Prince Francis Xavier of Saxony

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Franz Xavier of Saxony.

Franz Xavier of Saxony (b. Dresden, 25 August 1730 - d. Dresden, 21 June 1806), was a german prince member of the House of Wettin.

He was the fourth but second surviving son of Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and Maria Josepha of Austria.

Life

Regent of Saxony

After the death of his older brother, the Elector Frederick Christian who had governed only 74 days (17 December 1763), Franz Xavier took over the regency of the Electorate together with his sister-in-law, the Dowager Electres Maria Antonia of Bavaria on behalf of his infant nephew and new Elector Frederick Augustus III and continued the rationalistic reforms of his brother.

Franz Xavier performed in October 1765 -against the wishes of the Dowager Electress Maria Antonia and in consequence of the treaty signed between Prussia and Russia on 11 April 1764- the formal renunciation of the Polish Crown in name of the young Elector in favor of Stanislaus Poniatowski. Also, the introduction of Franz Xavier (according to the model of Prussia) of a army reform bumped with the estates of the country and caused a violent refusal particularly because of the high expenses of this reforms.

Acording of the regulations of the Golden Bull of 1356, the regency of a underage Elector ended with the reaching of his eighteen birthday. On 1768, the Elector Frederick Augustus III was formally proclamed and adult and Franz Xavier ended his functions as Regent of the Electorate.

Secret Marriage, Exile and Return to Saxony

In Dresden on 9 March 1765 Franz Xavier married secretly and morganatically with a Lady-in-waiting of his sister-in-law, the italian Contessa Maria Clara Spinucci. The union was keep in secret and appears as a concubinage until was formally published and legitimized in 1777. From 1769 Franz Xavier moved to France under the title of Count of Lusatia (fr: Comte de Lusace, de: Gräf von der Lausitz) and live there with his family for almost twenty years, when he left the country at the beginning of the French Revolution. They moved to Rome and, after the death of his wife in 1792, he remained there some years after his finally return to Saxony and settled his residence in the Schloss Zabeltitz, where Franz Xavier live until his death, aged seventy-five.

Issue

During their marriage, Franz Xavier and Maria Clara had nine children —known as Count/Countess of Lusatia (de: Gräf/Gräfin von der Lausitz)— but only six survived adulthood:

1. Ludwig (b. Dresden, 27 March 1766 - d. Pont-sur-Seine, 22 August 1782).
2. Clara (b. Dresden, 27 March 1766 - d. Dresden, 18 November 1766), twin with Ludwig.
3. Joseph (b. Dresden, 23 August 1767 - killed in a duel at Teplitz, 26 June 1802), called "Le Chevalier de Saxe".
4. Elisabeth Ursula Anna Cordula Xaveria (b. Dresden, 22 October 1768 - d. Dresden, 3 May 1844), called "Mademoiselle de Saxe"; married on 8 November 1787 to Henri de Preissac, Duc d'Esclignac.
5. Maria Anna Violante Katharina Martha Xaveria (b. Siena, 20 October 1770 - d. Rome, 24 December 1845), married on 15 October 1793 to Principe Don Paluzzo Altieri, Principe di Oriolo.
6. Beatrix Marie Françoise Brigitte (b. Chaumot, 1 February 1772 - d. Dresden, 6 February 1806), married on 18 February 1794 to Don Raffaele Riario-Sforza, Marchese di Corleto.
7. Kunigunde Anna Helena Maria Josepha (b. Chaumot, 18 March 1774 - d. Rome, 18 October 1828), married on 1795 to Marchese Don Giovanni Patrizi Naro Montoro.
8. Christina Sabina (b. Pont-sur-Seine, 30 December 1775 - d. Rome, 20 August 1837), married on 24 March1796 to Don Camillo Massimiliano Massimo, Pr di Arsoli.
9. Cecilie Marie Adelaide Augustine (b. Pont-sur-Seine, 17 December 1779 - d. Pont-sur-Seine, 24 June 1781).