Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Archduchy of Austria

The Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the nucleus of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire...

and crown prince

Crown Prince

A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....

of Austria

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

, Hungary

King of Hungary

The King of Hungary was the head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 to 1918.The style of title "Apostolic King" was confirmed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 and used afterwards by all the Kings of Hungary, so after this date the kings are referred to as "Apostolic King of...

and Bohemia, was the son and heir of Franz Joseph I

Franz Joseph I of Austria

Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...

, emperor

Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...

of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, and his wife and empress, Elisabeth. His death, apparently through suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

, along with that of his mistress

Mistress (lover)

A mistress is a long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner; the term is used especially when her partner is married. The relationship generally is stable and at least semi-permanent; however, the couple does not live together openly. Also the relationship is usually,...

, Baroness Mary Vetsera

Baroness Mary Vetsera

Baroness Marie Alexandrine von Vetsera was a member of Austrian high society nobility and one of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria's mistresses...

, at his Mayerling hunting lodge in 1889 made international headlines, fueled international conspiracy

Conspiracy theory

A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...

rumours and ultimately may have sealed the long-term fate of the Habsburg monarchy

Habsburg Monarchy

The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...

Background

Archduke

The title of Archduke denotes a noble rank above Duke and below King, used only by princes of the Houses of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine....

Rudolf Franz Karl Joseph (later Crown Prince

Crown Prince

A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....

) was born on 21 August 1858 in Schloss Laxenburg

Schloss Laxenburg

Laxenburg castles are imperial palaces and castles outside Vienna, in the town of Laxenburg, Lower Austria. The castles became a Habsburg possession in 1333 and formerly served as a summer retreat, along with Schönbrunn palace, for the imperial Habsburg dynasty. Blauer Hof Palace was the birthplace...

,
a castle near Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, as the son of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth

Elisabeth of Bavaria

Elisabeth of Austria was the spouse of Franz Joseph I, and therefore both Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. She also held the titles of Queen of Bohemia and Croatia, among others...

. Influenced by his tutor Ferdinand von Hochstetter

Ferdinand von Hochstetter

Christian Gottlieb Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter was a German geologist.He was born at Esslingen, Württemberg, the son of Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter , a clergyman and professor at Bonn, who was also a botanist and mineralogist...

(who later became the first manager of the Imperial Natural History Museum

Imperial Natural History Museum

The Imperial Natural History Museum or Imperial Royal Natural History Court Museum of Austria-Hungary was created by Emperor Franz Joseph I during an extensive reorganization of the museum collections, from 1851–1876, and opened to the public on August 10, 1889.Located in Vienna, the Museum was...

), Rudolf became very interested in natural sciences, starting a mineral collection at a very early age. (After his death, large portions of his mineral collection came into the possession of the University for Agriculture in Vienna.).

Crown Prince Rudolf was raised together with his older sister Gisela

Archduchess Gisela of Austria

Gisela Louise Marie, Princess Imperial and Archduchess of Austria, Princess of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Bavaria was the second daughter and eldest surviving child of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Empress Elisabeth...

by their paternal grandmother Archduchess Sophie

Princess Sophie of Bavaria

Sophie Friederike Dorothee Wilhelmine, Princess of Bavaria was born to King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife Karoline of Baden. She was the identical twin sister of Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria, Queen of Saxony as wife of Frederick Augustus II of Saxony...

. His parents' oldest child, a daughter named Sophie

Archduchess Sophie of Austria

Archduchess Sophie of Austria was born to Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Emperor Franz Josef of Austria...

, died at the age of two before Rudolf was born, while younger sister Marie-Valerie was born ten years after Rudolf. Hence, Gisela and Rudolf grew up together and were very close. At the age of six, he was separated from his sister as he began his education to become a future Emperor

Emperor of Austria

The Emperor of Austria was a hereditary imperial title and position proclaimed in 1804 by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until the last emperor relinquished power in 1918. The emperors retained the title of...

