Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria

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For the friend and patron of Beethoven, see Archduke Rudolf of Austria (1788–1831).
Rudolf
Crown Prince of Austria
Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia
230px
Rudolf in 1887
Born (1858-08-21)21 August 1858
Schloss Laxenburg, Laxenburg, Lower Austria, Austrian Empire
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Mayerling, Lower Austria, Austria-Hungary
Burial Imperial Crypt, Vienna
Spouse Princess Stéphanie of Belgium (m. 1881)
Issue Elisabeth Marie, Princess Otto of Windisch-Graetz
Full name
German: Rudolf Franz Karl Josef
English: Rudolph Francis Charles Joseph
House Habsburg-Lorraine
Father Franz Joseph I of Austria
Mother Elisabeth in Bavaria
Religion Roman Catholicism
Signature Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria's signature

Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (Rudolf Franz Karl Josef; 21 August 1858 – 30 January 1889) was the only son and third child of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Duchess Elisabeth of Bavaria (Sissi). He was heir apparent to the imperial throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from birth. In 1889, he died in a suicide pact with his mistress Mary Vetsera at the Mayerling hunting lodge.[1] The ensuing scandal made international headlines.

Background

Portrait by Eugen Felix
File:Garter encircled arms of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, KG.png
Garter encircled arms of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria

Rudolf was born at Schloss Laxenburg,[2] a castle near Vienna, as the son of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth. He was named after the first Habsburg King of Germany, Rudolf I, who reigned from 1273 to 1291.[3] Rudolf was raised together with his older sister Gisela and the two were very close. At the age of six, Rudolf was separated from his sister as he began his education to become a future Emperor of Austria. This did not change their relationship and Gisela remained close to him until she left Vienna upon her marriage to Prince Leopold of Bavaria. Rudolf's initial education under Leopold Gondrecourt was physically and emotionally abusive, and likely a cause of his later suicide.[4]

Influenced by his tutor Ferdinand von Hochstetter (who later became the first superintendent of the Imperial Natural History Museum), Rudolf became very interested in natural sciences, starting a mineral collection at an early age.[2] After his death, large portions of his mineral collection came into the possession of the University of Agriculture in Vienna, which is now known as the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna[2]

In 1877, the Count of Bombelles was master of the young prince. Bombelles had been the custodian of Rudolf's aunt Empress Charlotte of Mexico.[5]

In contrast with his deeply conservative father, Rudolf held liberal views that were closer to those of his mother. Nevertheless, his relationship with her was at times strained.[6]

Marriage

In Vienna, on 10 May 1881, Rudolf married Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, a daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium, at the Augustinian Church in Vienna. Although their marriage was initially a happy one, by the time their only child, the Archduchess Elisabeth, was born on 2 September 1883, the couple had drifted apart.

After the birth of their child, Rudolf became increasingly unstable as he drank heavily and was having many affairs. This behaviour, however, was not entirely new as Rudolf had a long history of reckless promiscuity prior to his marriage [7]

In 1886, Rudolf became seriously ill and the couple was directed to the island of Lacroma (present day Croatia) for his treatment. In transit, Stephanie also become seriously ill and described “suffering terrible pain”. The couple’s diagnosis of peritonitis was kept secret by order of the Emperor [8]

After intensive treatment, Stephanie was able to recover from the illness but she was left unable to have children as the illness had destroyed her fallopian tubes. [9] Stephanie’s symptoms and outcome indicate Rudolf had most likely infected her with gonorrhoea. Rudolf himself did not improve with treatment and grew increasingly ill. It is likely he had contracted syphilis in addition to gonorrhoea. In order to cope with the effects of the disease, Rudolf began taking large doses of morphine. [10]

By 1889, it was common knowledge at Court that Stephanie would not have anymore children due to the events of 1886 and Rudolf’s health was deteriorating.

Murder, Suicide

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Main article: Mayerling incident

In 1886, Rudolf bought Mayerling, a hunting lodge.[11] In late 1888, the 30-year-old Crown Prince met the 17-year-old Freiin (Baroness) Marie von Vetsera, known by the more fashionable Anglophile name Mary, and began an affair with her.[12] On 30 January 1889, he and the young Baroness were discovered dead in the lodge as a result of an apparent joint suicide. As suicide would prevent him from being given a church burial, Rudolf was officially declared to have been in a state of "mental unbalance", and he was buried in the Imperial Crypt (Kapuzinergruft) of the Capuchin Church in Vienna. Vetsera's body was smuggled out of Mayerling in the middle of the night and secretly buried in the village cemetery at Heiligenkreuz.[11][13] The Emperor had Mayerling converted into a penitential convent of Carmelite nuns and endowed a chantry so that daily prayers would eternally be said by the nuns for the repose of Rudolf's soul.[14]

Vetsera's private letters were discovered in a safe deposit box in an Austrian bank in 2015, and they revealed that she was preparing to commit suicide alongside Rudolf, out of love.[15]

Aftermath of death

Rudolf's death plunged his mother, Empress Elisabeth, into despair. She wore black or pearl grey, the colours of mourning, for the rest of her life and spent more and more time away from the imperial court in Vienna. Her daughter Gisela was afraid that she might also commit suicide.[16] In 1898, while Elisabeth was abroad in Geneva, Switzerland, she was murdered by an Italian anarchist, Luigi Lucheni.[17]

