The family is descended from the Counts of Beaufort, who held land near Huy in the early 11th century. The original family split into several branches, including those of Spontin and of Vêves (the present Counts of Liedekerke-Beaufort descend from the latter). The branch of Beaufort-Spontin settled in Freÿr in the early 15th century.[5]
Frederic August Alexander of Beaufort-Spontin (1751–1817), Count of Beaufort, Marquis of Spontin and of Florennes, was the son of Charles Albert (1713-1753), made Marquis of Beaufort-Spontin with princely rank in 1746, and of his wife Countess Marie-Marguerite de Glymes (1732-1755), heiress of the Counts of Glymes.[1] He was elevated to the rank of Duke in the Austrian Netherlands in 1782 and to Imperial count in 1789.[1] He was the Chamberlain of Archduke Charles of Austria in Brussels, and the Governor-General of the Netherlands on behalf of the Sixth Coalition Powers in 1814. He was also President of the Privy Council, Chamberlain, and Grand Marshal of the Court of King William I of the Netherlands.[7][1]
Friedrich Christian, 7th Duke of Beaufort-Spontin (born 1944) is the son of the sixth duke by his 1943 marriage to Christiane Steinheuer. Born at Petschau, he is a physician specializing in nuclear medicine, formerly a professor at Graz University, and lives in Steiermark, Austria. As neither he nor his brother, Count Christian de Beaufort-Spontin (born 1947), has sons by their marriages, the ducal and princely titles have no heirs in the next generation.[1]
Beaufort-Spontin, Frederic (8 November 2009), A word from Frederic, Castle and Gardens of Freÿr / Meuse (Belgium), archived from the original on 2020-11-26, retrieved 2017-05-01 — includes a photograph of the 7th Duke
De Stein d'Altenstein, Isidore, ed. (1848), Annuaire de la noblesse de Belgique (in French), Brussels: Auguste Decq, p. 60
De Stein d'Altenstein, Isidore, ed. (1867), Annuaire de la noblesse de Belgique (in French), Brussels: Auguste Decq, p. 9
Eupedia staff (2014), "Beaufort-Spontin", History of the ducal and princely families in Belgium, Eupedia.com
Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels (in German) (Fürstliche Häuser XVI ed.), Limburg an der Lahn: C.A. Starke Verlag, 2007, pp. 370–373, ISBN978-3-7980-0841-0
Goethals, Félix-Victor (1859), "Frédéric-Auguste-Alexandre, duc de Beaufort-Spontin", Histoire généalogique de la maison de Beaufort-Spontin (in French), Brussels: Polack-Duvivier, p. 294
Poplimont, Ch (1863), La Belgique héraldique: recueil historique, chronologique, généalogique et biographique complet de toutes les maisons nobles reconnues de la Belgique (in French), vol. 1, Brussels, pp. 445-453{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)