. This did not change their relationship and Gisela remained close to him until she left Vienna upon her marriage to Prince Leopold of Bavaria

Prince Leopold of Bavaria

Leopold Maximilian Joseph Maria Arnulf, Prinz von Bayern was born in Munich, the son of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria and his wife Archduchess Augusta of Austria...

. The siblings' parting was said to be very emotional.

In contrast with his deeply conservative father, Crown Prince Rudolf held distinctively liberal

Classical liberalism

Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....

views that were closer to those of his mother.

Nevertheless his relationship with her was strained and contained little warmth. Rudolf even wrote critical pamphlets in a left wing liberal newspaper using a pseudonym. Later his daughter became known as "The Red Princess".

Marriage

In Vienna

Vienna

, on 10 May 1881, he married Princess Stéphanie of Belgium

Princess Stéphanie of Belgium

Stéphanie was a Belgium princess by birth, and then made Crown Princess of Austria through her marriage to the heir of the Habsburg dynasty, Archduke Rudolf...

, a daughter of King

King

- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...

Leopold II

Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on 17 December 1865 and remained king until his death.Leopold is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free...

of the Belgians, in a state wedding at the Augustinian's Church

Augustinerkirche

The Augustinian Church in Vienna is a parish church located on Josefsplatz, next to the Hofburg, the winter palace of the Habsburg dynasty in Vienna. Originally built in the 14th century as the parish church of the imperial court of the Habsburgs, the harmonious Gothic interior was added in the...

in Vienna

Vienna

. Rudolf appeared to be genuinely in love, but his mother regarded her new daughter-in-law as a "clumsy oaf."

By the time their only child, the Archduchess Elisabeth

Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria

Elisabeth Maria Henriette Stephanie Gisela , was an Archduchess of Austria and the only child of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. She was known to the family as "Erzsi", a diminutive of her name in Hungarian...

, was born on 2 September 1883, the couple had drifted apart, and he found solace in drink and other female companionship.

Affairs and suicide

In 1887, Rudolf bought Mayerling

Mayerling

Mayerling is a small village in Lower Austria belonging to the municipality of Alland in the district of Baden. It is situated on the Schwechat River, in the Wienerwald , 15 miles southwest of Vienna...

and transformed it into a hunting lodge. In late 1888, the 30-year-old crown prince met the 17-year-old Baroness Marie Vetsera, known by the more fashionable Anglophile name Mary and began an affair with her.

According to official reports the deaths were a result of Franz Joseph's demand that the couple end the relationship: the Crown Prince, as part of a suicide pact, first shot his mistress in the head and then himself. Rudolf was officially declared to have been in a state of "mental unbalance" in order to enable burial in the Imperial Crypt (Kapuzinergruft) of the Capuchin Church

Kapuzinerkirche

The Capuchin Church in Vienna is the church and monastery of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. It is located on the Neuer Markt square in the Innere Stadt, near the imperial Hofburg Palace. The official name is Church of St...

in Vienna

Vienna

. Mary's body was smuggled out of Mayerling in the middle of the night and secretly buried in the village cemetery at Heiligenkreuz

Heiligenkreuz, Lower Austria

Heiligenkreuz is a village in the district of Baden in Lower Austria in Austria. The Cistercian monastery of Heiligenkreuz Abbey, the associated papal college Benedict XVI and the tomb of Mary Vetsera are in the vicinity.-References:...

.

After the deaths, the Emperor had Mayerling converted into a penitential convent of Carmelite nuns. Today prayers are still said daily by the nuns for the repose of Rudolf's soul.

Impact of Rudolf's death

Following Rudolf's death, the marriage of his parents collapsed completely,
with his mother spending much of her time abroad up until her own murder

Luigi Lucheni

Luigi Lucheni was an Italian anarchist who assassinated the Austrian Empress, Elisabeth of Bavaria , in 1898...

nine years later.

Next in the line of succession after Rudolf to the Austrian

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

, Bohemian

Bohemian

A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...

