Prince Louis of Liechtenstein


Prince Aloys Franz de Paula Maria, known in English as Prince Louis, was the son of Prince Franz de Paula of Liechtenstein and younger brother of Prince Alfred of Liechtenstein. He was the cousin of Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein. He was nicknamed "The Red Prince".

Life and career

As did most of his family, Aloys attended the Schottengymnasium in Vienna.
Prince Louis of Liechtenstein was an Austrian politician and social reformer. He was an opponent of liberalism, serving in the Reichsrat from 1878-1889 as a Catholic-Conservative member of parliament. In 1881 he became a member, and from 1888-1889 was chairman of the conservative Zentrum-Klub. In 1875, he met Karl von Vogelsang and in 1887 came into contact with Karl Lueger, joining the latter's Christian Social Party when it was founded in 1891. Aloys, Lueger, Vogelsang and Franz Martin Schindler met regularly at the Hotel Zur goldenen Ente in Vienna's First District, and would refer to their meetings as Enten-Abende. This working group became the focus for social reform and they organised the Second Austrian Katholikentag in 1889. From this Schindler developed the platform of the fledgling Christian Social Party.
He represented the party in parliament until 1911. He worked to bring the Catholic Conservatives and Christian Socials into a coalition between 1896-1907 to keep the liberals in opposition. After Lueger's death in 1910, he became chair of the party.
From 1906-1918 he was Marshal of Lower Austria. In 1911 he was appointed to the Upper House but progressively withdrew from public life due to ill health. He resigned all offices in 1918. His campaigns for social reform, religious schools and religious law were in the spirit of Pope Leo XIII.
Like Lueger, he was considered an Anti-Semite.
He is buried in a dedicated grave in Vienna's central cemetery, the Zentralfriedhof.

Marriage and issue

He married firstly in London on 27 June 1872 Marie Fox, adopted daughter of Henry Edward Fox, 4th Baron Holland and wife Lady Mary Augusta Coventry, and had issue, four daughters. Marie died in 1878, aged 28.
Their children were:
Louis married secondly in Vienna on 20 May 1890 Johanna Elisabeth Maria von Klinkosch, daughter of the master silversmith Josef Carl Ritter von Klinkosch and his wife Elise Swoboda, without issue.

Ancestry

Works