Karl von Habsburg is known as Karl of Austria, and others refer to him as Archduke of Austria, Royal Prince of Hungary, Bohemia, and Croatia. Karl von Habsburg is a politician who currently serves as the leader of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. He recently tested positive for the coronavirus, which is causing a worldwide pandemic.

How old is Karl von Habsburg?

Karl von Habsburg was born on January 11, 1961, in Germany. He has a 59-year-old father. In Pöcking, Bavaria, he was christened as Archduke Karl of Austria (Erzherzog Karl von sterreich), as recorded in the baptismal records. His father was de facto stateless and possessed a Spanish diplomatic passport (he had grown up in Spain) at the time of his birth, while his mother was a German citizen.

For the first years of his life, he, like his father and siblings, was exiled from Austria. The Austrian Republic was eventually forced to lift the ban on him and his family, which had been found to violate their human rights. He has been a resident of Salzburg, Austria, since 1981. He lives in Casa Austria, formerly known as Villa Swoboda, in Anif, near Salzburg.

Karl von Habsburg studied law, political science, and philosophy beginning in 1982. He enrolled at the University of Salzburg and received a scholarship to Michigan State University in 1984. In 2012, he earned an LLM and an MBA from IMADEC University in Vienna.

Is Karl von Habsburg married?

He married Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza on January 31, 1993, in Mariazell. She is the only daughter of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon and Fiona Frances Elaine Campbell-Walter. Her father was an industrialist from Europe, and her mother was his third wife and a fashion model.

Despite objections from some family members, the marriage received dynastic approval from Karl’s father, as head of the House of Habsburg, because the bride, despite being a baroness in the nobility of pre-republican Hungary and Transylvania, did not descend in the canonically legitimate male line from a family of dynastic, mediatized, or alter Adel status.

Career line of Karl von Habsburg

• Karl von Habsburg has presided over the Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union since 1986. In 1992/1993, after studying law for 12 years, he hosts Who Is Who. It’s a TV game show that airs on ORF, Austria’s public television network. In October 1996, he was elected to the European Parliament by the Austrian People’s Party (VP).
• Two years later, it was revealed that the VP’s election campaign had received 30,000 euros in World Vision donation money through Paneurope Austria, while Karl von Habsburg sat on the board of World Vision Austria, oblivious to the director’s questionable legal activities.
• His father added fuel to the fire. He complained that they were unfairly attacking his son and drew a parallel between the name “Habsburg” and a yellow badge. Karl von Habsburg was not re-nominated by VP for the 1999 elections. Karl von Habsburg donated 37,000 euros to the new World Vision Austria branch in 2004.
• On January 19, 2002, the UNPO Steering Committee appointed him as UNPO’s Director-General (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization). He has been the President of the Blue Shield Association of National Committees since December 7, 2008.
• Otto von Habsburg, his father, renounced all claims to the Austrian throne in 1961. It was a legal requirement for me to return to Austria.
• Karl’s father delegated to him the position of head and sovereign (Grand Master) of the Order of the Golden Fleece on November 30, 2000, and he also became Grand Master of the Order of St. George in 2008.
• After a failed attempt to reclaim former Habsburg family properties, Karl von Habsburg filed an unsuccessful lawsuit before Austria’s constitutional court in 2005. The estates of the family had been expropriated by the First Republic, reverted by Austrofascism, and then expropriated again by the Nazis.
• His family attempted to reclaim their former property under Nazi-era restitution rules. The attempt failed because the law of expropriation remains constitutionally valid. Karl’s father relinquished his position as head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine on January 1, 2007, a position that then devolved on Karl.
• Karl von Habsburg is one of the three co-founders of the Vienna-based investment firm BG Privatinvest. The company purchased the two most important Bulgarian daily newspapers, Dneven Trud and 24 Chasa, in December 2010. Following ongoing disagreements with its Bulgarian partners, BG Privatinvest sold the newspapers in April 2011.
• Karl von Habsburg has been a shareholder in a media group in the Netherlands that includes radio stations, a magazine, and a music television channel since 2009.
• Austria and Hungary Sovereign Knight with Collar of the Austrian Imperial and Royal Order of the Golden Fleece of the House of Habsburg