Chapter 36 – Two Countesses Althann – Who’s Who?

The identity of the obscure Countess Althann is about to come to light. An attentive reader may recall that this name has already appeared in the narrative, but let me make it clear at once that it referred to a different lady. The difficulty lies in the fact that, in the eighteenth century, the Althann family was numerous and divided into many collateral branches, which makes keeping track of their members quite a challenge.

Now, let us set the matter straight. The young lady connected with the young Monsieur Schwarzenberg at the turn of the century was Karolina Countess Althann. She was not the same person as Giuseppina, née Princess Pignatelli, the supposed mistress of Emperor Karl VI. Karolina bore the title of Countess Althann by birth, Giuseppina by marriage — hence my decision to emphasise the latter’s maiden name and Italian origin. Although born in the same generation, the two ladies belonged to different branches of the family: Giuseppina’s husband and Karolina were second cousins once removed.

For the sake of avoiding unnecessary detail in the narrative, I did not distinguish between the family’s residences. To be precise, however, Karolina’s line stemmed from Schloss Goldberg at Murstetten near Sankt Pölten in Lower Austria.