Archduchess Hedwig of Austria


Archduchess Hedwig of Austria was the second daughter of Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria and his wife, Marie Valerie of Austria. She was a granddaughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria.

Biography

Hedwig was born on 24 September 1896 in Bad Ischl. Empress Elisabeth visited her daughter shortly after delivery. Her mother gave her the hunting lodge Kühtai in Austria, as a wedding gift in 1917, it having been acquired in 1893 by Emperor Franz Joseph and bequeathed to Marie Valerie.
Hedwig married on 24 April 1918 Count Bernhard of Stolberg-Stolberg, a son of Count Leopold of Stolberg-Stolberg and of Mary Eddington, a Scottish heiress, at the castle of Wallsee, owned by the bridegroom's father. The couple had nine children:
In 1949 Hedwig began to transform the castle into a ski lodge, subsequently opened to the public as Kühtai ski resort.
Hedwig died in 1970 with 74 years in Hall, Tyrol. She is buried in the family vault in the cemetery Hall.

Ancestry