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 (Sisi). 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 Baroness Mary Vetsera at the Mayerling hunting lodge. The ensuing scandal made international headlines.

Background

Rudolf was born at Schloss Laxenburg, 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. 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 contributing factor in 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 of Agriculture in Vienna, which is now known as the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna In 1877, Count Karl Albert von 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

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. In 1886, Rudolf became seriously ill and the couple was directed to the island of Lacroma (present day Croatia) for his treatment. In transit, Stéphanie also became seriously ill and described "suffering terrible pain". The couple's diagnosis of peritonitis was kept secret by order of the Emperor. After intensive treatment, Stéphanie was able to recover from the illness but she was left unable to have children as the illness had destroyed her fallopian tubes. Stéphanie'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. By 1889, it was common knowledge at Court that Stéphanie would not have any more children due to the events of 1886, and that Rudolf's health was deteriorating.

Murder-suicide

In 1886, Rudolf bought Mayerling, a hunting lodge. In late 1888, the 30-year-old Crown Prince met the 17-year-old Baroness Marie von Vetsera, 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. 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. 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. 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, 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. In 1898, while Elisabeth was abroad in Geneva, Switzerland, she was murdered by an Italian anarchist, Luigi Lucheni. 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, 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. 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 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

Honours

• Baden: • * Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1873 • * Grand Cross of the Zähringer Lion, 1873 • undefined: Knight of St. Hubert, in Diamonds, 1868 • 🇧🇪 Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, 1880 – wedding gift • undefined: Grand Cross of the Southern Cross • 🇩🇰 Denmark: Knight of the Elephant, 24 November 1873 • Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order • undefined: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour • 🇬🇷 Greece: Grand Cross of the Redeemer • Hesse and by Rhine: Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 21 August 1865 • undefined: Knight of the Annunciation, 6 May 1881 • * Parmese Ducal Family: Grand Cross of the Constantinian Order of St. George • * Tuscan Grand Ducal Family: Grand Cross of St. Joseph • Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion • undefined: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, 14 February 1881 • Mecklenburg: Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore • undefined: Grand Cross of the Mexican Eagle, 1865 • undefined: Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Danilo I • Nassau Ducal Family: Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau • 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion • Ottoman Empire: Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class • 🇹🇳 Tunisia: Husainid Family Order, in Diamonds • Persia: Order of the August Portrait, in Diamonds, 1 August 1873 • undefined: Grand Cross of the Sash of the Two Orders • Prussia: • * Knight of the Black Eagle, 21 August 1864 • * Grand Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern • undefined: • * Knight of St. Andrew, 1878 • * Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky • * Knight of the White Eagle • * Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class • * Knight of St. Stanislaus, 1st Class • undefined: Grand Cross of the Star of Romania • 🇸🇲 San Marino: Grand Cross of the Order of San Marino • undefined: Grand Cross of the Cross of Takovo • Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the White Falcon, 1873 • undefined: Knight of the Rue Crown, 1876 • 🇹🇭 Siam: • * Grand Cross of the White Elephant • * Grand Cross of the Crown of Siam • 🇪🇸 Spain: Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, 5 June 1875 • 🇸🇪 🇳🇴 Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Seraphim, 15 April 1879 • undefined: • * Stranger Knight Companion of the Garter, 20 June 1887 • * Gold Medal Commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria • Württemberg: Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1873

Ancestors

Gallery