, and Hungarian

Austria-Hungary

thrones was Archduke Karl Ludwig

Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria

Archduke Karl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria was the younger brother of Franz Joseph I of Austria and the father of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria , whose assassination ignited the start of World War I.-Biography:He was born at Schönbrunn in Vienna, the son of Archduke Franz Karl of Austria ...

, Franz Joseph's younger brother. Karl Ludwig renounced his succession rights a few days after Rudolf’s death, meaning his oldest son, Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia...

became heir presumptive. Franz Ferdinand's assassination

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo, by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six Bosnian Serb assassins coordinated by Danilo Ilić...

in 1914 sparked a chain of events that led directly to World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

Film and theatre

Crown Prince Rudolph, TV film directed by Robert Dornhelm
Robert Dornhelm
Robert Dornhelm is an Austrian film and television director of Romanian ancestry. He has worked on numerous television programmes and has also released such movies as Echo Park, The Venice Project, Der Unfisch, and A Further Gesture...

(2006) in two parts. Historical adviser: Brigitte Hamann
Brigitte Hamann
Brigitte Hamann Ph.D., is a German-Austrian author and historian based in Vienna.Born Brigitte Deitert in Essen, Germany, she studied history in Münster and Vienna and for a time worked as a journalist in her native Essen...

. Here, the love story and the conflict between father and son are embedded in the general political situation of the time in Central Europe.
Frank Wildhorn
Frank Wildhorn
Frank Wildhorn is an American composer known for both his musicals and popular songs. He is most known for his musical Jekyll & Hyde, which ran four years on Broadway, and for writing the #1 International Hit song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" for Whitney Houston.-Early years:Wildhorn was born in...

's new musical Rudolf
Rudolf (musical)
Rudolf is a musical conceived for the stage by Frank Wildhorn and Steve Cuden, with a book by Jack Murphy and Phoebe Hwang, lyrics by Murphy, additional lyrics by Nan Knighton, and music by Frank Wildhorn. Arrangements by Koen Schoots and orchestrations by Kim Scharnberg. It is about Rudolf, Crown...

centers around Crown Prince Rudolf. It premiered at the Operetta Theatre in Budapest in 2006 and ran for three years. The Vienna production opened 26 February 2009 at the Raimund Theater.
In The Illusionist (2006), a central character is the fictitious "Crown Prince Leopold," son of the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. In the film, "Leopold" commits suicide after a failing in a plot to overthrow his father and (apparently) murdering his fiancée. However, Prince Leopold is portrayed as right-wing and an autocratic absolutist who often complains of "mongrels."
Kenneth MacMillan
Kenneth MacMillan
Sir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977.-Early years:...

's 1978 ballet, Mayerling
Mayerling (ballet)
Mayerling is a ballet created in 1978 by Kenneth MacMillan for the Royal Ballet, London.- Synopsis :Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria is forced into a marriage of state with Princess Stéphanie of Belgium; Countess Marie Larisch von Moennich, the mistress of whom he is tiring, introduces him to the...
Miklós Jancsó
Miklós Jancsó
Miklós Jancsó is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter.Jancsó achieved international prominence from the mid-1960s onwards, with works including The Round Up , The Red and the White and Red Psalm .Jancsó's films are characterized by visual stylization,...

's 1975 film Vizi Privati, Publiche Virtù (Private Vices, Public Virtues) is a daring reinterpretation of the Mayerling incident, in which the lovers and their friends are murdered by imperial authorities for plotting the Emperor's overthrow and for gross immorality and Mary Vetsera was portrayed as a hermaphrodite, which has no basis in history. The film was denounced by some critics as gratuitously graphic, but the director's point is how the decay and hypocrisy of the empire was reflected in the prince's desperately aberrant behavior.
Requiem for a Crown Prince, fourth episode of the British documentary/drama series Fall of Eagles
Fall of Eagles
Fall of Eagles is a 13-part British television drama aired by the BBC in 1974. The series was created by John Elliot and produced by Stuart Burge....

