Walburga Habsburg Douglas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Walburga Habsburg Douglas
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Pictured in 2009
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| Born |
Walburga Maria Franziska Helene Elisabeth von Habsburg-Lothringen
5 October 1958 Berg am Starnberger See, Germany
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| Title | Countess Douglas |
| Spouse(s) |
Count Archibald Douglas
(m. 1992) |
| Children | 1 |
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Countess Walburga Douglas, born Walburga von Habsburg-Lothringen on October 5, 1958, is a Swedish lawyer and politician. She was born in Germany and served as a member of the Swedish Parliament, called the Riksdag, from 2006 to 2014. She is also involved with the Paneuropean Union and works with the Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism.
Contents
Early Life and Family History
Walburga Douglas was born in 1958 in Berg am Starnberger See, Germany. She is the fifth daughter of Otto von Habsburg, whose family once ruled Austria-Hungary, and his wife Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen. Her full birth name is Walburga Maria Franziska Helene Elisabeth.
When she was born, her father did not have a country to call his own and lived in Germany. Walburga and her family were not allowed to enter Austria for many years because of a law called the Habsburg Law. This law was put in place to prevent the old royal family from returning to power. However, this ban was later found to go against their human rights. Austria had to remove the ban for Walburga and her family before it could join the European Union.
Walburga is a granddaughter of Charles I, who was the last emperor of Austria. She is part of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, a very old and famous European family. While her family had traditional titles like Archduchess, these titles were officially ended in Austria in 1919. Today, she holds the title of Countess Douglas in Sweden, which is her current home country.
Career Journey
Education and Early Work
After finishing high school in 1977 in Tutzing, Germany, Walburga studied law in Salzburg, Austria. From 1979 to 1992, she worked as an assistant at the European Parliament, which is an important part of the European Union. In 1983, she also studied journalism in Washington, D.C., and worked for Reader's Digest magazine there. Later, from 1985 to 1992, she worked for the Ministry of Information in the Sultanate of Oman. In 2004, she joined the board of the Arab International Media Forum in London.
Political Involvement
Walburga Douglas has been active in politics for a long time. In 1973, she helped start Paneuropa-Jugend Deutschland, a youth group focused on European unity. She became its leader in Bavaria and later a national vice-chairperson. She also founded Brüsewitz-Zentrum in 1977, which was a Christian-European study group.
From 1980 to 2004, she held important roles in the international Paneuropean Union, working to bring European countries closer together. Since 2004, she has been its executive vice chairperson.
The Paneuropa-Picknick Event
Walburga was one of the main organizers of the Paneuropa-Picknick on August 19, 1989. This event took place at the Iron Curtain, which was the border between Hungary and Austria. During this picnic, the border fence was opened for the first time. This allowed more than 660 people from East Germany to escape to the West. This was the largest number of people to escape since the Berlin Wall was built. Many people see this event as a key moment that helped lead to the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.
Swedish Politics
Since 2003, Walburga has been the chairperson of the local branch of the Swedish Moderate Party in Flen. She also serves on the board of the party's regional organization in Södermanland. Since 2005, she has been a board member of the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation, which is closely connected to the Moderate Party.
She ran for the European Parliament in 1999 and 2004. She also ran for the Swedish Parliament (the Riksdag) in 2002 and 2006. On September 17, 2006, she was elected to the Swedish Parliament. This election was a big success for the Moderate Party, showing their strongest support since 1928. From 2011, she was the vice-president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and led the Swedish parliamentary group to the OSCE. She served in the Riksdag for eight years but lost her seat in 2014 due to her party's election results.
She is also a board member of the Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism. In September 2023, Walburga Douglas visited Armenia to help open a new branch of PanEuropa in Yerevan.
Personal Life
On December 5, 1992, Walburga married a Swedish nobleman, Count Carl Axel Archibald Douglas, in Budapest, Hungary. His family is a noble family in Sweden, descended from a Scottish member of the Clan Douglas. The family's title of Count was given by Queen Christina of Sweden in 1654 and is recognized in Sweden.
Walburga and Archibald have one son, Count Mauritz Otto Wenzel Douglas, who was born on March 30, 1994, in Stockholm. They live at Ekensholm Castle in Sweden.
Honours and Awards
House of Habsburg-Lorraine: Dame of the Imperial and Royal Order of the Starry Cross, 1st Class
: Dame of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
