Windsors and Austria - Part II # 2024

When the new English king Charles III is crowned in a few days' time, few people will be aware that one eighth of Styria is ascending the English throne. This is because Charles' great-grandfather Prince Alexander of Hesse, who served in Russia, once had to leave the court because of a marriage that was not befitting his rank. But he was also a cousin of Archduchess Sophie, the mother of Emperor Franz Joseph. This enabled him to enter Austrian service and he was transferred to Graz, where he lived with his wife. There their son Ludwig was born, the first prince of a new dynasty, the House of Battenberg.

Ludwig later went to England, where he married a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and pursued a career in the Royal Navy. During World War I, he followed the example of the royal family. King George V changed his family's name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the quintessentially English “House of Windsor.” And Ludwig von Battenberg became Louis Mountbatten. His grandson was Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth and father of Charles III. Even today, a villa in Graz commemorates the Battenbergs, and the baptism of King Charles' great-grandfather has also left its mark on the city on the Mur.