Trips of the Royal House of Habsburg to the Palm Forest of Elche since the 19th century
Elisabeth of Bavaria, empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary (1837-1898), familiarly known as Sissi, traveled to the Huerto del Cura in 1894; but she was neither the only nor the first visitor of the Royal House of Habsburg to Elche.
Early on, we had the words of the former municipal archivist, Josep Mª Ruiz de Lope, who in July 1863 told us about the coming to Elche of “his Highness the Prince of Austria, his wife and his secretary, to see the palm forest”. After investigating the documentary collections of the Huerto del Cura, we believe that this aristocrat was no other than Joseph, prince of Windisch-Grätz (1831-1906), a prominent army chief from the family of the same name linked to the Habsburg dynasty, coming from the current Carinthia region, in Slovenia. He married princess Gabrielle of Auersperg in 1853.
Perhaps best known to us, due to his connection to the island of Mallorca, is Archduke Luis Salvador of Habsburg-Lorraine (1847-1915). He was a traveler, writer and naturalist and a peculiar character, interested in science, knowledgeable in classical and modern languages, who chose the island of Mallorca as the centre of his research. It is known that, in 1871, on one of his trips to Palma de Mallorca, he first visited Alicante and Elche. We believe that Luis Salvador, an admirer of the Empress of Austria and with whom she exchanged correspondence, spoke to Elisabeth about these two enclaves on the Mediterranean coast. They both coincided on more than one trip to the Mediterranean, and Luis Salvador was back in Elche in 1896, two years after empress Elisabeth’s visit to the Huerto del Cura.
And so it was that Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria, Queen consort of Hungary (Elisabeth von Österreich, for the Germans), became permanently linked to the Huerto del Cura, and the palm forest of Elche, on said visit. That year, her ship was docked in the port of Alicante on two occasions, according to her biographer, Conte Corti, on casual visits when seeking refuge from storms. The empress, a woman ahead of her time, came from one of her journeys that had kept her away from the court of Vienna by her own will; this was a long journey, that began at his usual summer residence in Miramare (Trieste) in 1893, and that would take her to Algiers, the island of Madeira, and the Spanish Levantine coast. After many adventures, and in his desire to head to Marseille, she would arrive at Cap Martin on the French blue coast, in her old ship, the Greif, where she would meet with her husband, Emperor Franz Joseph.
It was the restless, insightful and tireless character of the empress that led her to the palm forest of Elche from the port of Alicante, where she was staying at the Bossio inn. The small details of the visit are already part of our local history, when Chaplain Castaño accompanied her to see the palm grove of Huerto del Cura, and in particular stopped to admire the one palm-tree, that would be baptised “Imperial” in her honour.
Long after this visit, already in 1955, we finally received another member of the Royal House of Habsburg in the Huerto del Cura Garden. It was Otto of Austria-Hungary, as he himself signed in the Garden´s Guest Book, who was accompanied by his wife, Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen. He is more popularly known as Otto of Habsburg-Lorraine (Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen), son of Charles I, the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary and great-nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph.
Otto of Austria-Hungary, who renounced his dynastic rights in favour of his son Charles in 2007, was a writer and journalist, as well as a dedicated politician, pro-European and fervent anti-Nazi, who served as a member of the European Parliament for 20 years. A lover of Spain, he owned a house in Benidorm where he frequently stayed.
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© Vicente Federico ORTS
July 2024
Bibliography:
Egon Caesar Conte Corti – ‘Elisabeth, the enigmatic Empress’. Ed. 1992.
Erzherzog Ludwig Salvator – ‘Die Balearen’. 1897.
Joan Castaño i García (Ed.) – ‘Noticias de Elche [1804-1873] de Josep M.ª Ruiz de Lope y Pérez’. 2024.
Documentary collection Huerto del Cura.
