Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023
Eleonore Barbara Catharina von Thun-Hohenstein, Princess of Liechtestein; Credit – Wikipedia
Countess Eleonore Barbara Catharina von Thun-Hohenstein was the wife of Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein. Born on May 4, 1661, in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic, she was the elder of the two children, both daughters, of Count Michael Oswald von Thun-Hohenstein, a chamberlain and advisor at the imperial court of the Holy Roman Empire, and Countess Elisabeth von Lodron. Eleonore Barbara’s paternal grandparents were Count Johann Sigmund von Thun-Hohenstein and Anna Margaretha von Wolkenstein. Her maternal grandparents were Christoph von Lodron and Katharina von Spaur-Flavon.
Eleonore Barbara had one sister:
Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein; Credit – Wikipedia
On October 15, 1679, Eleonore Barbara married Anton Florian, the future sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein, the second of the three sons of Prince Hartmann of Liechtenstein and Countess Sidonie Elisabeth of Salm-Reifferscheidt. Anton Florian was the grandson of Prince Gundakar of Liechtenstein, the brother of Karl I, the first Prince of Liechtenstein. In 1676, at the age of twenty, Anton Florian began his career at the imperial court of the Holy Roman Empire in Vienna, Austria by being appointed a chamberlain of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Eleonore Barbara and Anton Florian had eleven children:
Eleonore Barbara accompanied her husband Anton Florian on his diplomatic and political missions throughout the Holy Roman Empire and Western Europe. In 1689, Anton Florian became a member of the Imperial Privy Council and in 1691, he became ambassador to the papal court in Rome. Due to his extensive knowledge, in 1693, Anton Florian became responsible for the education of Archduke Karl, son of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. In 1711, upon the sudden death of his elder brother Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke Karl was elected to succeed him as Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Anton Florian headed the imperial government as Chairman of the Council of State and served as Karl VI’s Chief Chamberlain for the rest of his life.
On June 16, 1712, Anton Florian’s nephew Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein, died without a male heir. Anton Florian was the heir according to primogeniture but he was not very popular with the family, so Hans-Adam I had named his second cousin once removed Josef Wenzel as his heir. In 1718, after negotiations, Josef Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein swapped the County of Vaduz and the Lordship of Schellenberg in exchange for the Dominion of Rumburk. Anton Florian became reigning Prince of Liechtenstein making Eleonore Barbara the Princess Consort.
The Pauline Church in Vienna, where Eleonore Barbara was buried; Credit – Di Ricardalovesmonuments – Opera propria, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69117322
After a reign of only three years, Eleonore Barbara’s husband Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein, aged 65, died in Vienna, Austria, on October 11, 1721, and was buried in the Old Crypt at Chuch of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vranov, Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. Eleonore Barbara survived him by less than two years, dying at the age of 62 on February 10, 1723, in Vienna, Austria. She was buried in a crypt under the Pauline Church (link in German) in Vienna, Austria where her daughter Anna Maria who married her first cousin Josef Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein, would later be buried. The crypt no longer exists and the tombs were not preserved.
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Works Cited