Johann, 2nd Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch

Johann Sigismund Friedrich, 2nd Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch (22 February 1732 – 15 June 1801) was an Austrian prince and diplomat.

Early life

Born Johann Sigismund Friedrich von Khevenhüller on 22 February 1732 in Vienna, he was the second born, but eldest surviving, son of Johann, 1st Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch (1706–1776) and Countess Karolina Maria Augustina von Metsch (1706–1784).[1] His father was a diplomat during the early reign of Empress Maria Theresa, serving as the Habsburg Ambassador to Denmark, Saxony, and as the Bohemian Ambassador to the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg.[2]

His paternal grandparents were Count Sigmund Friedrich von Khevenhüller and, his second wife, Ernestine Leopoldine von Orsini-Rosenberg. His maternal grandfather was Imperial Vice-Chancellor (German: Reichsvizekanzler) Count Johann Adolf von Metsch. As his maternal grandfather had no male issue, he adopted his father, who took Metsch as an additional surname in 1751.[3]

Career

His father was created 1st Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch in 1763. The family owned Riegersburg Castle in Hardegg and Ladendorf Castle in Lower Austria. Following his death on 18 April 1776, he succeeded as the 2nd Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch and as Hofmeister from Lower Austria.[4] He was also Prince of Aichelberg, Count of Hohen-Osterwitz and Annabüchl, Baron of Landskron and Wernberg, and Hereditary Lord of Carlsberg.[3]

A diplomat like his father, he served as the Habsburg Ambassador to Portugal from 1756 to 1760, the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in Turin from 1763 to 1770, and Plenipotentiary Commissioner-General to the Duchy of Milan from 1775 to 1782, the Emperor Joseph II's highest representative in Imperial Italy.[5] After his service in Milan, he retired from diplomatic service, and lived mainly in his Palace in Milan (designed by Italian architect Giuseppe Piermarini on Via Monte di Pietà, no. 1A) and other Italian cities before returning to Austria in 1801 shortly before his death.[6]

He was made a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.[3]

Personal life

On 25 February 1754 in Vienna, Khevenhüller-Metsch married Princess Maria Amalia Susanna of Liechtenstein (1737–1787), one of twelve children of Prince Emanuel of Liechtenstein and Countess Maria Anna Antonia von Dietrichstein-Weichselstädt. Among her siblings were Franz Joseph I, Prince of Liechtenstein (who married Countess Leopoldine von Sternberg) and Prince Karl Borromäus of Liechtenstein (who married Princess Eleonore von Oettingen-Spielberg). Together, they were the parents of nine children, at least six of whom lived to adulthood, including:[1]

After her death in 1787, he married Countess Marie Josephine Henriette Barbara Strassoldo (1769–1837), a daughter of Count Vinzenz Strassoldo and Amalia di Valvasone. Her brother was Count Giulio Strassoldo di Sotto, the Governor of the Illyrian Provinces in Ljubljana and the Governor of Lombardy.[12] He purchased a Stradivarius violin made in 1733 for his second wife, which is today known as The Khevenhüller. It changed hands many times and, as of 2005, was worth $4 million.[13]

The Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch died on 15 June 1801 at Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Carinthia. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Karl. When he died without issue in 1823, the title passed to his second son, Franz.

Descendants

Through his son Franz, he was a grandfather of Richard, 5th Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch (1813–1877), who married Countess Antonia Maria Lichnowsky (a daughter of Prince Eduard Lichnowsky von Woschütz).[1]

Through his daughter Leopoldina, he was a grandfather of Alessandro Ruspoli, 4th Prince of Cerveteri (1784–1842), Prince Camillo Ruspoli, Duke of Sueca (1788–1864), and Prince Bartolomeo Ruspoli and Khevenhüller-Metsch (1800–1872), among others.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Khevenhüller-Metsch (Fürst), Johann Joseph (1925). Aus der Zeit Maria Theresias: Tagebuch des Fürsten Johann Josef Khevenhüller-Metsch, Kaiserlichen Obersthofmeisters 1742-1776 (in German). A. Holzhausen. pp. 325–330. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  2. ^ "Personen - Johann Joseph Khevenhüller-Metsch". gedaechtnisdeslandes.at (in German). Gedächtnis des Landes. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Constantin von Wurzbach: "Khevenhüller, Johann Sigismund Friedrich Fürst." In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich (Biographical Lexicon of the Empire of Austria).  Part 11 Kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1864, p. 221 (digitalised).
  4. ^ Louda, Jirí and MacLagan, Michael: Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe, 2nd edition (London: Little, Brown and Company, 1999), table 55.
  5. ^ "Khevenhüller, Sigismund Friedrich Fürst von". www.deutsche-biographie.de (in German). Deutsche Biographie. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  6. ^ "Khevenhüller, Sigismund Friedrich von". swb.bsz-bw.de. Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Württemberg. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  7. ^ Genealogisches Taschenbuch der deutschen gräflichen Häuser auf das Jahr ... (in German). Justus Perthes. 1851. p. 458. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  8. ^ a b Pálmány, Béla (2011). A reformkori országgyűlés történeti almanachja (1825-1848) (in Hungarian). Argumentum. pp. 475–476. ISBN 978-963-446-613-0. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  9. ^ Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der gräflichen Häuser (in German). Justus Perthes. 1888. p. 16. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  10. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Kaiserthumes Österreich: 1859,1 (in German). 1859. p. 58. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  11. ^ Libro d'oro della nobiltà italiana (in Italian). Collegio araldico. 1936. p. 974. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  12. ^ Hof- und Staats-handbuch der Österreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie (in German). 1902. p. 202. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  13. ^ Zukerman, Eugenia (24 April 2005). "'Stradivari's Genius': The Master Builder". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
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