Duchess Eilika of Oldenburg

Duchess Eilika of Oldenburg
Archduchess Georg of Austria
Princess Georg of Austria and Hungary
Spouse Georg von Habsburg
Issue Archduchess Zsófia
Archduchess Ildikó
Archduke Károly-Konstantin
Full name
German: Eilika Helene Jutta Clementine
House House of Holstein-Gottorp
House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Father Duke Johann of Oldenburg
Mother Countess Ilka of Ortenburg
Born 22 August 1972
Bad Segeberg, Germany
Austrian Imperial Family

HI&RH Archduke Karl
HI&RH Archduchess Francesca

Grand Ducal Family of Oldenburg
  • HRH The Duke
    HRH The Duchess
    • HRH Duke Alexander
    • HH Duke Philipp
    • HH Duke Anton Friedrich
    • HH Duchess Katharina

HRH The Dowager Duchess

  • HH Duchess Helene

Duchess Eilika of Oldenburg (née Duchess Eilika Helene Jutta Clementine of Oldenburg) (born 22 August 1972) is the wife of Georg von Habsburg, the third in the line of succession to the titular Austro-Hungarian throne. She was in line of succession to the British throne before her marriage to a Roman Catholic. She is a daughter of Duke Johann of Oldenburg and his wife Countess Ilka of Ortenburg.[1] Her father is a younger son of Nikolaus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg and his wife Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1899–1948).

Marriage

Wedding ceremony

On 18 October 1997, Eilika married Georg von Habsburg in St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest, Hungary.[1][2][3] He is the younger son of Otto von Habsburg (himself a son of the deposed Emperor Charles I of Austria) and his wife Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen. Among the wedding guests were Felipe, Prince of Asturias, Prince Albert of Monaco, and Hassan II of Morocco.[2] Pope John Paul II sent his best wishes to the couple, and ambassadors of many foreign nations, including the United States, attended as representatives.[2] The 25-year-old Eilika wore a high-necked white dress, along with a veil worn by her great-grandmother Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1896.[4] The ceremony was broadcast live on Hungarian television; roughly 2,000 Hungarian citizens and tourists gathered outside the church to witness the wedding.[4]

Their wedding was the first union between the Catholic Habsburgs and Lutheran Oldenburgs in their families' histories and the first marriage between members of the houses of Habsburg and Oldenburg since the wedding of Archduke Joseph and Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia, herself a member of the house of Holstein -Gottorp-Romanov,a branch of the Oldenburgs. .[3] It was also the second time that a Habsburg was married in Hungary since the fall of communism in 1989.[3]

Issue

The couple have three children:

Succession and living arrangements

Georg is the only one of his siblings to make a dynastically equal marriage according to Habsburg family laws. Had his father not accepted his older brother Karl's marriage to Baroness Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza, which would have been otherwise considered morganatic, Georg would have been his father's heir after his elder brother, as it would have been with Archduke Franz Ferdinand towards Emperor Franz Joseph.

She and her family live next to the village of Sóskút, in Pest County in Hungary. Their eldest child was the first Habsburg to be born in Hungary in more than fifty years. While Georg is a Roman Catholic, Eilika has chosen to remain a Lutheran.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Ancestry

Eilika's ancestors in four generations

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
16. Peter II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8. Frederick Augustus II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
17. Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. Nikolaus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
18. Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
9. Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
19. Princess Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2. Duke Johann of Oldenburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
20. George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10. Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
21. Princess Helena of Nassau
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5. Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
22. Prince William of Schaumburg-Lippe
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11. Princess Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
23. Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1. Archduchess Eilika of Austria
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24. Count Friedrich of Ortenburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
12. Count Friedrich of Ortenburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
25. Princess Anastasia von Wrede
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6. Count Alfred of Ortenburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
26. Prince Alfred of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13. Princess Ilka of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
27. Countess Pauline of Reichenbach-Lessonitz
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3. Countess Ilka of Ortenburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
28. Gottfried Karl von Lücken
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14. Rudolf Leopold von Lücken
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
29. Valeska von Löbbecke
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7. Jutta von Lucken
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
30. Roland, Count of Brünneck-Bellschwitz
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
15. Irmgard von Brünneck
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
31. Maria von Neitzschütz
 
 
 
 
 
 

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lundy, Darryl. "The Peerage: Eilika Helene Jutta Clementine von Holstein-Gottorp, Duchess of Oldenburg". Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Archduke of Austria Weds German Duchess in Hungary", European Stars and Stripes (Budapest), 19 October 1997
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Hungary to Host Royal Wedding", The Globe and Mail (Budapest), 18 October 1997
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Grandson of Last Emperor Married", Indiana Gazette (Budapest), 19 October 1997