Franz Josef Alfred Leopold Hermann Maria, Prince of Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim and Dyck (7 April 1899 â 13 June 1958) was a German nobleman and entrepreneur.
Franz was born in Vienna in the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 7 April 1899. He was the son of Alfred, 5th Prince of Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim and Countess Marie-Dorothea von Bellegarde. His siblings included Princess Maria (who died young); Princess Christianne (who married Franz Leopold von Hartig); Prince Alfred (who died young); and Princess Paula.
His paternal grandparents were Leopold, 4th Prince of Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim (second son of Konstantin, 2nd Prince of Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim) and, his first wife, Baroness Anna Maria von Thurn und Valsássina-Como-Vercelli. His maternal grandparents were Count Franz Alexander Ernst Noyel von Bellegarde and Countess Rudolphine Karoline Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau.
After his father was killed by a train at the Morken railroad crossing in 1924, he became the titular 6th Prince of Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim and Dyck, and took over the majorat and family estates on the Rhine and in Baden.
Prince Franz was the owner of the Salm-Dyck-Reifferscheidt mineral springs ("Roisdorfer Mineralquelle") and took over the company in 1948 under the name "Roisdorfer Brunnen Fürst Salm & Co." He was Grand Master of the "Archconfraternities of Saint Sebastian" in the German Riflemen's Association.
On 29 May 1924 in Rome, Prince Franz was invested into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. On 1 October 1932, His Beatitude, the Patriarch of Jerusalem Luigi Barlassina, appointed Franz Joseph, Prince and Count of Salm-Reifferscheid-Krautheim and Dyck, then Vice President of the German Association of the Holy Land, as Rector and Administrator of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, as the first Governor of a separate German Lieutenancy. His successor as German Lieutenant after his death in 1958 was Baron Friedrich August von der Heydte.
On 27 May 1930, Prince Franz was married to Princess Cäcilie of Salm-Salm (1911âÂÂ1991), a daughter of Emanuel, Hereditary Prince of Salm-Salm, and Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria. They lived at Alfter Castle near Bonn, and after World War II, they lived at Dyck Castle in Jüchen. Together, they were the parents of eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood, including:
Prince Franz died on 13 June 1958 in Bonn in North Rhine-Westphalia. Upon his death, the male line of the Prince of Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck of the Salm-Reifferscheidt family became extinct. His widow, Princess Cäcilie, died at Dyck Castle on 11 March 1991.