page_title: Robert, Archduke of Austria-Este
section_title: Archduke of Austria-Este
hierarchical_section_title: Robert, Archduke of Austria-Este / Archduke of Austria-Este
caption_attribution_description: Arms of the Dukes of Austria-Este as borne by Archduke Franz Ferdinand during his lifetime
context_page_description: Archduke Robert, Archduke of Austria-Este, was the second son of Karl I, last Emperor of Austria-Hungary, and Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma.
context_section_description: On 16 April 1917, at the age of two, his father the Emperor ceded the title of Archduke of Austria-Este in Robert's favor. Archduke Robert was thereby chosen to preserve, in the form of a distinct secundogeniture, the Habsburg-Lorraine representation of the once-sovereign Duchy of Modena which had belonged to the House of Este. He was thus made heir to his assassinated relative Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, (1863–1914), who had inherited in 1875 the Austria-Este designation and what had been salvaged of the Este fortune when the duchy was annexed to Italy in 1860.
  Archduke Robert descended through his Habsburg father from Ercole III d'Este, Duke of Modena, and his mother Zita was a descendant of Maria Beatrice d'Este, heiress of Modena and her husband, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Thus the lineage of the last Este dukes, in female descent, remained joined to the Austria-Este legacy. Archduke Robert eventually adopted use for himself and his descendants in male line the surname Austria-Este, and he took also the title Duke of Este, intended henceforth to be borne by the head of the Austria-Este branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
  Upon his death in 1996, the day before his 81st birthday, he was succeeded as head of this line by his son, Lorenz of Austria-Este, Prince of Belgium (born 1955). Although the marriage of his eldest son to Princess Astrid of Belgium, relegated use of the Austria-Este archdukedom to a secondary title in that realm, the title continues in use elsewhere among his cadet descendants.
caption: Arms as borne by Archduke Robert during his lifetime.
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