Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen

Habsburg is the son of Archduke Michael of Austria (b. 1942), son of Archduke Joseph Francis of Austria and Princess Anna of Saxony, and Princess Christiana of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1940), daughter of Karl, 8th Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. He is legally known in Austria as Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen and is referred to by the traditional title of Archduke Eduard of Austria in the Almanach de Gotha.^[2] He acquired Hungarian citizenship as his father was born in Hungary.^[3] Eduard is the great-great-great-grandson of Emperor Franz Joseph I.^[4][5] He spent much of his upbringing in Munich, Germany, Venice, Italy, and Austria.^[6]

Habsburg studied philosophy and history at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, where he earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1999 with a dissertation on the end of Neo-Thomism, graduating magna cum laude.^[7] He later pursued further studies at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

After university, he worked for a children’s television company in Germany and produced animated series “Nick and Perry”. He was a zombie-movie screenwriter, cartoon producer, love-triangle novelist and media personality.^[8]

In December 2015, Habsburg was appointed to serve as Hungary’s ambassador to the Holy See and Sovereign Military Order of Malta.^[9]

He concluded his mission to the Holy See in November 2025.^[10]

On 1 July 1995 he married Maria Theresia von Gudenus (b. 1967), a descendant of Archduke Johann of Austria. They have six children, one son and five daughters.^[11]

Habsburg is a practising Catholic.^[12] He has expressed an admiration for Thomas More, Pope Gregory I, József Mindszenty, Thérèse of Lisieux, Charles I of Austria, and his patron saint and namesake Edward the Confessor.^[13]

Habsburg's X profile has a cult following,^[14] with nearly 126 thousand followers as of April 2026. His most popular tweets mostly reference the Habsburg family history.