who then was married with Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (they later became King and Queen of Bavaria). The heir-general of the Estes continues in their descendants, and the present heir is Franz, Duke of Bavaria. After Unification and current status However, Francis V had decided to retain the Este name in the Habsburg family, and left most of his huge estate to his young cousin Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, with certain conditions, one of which is that the heir and future heirs use the name of Este. The non-territorial property of the Este family thus fell to the line of Archduke Charles Louis, younger brother to then Emperor Francis Joseph, Austria-Este then becoming a sort of "secundogeniture" title within the Austrian imperial family. Although the first heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914), was not a descendant of the last Este duchess, Mary Beatrice of Modena, he took the name Austria-Este. In 1896 he became the heir presumptive of the Austrian Empire and, according to the terms of the secundogeniture, could not combine the Austria-Este inheritance with that of the main line of the House of Habsburg, i.e., the Austro-Hungarian Empire; but he was assassinated 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo before becoming emperor. Because Franz Ferdinand's children were born in morganatic marriage (see House of Hohenberg), on 16 April 1917 Emperor Charles I of Austria, as head of the House of Habsburg, issued letters patent conferring the name, arms and patrimony of Austria-Este on his son, Archduke Robert, and his future issue according to masculine primogeniture. Through his mother Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Robert happened to be a descendant of Duke Ercole III of Modena and Reggio as well, and thus the blood of the last Este dukes was joined with the name Austria-Este. On Robert's death his eldest son, Archduke Lorenz, born 1955, by his wife, Princess Margherita of Savoy, succeeded him in that role. He is married to Princess Astrid of Belgium, a daughter of King Albert II of Belgium. Since the throne of Belgium is heritable by females (and males no longer have precedence over females), Princess Astrid is an heir of Belgium immediately after the issue of King Philippe of Belgium. As such, her husband Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este, was in 1995 elevated to the additional title of Prince of Belgium. The children of the couple are, since 1991, titled Archduke (Archduchess) of Austria-Este and Prince(ss) of Belgium.