en, Rudolph Francis Charles Joseph , caption = Rudolf in 1887 , spouse = , issue = Elisabeth Marie, Princess Otto of Windisch-Graetz , house = Habsburg-Lorraine , father =

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until hi ...

, mother =

Empress Elisabeth of Austria Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria (24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898) was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I on 24 April 1854 until her assassination in 1898. Elisabeth wa ...

, birth_date = , birth_place = Schloss Laxenburg,

Laxenburg __NOTOC__ Laxenburg ( Central Bavarian: ''Laxnbuag'') is a market town in the district of Mödling, in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. Located about south of the Austrian capital Vienna, it is chiefly known for the Laxenburg castles, which ...

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt ...

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

, death_date = , death_place =

Mayerling Mayerling is a small village (pop. 200) in Lower Austria belonging to the municipality of Alland in the district of Baden. It is situated on the Schwechat river, in the Wienerwald (''Vienna woods''), southwest of Vienna. From 1550, it was in t ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, burial_date = , burial_place = Imperial Crypt,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, occupation = , signature = , religion =

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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 in Bavaria (Sissi). He was

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the imperial throne of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with t ...

from birth. In 1889, he died in a

suicide pact A suicide pact is an agreed plan between two or more individuals to die by suicide. The plan may be to die together, or separately and closely timed. General considerations Suicide pacts are an important concept in the study of suicide, and h ...

with his mistress

Mary Vetsera Baroness Marie Alexandrine "Mary" von Vetsera (19 March 1871 – 30 January 1889) was an Austrian noblewoman and the mistress of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. Vetsera and the crown prince were found dead at his hunting lodge in Mayerling on 30 ...

at the Mayerling hunting lodge. The ensuing scandal made international headlines.

Background

Garter encircled arms of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, KG

Rudolf was born at Schloss Laxenburg, "Crown Prince Rudolf (1858–1889)" (museum notes), Natural History Museum of Vienna, 2006,
NHM-Wien-Rudolfe
a castle near

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, as the son of

Emperor Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until hi ...

and Empress Elisabeth. He was named after the first Habsburg King of Germany, Rudolf I, who reigned from 1273 to 1291. 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 The Emperor of Austria (german: Kaiser von Österreich) was the ruler of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A hereditary imperial title and office proclaimed in 1804 by Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the ...

. 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. 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. After his death, large portions of his mineral collection came into the possession of the University for Agriculture in Vienna. 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. 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.

Marriage

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, on 10 May 1881, Rudolf married Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, a daughter of King

Leopold II of Belgium * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date ...

, at the Augustinian Church in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. 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, and he found solace in drink and other female companionship. Rudolf started having many affairs, and wanted to write to

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

about the possibility of annulling his marriage to Stéphanie, but the Emperor forbade it. In 1886, the spouses were diagnosed with gonorrhea, which rendered Stéphanie sterile.

Affairs and suicide

In 1886, Rudolf bought

, a hunting lodge. In late 1888, the 30-year-old Crown Prince met the 17-year-old '' Freiin'' (

Baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

)

Marie von Vetsera Baroness Marie Alexandrine "Mary" von Vetsera (19 March 1871 – 30 January 1889) was an Austrian noblewoman and the mistress of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. Vetsera and the crown prince were found dead at his hunting lodge in Mayerling on 30 ...

, known by the more fashionable Anglophile name Mary, and began an affair with her. On 30 January 1889, he and the young Baroness were discovered dead in the lodge as a result of an apparent joint

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

. 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 en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Vetsera's body was smuggled out of Mayerling in the middle of the night and secretly buried in the village cemetery at Heiligenkreuz. The Emperor had Mayerling converted into a penitential convent of

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

nuns and endowed a

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area in ...

so that daily prayers would eternally be said by the nuns for the repose of Rudolf's soul. 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.

Aftermath of death

Rudolf's death plunged his mother 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. Empress Elisabeth was murdered while abroad in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

, Switzerland, in 1898 by an Italian anarchist, Luigi Lucheni. Politically, Rudolf's death 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, though it was falsely reported that he had renounced his succession rights. In any case, his death in 1896 from typhoid made his eldest son, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the new

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

. In 1914, the

assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated on 28 June 1914 by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip. They were shot at close range whil ...

precipitated

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Emperor Franz-Joseph died in November 1916 and was succeeded by his grandnephew, Charles I of Austria. The demands of American President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...

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

* ''

'', a 1936 film directed by

Anatole Litvak Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak (russian: Анатолий Михайлович Литвак; 21 May 1902 – 15 December 1974), better known as Anatole Litvak, was a Ukrainian-born American filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in vari ...

