Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie of Austria (7 July 1878 â 13 March 1960) was a daughter of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria and his third wife Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal. Through her son Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein, she is the current grandmother of Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein.
Elisabeth was born in Reichenau on 7 July 1878, the youngest of a large family, as her father Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria. Her father married three times. He had no children with his first wife Princess Margaretha of Saxony, but he and his second wife Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies welcomed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who became heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary; and Archduke Otto Franz Joseph of Austria who was the father of Charles I of Austria, the last Emperor of Austria and two more children. Elisabeth and her older sister Archduchess Maria Annunciata of Austria (later Abbess of the Theresia Convent in the Hradschin, Prague)was the result of her father's third marriage to her mother Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal, daughter of the deposed King Miguel I of Portugal.
In addition, her father was a younger brother of Franz Joseph I of Austria, the reigning emperor at the time of her birth. He was also a sibling of Maximilian I of Mexico, who became Emperor of Mexico for a short time.
Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie married Prince Alois of Liechtenstein in Vienna on 20 April 1903. There had been some debate as to whether this was an equal union. The bride's uncle Emperor Franz Joseph I attended the wedding with the intention of making it clear he regarded the House of Liechtenstein as a legitimate reigning dynasty. As the House of Liechtenstein had become sovereign, the couple were ruled equal in birth, and the Emperor was happy to see a member of his family making a dynastic marriage, after the morganatic marriage of her half-brother Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Later, the Emperor also became the godfather of the couple's eldest son, Franz Joseph, who was named after him.
Sometime after their marriage, Princess Catherine Radziwill commented that Elisabeth "is very pretty and resembles her mother more than the Habsburgs, whose lower lip she has not inherited by some kind of miracle, for which, I suppose, she feels immeasurably grateful". Elisabeth and Alois lived in various castles within Austria, including Gross-Ullersdorf Castle. Their eldest son was born in Frauenthal Castle.
The couple had eight children together:
She owned 31 motor cars and was regarded as one of the more enthusiastic motorists among imperial women in Europe. She converted the stables at her Hungarian castle Stuhlweissenburg to garages but pursued her hobby quietly and studiously, so that the great majority of the public were not even aware of her large collection.
Prince Alois renounced his rights to the succession on 26 February 1923, in favor of their son Franz Joseph, who would accede to the throne on 25 July 1938 as Franz Joseph II. Prince Alois himself died on 17 March 1955 from influenza at Vaduz Castle in Liechtenstein. Due to his renunciation, he never became the prince of Liechtenstein. Elisabeth died on 13 March 1960.