Windisch-Graetz


The House of Windisch-Graetz, also spelled Windisch-Grätz, is an Austrian-Slovenian aristocratic family, descending from Windischgraz in Lower Styria. The noble dynasty serving the House of Habsburg achieved the rank of Freiherren in 1551, of Imperial Counts in 1682 and of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire in 1804. The family belongs to high nobility.

History

According to the Almanach de Gotha, the family was first recorded in 1242. They temporarily served as ministeriales of the Patriarchs of Aquileia, owners of Slovenj Gradec until the mid 14th century. One Conrad of Windischgracz acted as a Habsburg administrator in the Habsburg Duchy of Styria from 1323 onwards.
In 1574 the dynasty obtained Inkolat in Bohemia; later, however, several members converted to Lutheranism and lost their estates in the course of the Thirty Years' War. The Austrian diplomat Gottlieb of Windisch-Graetz again converted to Roman Catholicism in 1682 and was elevated to the rank of Count of the Holy Roman Empire by Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, in the same year. In 1693 his son Ernest Frederick acquired Červená Lhota Castle in Southern Bohemia, which his descendant Joseph Nicholas of Windisch-Graetz had to sell in 1755.
Count Alfred Candidus Ferdinand zu Windisch-Graetz was elevated to the rank of Fürst in 1804. After the Holy Roman Empire was abolished two years later, their territories were mediatized to Württemberg and Austria. Alfred and his brother Weriand were both created Princes of the Austrian Empire in 1822, with Alfred and his successors being the first line of Princes of Windisch-Graetz, and Weriand and his successors being the second line.
Great Britain's Princess Michael of Kent is descended from this family through her maternal grandmother, while her husband Prince Michael of Kent is a first cousin once removed of Archduchess Sophie Franziska of Austria, Princess of Windisch-Graetz.

(Mediatized) Princes of Windisch-Graetz

was the father of both of the men whose lines are given below.

Elder Line

Gules, a wolf's head couped argent.

Notable family members