Rudolf's death had left Franz Joseph without a direct male heir. Franz-Joseph's younger brother, Archduke Karl Ludwig, was next in line to the Austro-Hungarian throne,[18] though it was falsely reported that he had renounced his succession rights.[19] In any case, his death in 1896 from typhoid made his eldest son, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the new heir presumptive. However, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914 (an event that precipitated World War I), so when Emperor Franz-Joseph died in November 1916, he was succeeded instead by his grandnephew, Charles I of Austria. The demands of the American President, Woodrow Wilson[citation needed] forced Emperor Charles I to renounce involvement in state affairs in Vienna in early November 1918. As a result, the Austro-Hungarian Empire ceased to exist and a republic came into being without revolution. Charles I and his family went into exile in Switzerland after spending a short time at Castle Eckartsau.

In popular culture

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles

  • 21 August 1858 – 30 January 1889: His Imperial and Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia[21]

Honours

Domestic[22]
Foreign[22]

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Ancestors

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Gallery

  • Crown Prince Rudolf during his early adulthood, c. 1879.

  • Official engagement photo of Crown Prince Rudolf and Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, 1881.

  • Görlich - Allegory on the betrothal of Crown Prince Rudolf and Stephanie of Belgium.jpg

    Painting "Allegory on the betrothal of Crown Prince Rudolf and Stephanie of Belgium" by Sophia and Marie Görlich, dated 1881.

  • Mayerling Lodge as it appeared before Crown Prince Rudolf's death there in 1889.

  • Mayerling.final letter.jpg

    Crown Prince Rudolf's letter of farewell to his wife.

  • Crown Prince Rudolf placed in a bed for private viewing by his family at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. His head had to be bandaged in order to cover gunshot wounds. When he later lay-in-state, his skull was reconstructed using wax so that his appearance was normal.

  • Crown Prince Rudolf's coffin lies to the right of his parents' coffins in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.

  • Miklós Ligeti- Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria.jpg

    Statue in memory of Crown Prince Rudolf in the City Park of Budapest.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ As documented in several autograph letters by the two unfortunate lovers ANSA newsbrief (in Italian)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Crown Prince Rudolf (1858–1889)" (museum notes), Natural History Museum of Vienna, 2006, NHM-Wien-Rudolfe.
  3. ↑ Timothy Snyder (2008) 'The Red Prince, p.9. ISBN 978-0-465-00237-5
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ King & Wilson. “The Many Affairs of Crown Prince Rudolf.” History Reader, 21 January 2023, https://www.thehistoryreader.com/historical-figures/the-many-affairs-of-crown-prince-rudolf/.
  8. ↑ HRH Princess Stephanie. I Was To Be Empress. Nicholson & Watson, 1937. Page 197.
  9. ↑ Listowel, Judith. A Habsburg Tragedy – Crown Prince Rudolf. Ascent Books, 1978. Page 147.
  10. ↑ Listowel, Judith. A Habsburg Tragedy – Crown Prince Rudolf. Ascent Books, 1978. Page 205.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Louise of Coburg, My Own Affairs, George H. Doran Co., 1921, p. 120.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Press release Archived 31 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine from the Austrian National Library, 31 July 2015 (German)
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Since 1780 official title used for princes ("zu Ungarn, Böhmen, Dalmatien, Kroatien, Slawonien, Königlicher Erbprinz")
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Hof- und Staats-Handbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie (1889), Genealogy pp. 1–2
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1876), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 59, 71
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Koophandel (De) 6 March 1880
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein (1879), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen ", p. 12
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Membership of the Constantinian Order Archived 21 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach Archived 7 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine (1885), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 14
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 68
  41. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1886/7), "Königliche Orden" p. 22

Further reading

  • Barkeley, Richard. The Road to Mayerling: Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria. London: Macmillan, 1958.
  • Franzel, Emil. Crown Prince Rudolph and the Mayerling Tragedy: Fact and Fiction. Vienna : V. Herold, 1974.
  • Hamann, Brigitte. Kronprinz Rudolf: Ein Leben. Wien: Amalthea, 2005, ISBN 3-85002-540-3.
  • Listowel, Judith Márffy-Mantuano Hare, Countess of. A Habsburg Tragedy: Crown Prince Rudolf. London: Ascent Books, 1978.
  • Lonyay, Károly. Rudolph: The Tragedy of Mayerling. New York: Scribner, 1949.
  • Morton, Frederic. A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888/1889. Penguin 1979
  • Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. Majestät, ich warne Sie... Geheime und private Schriften. Edited by Brigitte Hamann. Wien: Amalthea, 1979, ISBN 3-85002-110-6 (reprinted München: Piper, 1998, ISBN 3-492-20824-X).
  • Salvendy, John T. Royal Rebel: A Psychological Portrait of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1988.

External links

Rudolf von Habsburg-Lorraine
Cadet branch of the House of Habsburg
Born: 21 August 1858 Died: 30 January 1889
Austro-Hungarian royalty
Preceded by Heir to the Austrian throne
21 August 1858 – 30 January 1889		 Succeeded by
Karl Ludwig

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