William Albert, 1st Prince of Montenuovo

William Albert
Prince of Montenuovo
Spouse Countess Juliana Batthyány-Strattmann
Issue Albertine, Marquise Gonzaga-Myszkowski
Alfred, 2nd Prince of Montenuovo
Marie, Countess Antal Apponyi de Nagy-Appony
Full name
William Albert
House House of Montenuovo
Father Adam Albert, Count of Neipperg
Mother Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria
Born 8 August 1819
Parma, Duchy of Parma
Died 7 April 1895 (aged 75)
Vienna, Austria-Hungary

William Albert, 1st Prince of Montenuovo (8 August 1819  7 April 1895) was an Italian prince and Field Marshal Lieutenant of the Austrian Empire.

Early life

Count William Albert of Neipperg was born at Parma, Duchy of Parma, son of Adam Albert, Count of Neipperg (1775–1829), illegitimately (prior to his marriage in 1821) by his second wife, Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria (1791–1847), (daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor and Princess Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily). His mother Marie Louise was the Empress consort of Napoleon I of France from 1810 to 1814 and Duchess of Parma from 1814, she married morganatically to Adam Albert (after the death of her husband Napoleon I, who died on St. Helena) in 1821. William Albert was half-brother of Napoleon II of France

Military career

In 1838 he joined the ranks of the Austrian army and took part in the counterinsurgency battles of 1848 in Italy and Hungary, earning since 1854 the title of Second Lieutenant field marshal.

In 1859 he took part in the disastrous Battle of Magenta, where the Austrian army was defeated in favor of the Franco-Sardinian army and in 1860 became commander of a regiment, and was moved to Bohemia in 1866 . In 1867 he was promoted to General of Cavalry, remaining in office until 1878.

Prince of Montenuovo

In 1864 he was elevated to the status of Prince of Montenuovo (Italian translation of Neipperg).

Marriage

William Albert married on 22 February 1861 in Vienna to Countess Juliana Batthyány-Strattmann (1827–1871), youngest daughter of Count János Baptist Batthyány-Strattmann, and his wife, Countess Marie Esterházy de Galántha.

They had three children:

Honours

Parma

Austrian

Foreign

Ancestry

Notes and sources

William Albert, 1st Prince of Montenuovo
House of Montenuovo
Born: 8 August 1819 Died: 7 April 1895
Titles of nobility
New title Prince of Montenuovo
1864–1895
Succeeded by
Alfred