#augusta von seefried princess of bavaria

[archduchessofnowhere]

Four generations: Gisela and her daughter, granddaughter and great-grandson, 1920.

From left to right: Elisabeth, Countess Otto von Seefried Auf Buttenheim (neé Princess of Bavaria), Augusta, Princess Adalbert of Bavaria (neé Countess von Seefried Auf Buttenheim), Prince Konstantin of Bavaria and Gisela, Princess Leopold of Bavaria (neé Archduchess of Austria).

Gisela was the eldest surviving daughter of Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria and his wife, the Empress Elisabeth.

[archduchessofnowhere]

Because buying books and reading them are two completely different hobbies I've added yet two more volumes to my library (even though I still haven't read the ones I showed you last month): The Crown of Mexico by Joan Haslip and Eugène Beauharnais by Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (the translation castilianize his name but I refuse to).

Haslip's book it's a biography of Archduke Maximilian of Austria, the younger brother of Emperor Franz Josef, and his wife Charlotte of Belgium, both better known for their short-lived time as Emperor and Empress of Mexico. I've already read Haslip's book about actress Katharina Schratt and Franz Josef, and I quite liked so I hope I'll enjoy this one as well.

It got pictures!

As you know my main focus on this blog are the grandchildren of King Maximilian I of Bavaria (and amongst them mainly the second to last Empress of Austria and the last Queen of Naples), but as of lately I've been interesting a lot on his daughters. Princess Auguste of Bavaria was the one that caught my attention the most, but also she's a tricky one to study, because her life has become inseparable with the one of her husband, Eugène de Beauharnais, whom you perhaps know better for being the step-son of Napoleon Bonaparte. But after reading for a bit about them I realized that Eugène is also a pretty interesting guy which I knew almost nothing about, so I started to look for books about him and I came across Prince Adalbert's biography.

It also got pictures!

Knowing little to nothing about Eugène I asked the expert here if it was worth buying it and @josefavomjaaga kindly replied me that although outdated this is the best book about his years in Bavaria, which sold it for me (thank you again for your advice!). Given that the shipping fee was insane (literally three times the book's price) I ended up doing a two-hour trip to the small bookstore that had it. This is an Spanish edition from 1942 (beating Corti's Elisabeth and making it the oldest book that I own) and it's in a very good state despite its years. It also has what every history book should have: footnotes! Also fun fact about the author for my Sisi followers, he was married to Countess Augusta von Seefried auf Buttenheim, a great-granddaughter of Elisabeth and Franz Josef.

I won't be buying anything else for a while, so I'll try to read these soon, specially since I'm on vacation until March. Once again, gotta love buying second hand and coming across books like these.