Elsa, Princess of Liechtenstein

Elsa, Princess of Liechtenstein
Elisabeth von Gutmann in January 1910
Princess consort of Liechtenstein
Tenure	22 July 1929 – 25 July 1938
Born	(1875-01-06)6 January 1875 Vienna, Austria
Died	28 September 1947(1947-09-28) (aged 72) Vitznau, Switzerland
Burial	St. Florian Cathedral, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Spouse	Baron Géza Erős de Bethlenfalva ​ ​ (m. 1899; died 1908)​ Franz I, Prince of Liechtenstein ​ ​ (m. 1929; died 1938)​
Names Elisabeth Sarolta
Father	Wilhelm von Gutmann
Mother	Ida Wodianer
Religion	Catholicism (previously Judaism)

Elisabeth Sarolta von Gutmann (6 January 1875 – 28 September 1947) was princess consort of Liechtenstein from 1929 to 1938 as the wife of Prince Franz I of Liechtenstein.

Early life

Elisabeth (also known as Elsa) was born at Vienna, Austria-Hungary. She was the daughter of Wilhelm Isak, Ritter von Gutmann and his second wife Ida. Her father was a Jewish businessman from Moravia. His coal mining and trading company, Gebrüder Gutmann, was in a leading position in the market dominated by the Habsburg monarchy. He and his brother were ennobled in 1878 by Emperor Franz Joseph I. They were made knights of the Order of the Iron Crown which simultaneously meant being given a hereditary knighthood. Between 1891 and 1892 he was president of the Vienna Israelite Community.

Marriages

First marriage

In January 1899, she was baptised on the name Elisabeth Sarolta and became a Catholic. A few days later, on 1 February 1899, Elisabeth was married in Vienna to Hungarian Baron Géza Erős of Bethlenfalva (1866–1908). He died on 7 August 1908. They had no children.

Second marriage

In 1914, Elisabeth met Prince Franz of Liechtenstein at the relief fund for soldiers. Prince Franz's brother Prince Johann II did not approve of this relationship. On 11 February 1929, Prince Franz succeeded his brother as Franz I, as his brother had died unmarried and childless. On 22 July 1929, Elisabeth and Franz I married at the small parish church of Lainz near Vienna. They had no children. The couple were the first prince and princess of Liechtenstein to make proper contact with the public through active representation. As princess, Elisabeth participated in official ceremonies, visited institutions and the poor, and became quite popular. She founded Franz und Elsa-Stiftung für die liechtensteinische Jugend, an organisation for teenagers, which still exists. In addition, there was the Princess Elsa Foundation for hospitals. She was, however, identified by local Liechtenstein Nazis as their Jewish "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party. In early 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Nazi Germany, 84-year-old Prince Franz I relinquished decision-making to his 31-year-old grandnephew, who would later succeed him as Prince Franz Joseph II.

Later years

After the death of her husband in 1938, she lived at Semmering Pass, until the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany, when she went into exile in Switzerland, where she died at Vitznau on Lake Lucerne in 1947.

Elsa von Gutmann commemorative stamp

She was the first princess who was buried not in Vranov, but in the new royal crypt next to the Vaduz Cathedral (previously she was buried near the pilgrimage chapel of Dux in Liechtenstein on 2 October 1947).

Ancestry

Ancestors of Elsa, Princess of Liechtenstein
8. Isak Kelin Gutmann 4. Marcus Leopold Gutmann 9. Elise Wolf 2. Wilhelm von Gutmann 10. Anschel Spira-Fränkel 5. Dobresch Spira-Fränkel 11. Dobresch 1. Elisabeth von Gutmann 12. Rudolf Wodianer 6. Philipp Wodianer 13. Rozalia Koppel 3. Ida Wodianer 14. Moritz Porges 7. Emma Porges 15. Henriette Reitlinger

Notes and sources

• Wodianer Family
• Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser, Reference: 1968

External links

• Elisabeth (Elsa)'s biography on the Princely House's website