Wedding medal 1881 byTautenhayn, obverseThe reverse of this wedding medal showingHymen the god of marriagePortrait byEugen FelixGarter encircled arms of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria
Rudolf was born atSchloss Laxenburg,[2] a castle nearVienna, as the son ofEmperor Franz Joseph I andEmpress Elisabeth. He was named after the first HabsburgKing of Germany,Rudolf I, who reigned from 1273 to 1291.[3] Rudolf was raised together with his older sisterGisela 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 futureEmperor of Austria. This did not change their relationship and Gisela remained close to him until she left Vienna upon her marriage toPrince Leopold of Bavaria. Rudolf's initial education underLeopold Gondrecourt was physically and emotionally abusive, and likely a contributing factor in his later suicide.[4]
In contrast with his deeply conservative father, Rudolf heldliberal views that were closer to those of his mother. Nevertheless, his relationship with her was at times strained.[6]
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 ofLacroma (off present day Croatia) for his treatment. In transit, Stéphanie also became seriously ill and described "suffering terrible pain". The couple's diagnosis ofperitonitis was kept secret by order of the Emperor.[8]
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.[9] Stéphanie's symptoms and outcome indicate Rudolf had most likely infected her withgonorrhoea. Rudolf himself did not improve with treatment and grew increasingly ill. It is likely he had contractedsyphilis 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 Stéphanie would not have any more children due to the events of 1886, and that Rudolf's health was deteriorating.
In 1886, Rudolf boughtMayerling, ahunting lodge.[11] In late 1888, the 30-year-old Crown Prince met the 17-year-oldBaroness Marie von Vetsera, 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 jointsuicide. 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 theImperial Crypt (Kaisergruft) of theCapuchin Church in Vienna. Vetsera's body was smuggled out of Mayerling in the middle of the night and secretly buried in the village cemetery atHeiligenkreuz.[11][13] The Emperor had Mayerling converted into a penitential convent ofCarmelite nuns and endowed achantry so that daily prayers would eternally be said by the nuns for the repose of Rudolf's soul.[13]
Vetsera's private letters were discovered in asafe deposit box in an Austrian bank in 2015, and they revealed that she was preparing to commit suicide alongside Rudolf, out of love.[14]
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.[15] In 1898, while Elisabeth was abroad inGeneva,Switzerland, she was murdered by an Italian anarchist,Luigi Lucheni.[16]
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,[17] though it was falsely reported that he had renounced his succession rights.[18] In any case, his death in 1896 from typhoid made his eldest son,Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the newheir presumptive. However,Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914 (an event that precipitatedWorld 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 atCastle Eckartsau.
Rudolf (also known as Ludolf or Ludó in folklore) was a figure in folk stories inHungary. Legend has it, that it was his father who sentenced him to death, as he was a Hungarophile and defied hisHungarophobic father's will. However, the latter secretly pardoned him and buried awaxwork in his place, and the real Ludó lived out his life inSouth America. The legend's popularity peaked during theinterwar period.[19]
In famed authorAndré Gide's novel "Lafcadio's Adventures," there's a fictionalized conspiracy behind the Mayerling Incident whereas it was the Archduke's cousin who killed him and his young lover, titled Maria Wettsyera and called the Archduke's "young bride,"[20]
JapaneseTakarazuka 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 seriesFall 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 filmVizi 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.
The playRudolf (2011) by David Logan dramatises the last few weeks of the life of Crown Prince Rudolf.[21]
A highly fictionalized version of the incident at Mayerling is depicted in the 2006 filmThe Illusionist. Crown Prince Leopold (played byRufus Sewell) is a fictional analog of Rudolf.
The Empress is a German historical drama television series based on the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, starringDevrim Lingnau in the title role, and Philip Froissant as Emperor Franz Joseph.
Crown Prince Rudolf during his early adulthood, c. 1879.
Official engagement photo of Crown Prince Rudolf and Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, 1881.
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.
Crown Prince Rudolf's letter of farewell to his wife.
Crown Prince Rudolf placed in a bed for private viewing by his family at theHofburg 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.
Statue in memory of Crown Prince Rudolf in theCity Park of Budapest.
^Kaiser Joseph II. harmonische Wahlkapitulation mit allen den vorhergehenden Wahlkapitulationen der vorigen Kaiser und Könige. Since 1780 official title used for princes ("zu Ungarn, Böhmen, Dalmatien, Kroatien, Slawonien, Königlicher Erbprinz")
Generations are numbered by male-line descent from the first archdukes. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished in 1919.
Baden:[26]
Bavaria:Knight of St. Hubert, in Diamonds,1868[27]
Belgium: Grand Cordon of theOrder of Leopold,1880 – wedding gift[28]
Brazil:Grand Cross of the Southern Cross
Denmark:Knight of the Elephant,24 November 1873[29]
Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of theSaxe-Ernestine House Order
France: Grand Cross of theLegion of Honour
Greece:Grand Cross of the Redeemer
Hesse and by Rhine: Grand Cross of theLudwig Order,21 August 1865[30]
Italy:Knight of the Annunciation,6 May 1881[31]
Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion
Japan: Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Chrysanthemum,14 February 1881[33]
Mecklenburg:Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore
Mexican Empire:Grand Cross of the Mexican Eagle,1865[34]
Montenegro: Grand Cross of theOrder 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[35]
Portugal: Grand Cross of theSash of the Two Orders
Prussia:
Russia:
Romania:Grand Cross of the Star of Romania
San Marino: Grand Cross of theOrder of San Marino
Serbia:Grand Cross of the Cross of Takovo
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach:Grand Cross of the White Falcon,1873[37]
Saxony:Knight of the Rue Crown,1876[38]
Siam:
Spain: Grand Cross of theOrder of Charles III,5 June 1875[39]
Sweden-Norway:Knight of the Seraphim,15 April 1879[40]
United Kingdom:
Württemberg:Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown,1873[42]
