by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Archduke Gottfried of Austria was the Pretender to the former Grand Ducal throne of Tuscany from 1948 until his death in 1984.

Archduke Gottfried Maria Joseph Peter Ferdinand Hubert Anton Rupert Leopold Heinrich Ignaz Alfons was born Mary 14, 1902 in Linz, Austria, the elder son of Archduke Peter Ferdinand of Austria and Princess Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. He had three siblings:

He was raised in Salzburg and Vienna until the family relocated to Lucerne, Switzerland at the end of World War I.

Gottfried married Princess Dorothea of Bavaria in civil and religious ceremonies held on August 2 and 3, 1938 in Sárvár, Hungary. She was the daughter of Prince Franz of Bavaria and Princess Isabella Antonie of Croÿ. The couple had four children:

• Archduchess Elisabeth (1939) – married Friedrich Edler von Braun, had issue
• Archduchess Alice (1941) – married Baron Vittorio Manno, had issue
• Archduke Leopold of Austria, Prince of Tuscany (1942) – married Laetitia de Bezunce d’Arenberg, had issue
• Archduchess Marie Antoinette (1950) – married Baron von Proff zu Irnich, had issue

Following World War II, Gottfried and his family settled in Sankt Gilgen, just outside of Salzburg. They lived a very quiet life, despite Gottfried succeeding his father as pretender to the former Grand Ducal throne of Tuscany in 1948.

Archduke Gottfried died in Bad Ischl, Austria on January 21, 1984. He is buried in the parish cemetery of Sankt Gilgen, in Salzburg. Gottfried was succeeded by his only son, Archduke Leopold Franz.

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