, with Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux, based on a novel by Claude Anet. * ''

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajev ...

'' (1940), a film directed Max Ophüls starts with Rudolf's death. * The fictionalized musical '' Marinka'' (1945), with book by George Marion Jr., and Karl Farkas, lyrics by George Marion, Jr., music by Emmerich Kalman. * ''

'', a 1957 film, starring Mel Ferrer as Crown Prince Rudolf,

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen ...

as Baroness Mary Vetsara with

Lorne Greene Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green; 12 February 1915 – 11 September 1987) was a Canadian actor, musician, singer and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western ''Bonanza'' and Commander A ...

as Kaiser Franz Josef. * ''

'', a 1968 film, starring Omar Sharif as Crown Prince Rudolf,

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...

as Mary with

James Mason James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films inc ...

as Kaiser Franz Josef and

Ava Gardner Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...

as Empress Elisabeth. * Japanese Takarazuka Revue's "Utakata no Koi"/"Ephemeral Love", based on the 1968 film. * ''Requiem for a Crown Prince'', one-hour episode of the British documentary/drama series '' Fall of Eagles'' (1974), directed by James Furman and written by David Turner, tracks in detail the events of 30 January 1889 and the following few days at Mayerling. * Miklós Jancsó's 1975 film '' Vizi privati, pubbliche virtù'' (Private Vices, Public Virtues), a reinterpretation in which the lovers and their friends are murdered by imperial authorities for treason and immorality. * Kenneth MacMillan's 1978 ballet, ''Mayerling''. * Japanese manga by Higuri You, "Tenshi no Hitsugi" (Angel's Coffin) (2000). * The Crown Prince, a 2006 television film in two parts directed by

Robert Dornhelm Robert Dornhelm (born 17 December 1947 in Temesvár, Romania) is an Austrian film and television director. Biography Dornhelm is of Jewish descent. He has worked on numerous television programmes and has also released such movies as ''Echo P ...

. * Composer Frank Wildhorn's musical '' Rudolf – Affaire Mayerling'' (2006), produced in some territories as ''The Last Kiss'' or ''Rudolf – The Last Kiss.'' * The play ''Rudolf'' (2011) by David Logan dramatises the last few weeks of the life of Crown Prince Rudolf. * A highly fictionalized version of the incident at Mayerling is depicted in the 2006 film ''The Illusionist''. Crown Prince Leopold (played by Rufus Sewell) is a fictional analog of Rudolf.

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 Since 1780 official title used for princes ("''zu Ungarn, Böhmen, Dalmatien, Kroatien, Slawonien, Königlicher Erbprinz''")

Honours

;Domestic
Hof- und Staats-Handbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie
' (1889), Genealogy pp. 1–2 * Knight of the Golden Fleece, ''1858'' * Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, ''1877''"A Szent István Rend tagjai"
;Foreign

Ancestors

Gallery

File:Young Crown Prince Rudolf.jpg, Crown Prince Rudolf during his early adulthood, c. 1879. File:Stefanie en Rudolf.jpg, Official engagement photo of Crown Prince Rudolf and Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, 1881. File: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. File:Mayerling 1889.jpg, Mayerling Lodge as it appeared before Crown Prince Rudolf's death there in 1889. File:Mayerling.final letter.jpg, Crown Prince Rudolf's letter of farewell to his wife. File:Crown Prince Rudolf 1889.jpg, 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. File:Wien - Kapuzinergruft, Franz-Joseph-Gruft.JPG, Crown Prince Rudolf's coffin lies to the right of his parents' coffins in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. File:Miklós Ligeti- Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria.jpg, Statue in memory of Crown Prince Rudolf in the City Park of Budapest.

Notes

External links

*
A profile of Marie VetseraIMDB on various Mayerling FilmsCrown Prince Rudolfs death
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudolf Of Austria, Crown Prince House of Habsburg-Lorraine Heirs apparent who never acceded Austrian Roman Catholics Suicides by firearm in Austria Joint suicides 1858 births 1889 deaths 1880s suicides 19th-century Austrian people People from Laxenburg Austrian princes Franz Joseph I of Austria Burials at the Imperial Crypt Sons of emperors Sons of kings Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Recipients of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Knights of Malta 2 2 Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Takovo Extra Knights Companion of the Garter Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia) Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 1st class Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Knights of the Order of Saint Joseph

Background

Marriage

Affairs and suicide

Aftermath of death

In popular culture

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles

Honours

Ancestors

Gallery

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links