Franziska acted as regent during the reign of her son, Johann II, from 10 February 1859 to November 1860.[1][2] Her son ascended to the throne shortly after his 18th birthday, and as such his reign had been the longest precisely documented tenure of any European monarch since antiquity in which a regent (that is, a minor regency) was never employed, until the record was surpassed by that of Elizabeth II on 9 May 2022.[3]
Franziska Kinsky did act as his regent, but she did not function as the regent of a minor regency government, but was appointed by her son as his regent in his absence, because he had not been given time to finish his education before suddenly inheriting the throne, and he wished to do so before actually taking up his rule, and thus appointed his mother to rule in his stead while he focused on finishing his studies.[1] He officially appointed her 10 February 1859, and relieved her of her duties as regent when he finished his studies in November 1860.
Franziska Kinsky founded the first relief fund for orphans in Liechtenstein, as well as a school for girls, the Haus Gutenberg.
In 1854 she bought Gutenberg Castle, while in 1870 she also bought Burg Wartenstein and had it rebuilt in the fashionable Romantic style.
Issue
Her children were:
Princess Marie Franziska de Paula Theresia Josepha (Vienna, 20 September 1834 – Vienna, 1 December 1909), married in Vienna on 29 October 1860 Count Ferdinand of Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg (Vienna, 27 June 1825 – Schloss Fridau, 12 December 1896), and had issue
Princess Carolina Maria Josepha Walpurgis Nestoria (Vienna, 27 February 1836 – Vienna, 28 March 1885), married in Vienna on 3 June 1855 Alexander Fürst von Schönburg-Hartenstein (Vienna, 5 March 1826 – Vienna, 1 October 1896), and had issue
Princess Ida Maria Lamberta Theresia Franziska de Paula (Eisgrub, 17 September 1839 – Libejic, 4 August 1921), married in Vienna on 4 June 1857 Adolf Joseph 8th Fürst zu Schwarzenberg (Vienna, 18 March 1832 – Libejic, 5 October 1914), 1,092nd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Austria, and had issue
7. Countess Maria Theresia of Kaunitz-Rietberg-Questenberg
15. Countess Maria Bernhardine of Plettenberg-Wittem
Notes
^ abPeter Geiger: Geschichte des Fürstentums Liechtenstein 1848 bis 1866. In: Jahrbuch des Historischen Vereins für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein. Volume 70. Vaduz 1970, p. 242 ff. (in German)
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