Prince Johann Nepomuk Karl I von Liechtenstein

The fourth child of Prince Josef Johann Adam I (1690–1732) and Princess Maria Anna, née zu Oettingen-Spielberg (1693–1729), Johann Nepomuk Karl I was born in Vienna on 8 July 1724. In 1744 he married Maria Josefa, née Countess von Harrach zu Rohrau und Thannhausen (1727–1788). The couple had three children, of whom only the youngest daughter Maria Antonia (1749–1813), who was born after her father’s death, survived into adulthood.

Aged only eight at his father’s death, Johann Nepomuk Karl grew up under the guardianship of his uncle, Prince Joseph Wenzel I (1696–1772). In 1738 he accompanied his uncle on his embassy to Paris. He completed his education with a tour of important European countries. In 1743 he returned to the Liechtenstein estates. 

It was not until 1745 that Johann Nepomuk Karl I took over as head of the family and ruled in his own right as prince. He proved eccentric, however, and had little financial acumen. Suffering from chronic ill-health, he struggled to administer the huge family assets on a continuous basis. Shortly after being appointed chamberlain at the royal courts of Hungary and Bohemia he died at the age of twenty-four in Wischau (Vyškov, Czech Republic) on 22 December 1748.

The title and rule over the principality passed to Joseph Wenzel I in accordance with the ‘Erbeinigung’ (inheritance settlement) of 1606.

His only son, Josef Johann Nepomuk, had died only a few weeks after his birth on 20 May 1747. Thus the lineage of Prince Anton Florian I (1656–1721) died out in the male line with Prince Johann Nepomuk Karl I in the third generation.

The title and rule over the principality passed to the eldest male blood relative in the next male line, his uncle Joseph Wenzel I, in accordance with the provisions of the ‘Erbeinigung’ (inheritance settlement) of 29 September 1606 that determined the ensuing history of the dynasty.