I'm a fan of the German musical "Elisabeth" (about Empress Elisabeth of Austria) and recently got into "Anastasia". In the song "Learn To Do It", the characters mentioned Queen Victoria being Anastasia's great-grandmother. I managed to draw up a simplified family tree (which included Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Rudolf's contemporary and least-favorite cousin) but got stuck when it came to the Austrian Habsburg branch.
If someone would be willing to draw up a simplified family tree as an answer for me, that would be very helpful! Thank you!
(Addendum: Why, oh why, did I type that Sisi was empress of Russia? I dislike the woman severely but that’s a bit much. I plead guilty to caffeine deprivation...)
Also, did he really use the name "Julius Felix" and publish articles against his own family? If so, how insurrectionistic were those articles?
How does this change the state of Austria-Hungary and WWI?
This question came to me after reading about the 1889 suicide of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria.
Rudolf's death left Emperor Franz Joseph without a direct male heir, so younger brother, Archduke Karl Ludwig, became the new Crown Prince. However Karl died of typhoid in 1896, so his eldest son Franz Ferdinand became next in line to the throne, and the rest is history.
Rudolf would have been 56 years old in 1914 if he didn't commit suicide. Franz Ferdinand would have only been a minor noble instead of the heir apparent to the throne.
There are a few paragraphs I've pasted below where my great-great uncle mentions his father working as a lead engineer on the Steamboat that carried the royal family of Austria around the world. The last paragraph is where he mentions what may have actually happened during the murder-suicide. Is it possible to find corroborating information on this or does something like this just tend to be lost to history?
-- Papa was born a man-of-the-court. In the dining hall of the ship the officers and the engineer of the machines took turns sitting next to the royal highness and there papa glittered because of his pronounced ability as a story-teller, the art of presenting something in a witty way, and because of his tact, also being able to listen, to laugh not too much and not too little. Most of the others did not insist upon sitting next to the illustrious Highness, and rather wanted to eat in peace. And so it happened that they continued to converse with Papa beyond the time he was on tour. Several interesting things- once the ship, upon which the Crown Prince Rudolf rode has the bad luck to ride on a reef, so that there was an enormous jolt just as they were eating in the dining hall. There upon the Crown Prince in great panic screamed loudly, “Just consider whom you have on board, the successor to the throne of our country, a royal prince. You will be severely punished…”
By luck, the ship was freed promptly, but the impression of such cowardice was devastating to all who heard this. Many times various generals of the court came along. They wore spurs like all high officers of the land. The sailors found it comical that at any remark or assertion of His Majesty these generals responded not only with “Very well, Majesty”, but at the same time all clinked their spurs together gently as they bowed slightly. For instance, it was something like this:
Crown Prince Rudolf: “I believe we are going to have nice weather today.”
The Court General: “Yes, indeed, Your Majesty, I also believe that the weather will clear up.”(Accompanied by a gentle “Tschinn” of the spurs.) Again and again a gentle Tschinn.
From several sources out of the train of followers Suite Papa heard the truth about Mayerling, because of which it becomes understandable that the Kaiser said, “Every rumor is better than the truth.” Rudolf bid farewell to the Baroness Vetschera, with whom he had associated for quite some time, who wanted to become empress, in the upper room of the palace. I
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