Princess Stephanie of Windisch-Graetz

Who was Princess Stephanie of Windisch-Graetz?

Princess Stéphanie of Windisch-Graetz was the daughter of Prince Otto Weriand of Windisch-Graetz and Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria, only child of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and Princess Stéphanie of Belgium.

Her full name was Stéphanie Eleonore Maria Elisabeth Kamilla Philomena Veronika zu Windisch-Grätz in German, and Stéphanie Éléonore Marie Élisabeth Camille Philomène Véronique de Windisch-Grätz in French. She may have been named after her maternal grandmother, Princess Stéphanie of Belgium. She was the great grandchild of emperor Franz-Joseph and of the empress Elisabeth of Austria. She was also the great grandchild of king Leopold II of Belgium.

As a child she suffered very much from the constant absence of her mother and subsequently from the painful divorce of her parents. Her mother came to live in Brussels with the four children and princess Clementine offered a friendly refuge to Stéphanie. The couple was separated in 1924 and divorced in 1948. Since 1921 princess Elisabeth de Windischgrätz was the mistress of the Austrian socialist member of parliament Leopold Petznek, whom she married in 1948.