name ‘Leopold Wolfling’, ending his days as a grocer in Vienna. Needless to say, Archduchess Anna’s descendants were far more conventional than her siblings.
Archduchess Anna married Johannes, 7th Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Bartenstein (1863-1921) in 1901, before the shenanigans of her sister Louise ruined the marital opportunities of her younger sisters. The couple had six children: Maria Rosa (1903-1999), who married (and divorced) Josef Hugo Waldenmeier (1879-1961); Fürst Karl; Fürst Albrecht zu Hohenlohe-Jagtsberg (1906-1996), who married Countess Theresa von Geldern-Egmont, founder of the line of HOHENLOHE-JAGTSBERG; Elisabeth (1907-1927); Margarethe (1909-1985), married to Raffaele Corsi di Turri dei Baroni di Turri (1908-1990); and Friedrich (1910-1985), who married Marie Claire Buet de Villars (1916-2012).
When it came time to find a consort, Fürst Ferdinand didn’t look faraway. In 1971, at Oettingen, he married Princess Franziska zu Oettingen-Oettingen und Oettingen-Spielberg (1947-2011). She was the first child of Fürst Alois zu Oettingen-Oettingen und Oettingen-Spielberg (1920-1975), and of his wife, the former Countess Elisabeth zu Lynar (1922-2005). Franziska’s siblings included, among others: Alexandra (b. 1948), who married Fürst Hubertus Fugger von Babenhausen (b. 1946); Fürst Albrecht (b. 1951), married to the former Angela Jank (b. 1951), close friends of the Prince of Wales; and Margarita (1957-2000), who was married to Prince Franz Lobkowicz (b. 1957).
As the only son of his father, Ferdinand inherited the family’s estates in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. These properties, located mainly in a region called Hohenloher-Land, were administered from Schloß Bartenstein, the family seat.
Soon after their honeymoon, Ferdinand and Franziska set about to building a family of their own. The couple eventually had five children: Maximilian (b. 1972), who married Cristina Vozzi Castriota Scanderberg; Felix (b. 1973), married to doña Cristina Gutiérrez-Maturana-Larios y Kalachnikof (a daughter from the complicated second marriage of the late Spanish aristocrat the Marqués de Paul); Alice (b. 1978), who married Prince Christian zu Sayn-Wittegenstein-Berleburg; Margherita (b. 1979); and Georgina (b. 1982), who married Count Clemens Douglas. Fürstin Franziska predeceased her husband in 2011.
For the ancestors’ list of the late Fürst Ferdinand, I recommend the following link as it takes you to an excellent genealogical study composed by the very talented François Guyard…
Our sincere condolences to the princely family…RIP…