(1974), about the collapse of the Romanov, Habsburg and Hohenzollern dynasties. Directed by James Furman and written by David Turner, the 60-minute episode tracks in detail the events of Wednesday 30 January 1889, at Mayerling as well as the following few days - The discovery of the dead bodies, the breaking of news to Rudolf's family, the desperate attempts to cover up what really happened - even to the Emperor and Empress - and the secret smuggling of Marie Vetsera's body away from Mayerling before scandal can erupt.
Mayerling (1968 film)
Mayerling (1968 film)
Mayerling is a 1968 romantic tragedy film starring Omar Sharif, Catherine Deneuve, James Mason, Ava Gardner, Geneviève Page, James Robertson Justice and Andréa Parisy. It was written and directed by Terence Young...

, starring Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...

as Crown Prince Rudolf, Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...

as Mary.
The musical Marinka
Marinka
Marinka is an operetta by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán with book by George Marion, Jr. and Karl Farkas, and lyrics by George Marion, Jr. The operetta is a retelling of the story of the Mayerling incident, but with a happy ending replacing the infamous 1889 double suicide of Austrian Crown...

(1945), book by George Marion, Jr., and Karl Farkas, lyrics by George Marion, Jr., music by Emmerich Kalman
Emmerich Kalman
Emmerich Kálmán was a Hungarian-born composer of operettas.- Biography :Kálmán was born Imre Koppstein in Siófok, on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, Hungary in a Jewish family.Kálmán initially intended to become a concert pianist, but because of early-onset arthritis, he focused on composition...
De Mayerling à Sarajevo (1940 film), director Max Ophuls
Max Ophüls
Maximillian Oppenheimer — known as Max Ophüls — was an influential German-born film director who worked in Germany , France , the United States , and France again...

. The film starts with Rudolf's death.
Mayerling
Mayerling (1936 film)
Mayerling is a 1936 French historical drama film directed by Anatole Litvak and produced by Seymour Nebenzal from a screenplay by Marcel Achard, Joseph Kessel and Irma von Cube, based on the novel Idol's End by Claude Anet. The film stars Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux with Jean-Louis...

, is a black and white dramatization based on the novel by Claude Anet. It is directed by Anatole Litvak
Anatole Litvak
Anatole Litvak was a Ukrainian-born filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in a various countries and languages...

and stars Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...

as Crown Prince Rudolf and Danielle Darrieux
Danielle Darrieux
Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux is a French actress and singer, who has appeared in more than 110 films since 1931. She is one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career is among the longest in film history....

as Maria Vetsera.
Japanese Takarazuka Revue
Takarazuka Revue
The Takarazuka Revue is a Japanese all-female musical theater troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals, and sometimes stories adapted from shōjo manga and Japanese folktales. The troupe takes its name...

's "Utakata no Koi"/"Ephemeral Love"(based on Mayerling
Mayerling (1968 film)
Mayerling is a 1968 romantic tragedy film starring Omar Sharif, Catherine Deneuve, James Mason, Ava Gardner, Geneviève Page, James Robertson Justice and Andréa Parisy. It was written and directed by Terence Young...

) revolves around Rudolph and Marie Vetsera.
Rudolf also appears as a character in the musical Elisabeth
Elisabeth (musical)
Elisabeth is a Viennese, German-language musical commissioned by the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien , with book/lyrics by Michael Kunze and music by Sylvester Levay. It portrays the life and death of the Empress consort of Austria, Elisabeth of Bavaria, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I...

and in Lillie, Grenada TV's dramatisation of the life of Victorian society beauty, Lillie Langtry.
Japanese manga by Higuri You named "Tenshi no Hitsugi"(Angel's Coffin) (2000 )Based on of his life and his mistress Mary Vetsera.

Ancestors

External links

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Background

Marriage

Affairs and suicide

Impact of Rudolf's death

Film and theatre

Ancestors

Further reading

See also

External links