Hungary’s new Ambassador to the Holy See has been named as Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen, the great-great-great grandson of the late Austro-Hungarian emperor and Hungarian king Franz Joseph I and his wife, Queen Elizabeth. The diplomat, who currently lives in the Austrian capital Vienna and goes by the full name Eduard Karl Joseph Michael Marcus Koloman Volkhold Maria Habsburg-Lothringen, has been studying the Hungarian language intensively for the last year, Valasz.hu reports.

The 48-year-old ambassador-to-be, who is also a Catholic author and media personality, was born in Munich and currently resides in Vienna. He had previously been struggling with his Hungarian but has been studying the language ardently for the last year to be able to represent Hungary in the Vatican.

His father-in-law Alfons M. Kloss currently serves as Austria’s Ambassador to the Holy See. The diplomat’s father, devout Catholic Michael Habsburg-Lothringen, is chairman of the Mindszenty Foundation and a committed friend of Hungary. A father of five children with his wife Baroness Maria Theresia von Gudenus, Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen has previously been director of communications of the diocese of Sankt Pölten and scriptwriter of television series and the film Mary, Queen of Scots. He has published writings in the area of art and history and is currently guest professor at the University of Lugano.

via valasz.hu

photos: valasz.hu and wikipedia.org