Thursday, August 20, 2009

Leopold's former wife denied aid

August 20, 1937

"Even hope was lost today for a destitute friendless old lady," reports the AP, "who was once beautiful Wilhelmine Adamovic Woelfing."
Wilhelmine was the postmaster's daughter for whom Archduke Leopold of Austria "sacrificed his royal rights." A provisional court in Vienna today "refused her pleas for an allowance from the Habsburgs."
The former Mrs. Woelfing, 60, is "dependent on the dole for her existence. She married Archduke Leopold in July 1903, and "was a dazzling figure in European aristocracy before the war."
Leopold had signed a contract "promising to live outside Austria-Hungary, surrender his prerogatives and accept a yearly consideration of 40,000 gold marks."
Leopold and Wilhelmine were divorced in 1907. Half of his allowance was "to go to his widow," but when Leopold died, Wilhelmine's allowance stopped.

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