Otto Franz Joseph of Austria
Archduke Otto Franz Josef Karl Ludwig Maria of Austria , called the beautiful Archduke (born April 21, 1865 in Graz , † November 1, 1906 in Vienna ), was the younger brother of the Austrian heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand and the father of the last Austrian Emperor Karl I. . of Austria .
origin
Otto was the son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria , the next oldest brother of Franz Joseph I , and of Princess Maria Annunziata of Naples-Sicily . Otto's older brother was the Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, who was murdered in Sarajevo in 1914 .
Since Emperor Franz Joseph lost his son Rudolf in 1889 and had no other sons, Otto's father Karl Ludwig was now heir to the throne. After his death in 1896, the line of succession passed to Franz Ferdinand; when he became temporarily seriously ill, there was speculation about Otto's succession to the throne.
Childhood and youth
Otto had already lost his mother by death at the age of six and was raised together with his older brother Franz Ferdinand under the direction of Count Ferdinand Christoph Eberhard von Degenfeld-Schonburg (1835-1892), son of the convert Götz Christoph von Degenfeld-Schonburg and father by Heinrich von Degenfeld-Schonburg (1890–1978), the educator and lifelong confidante of the last Austrian Crown Prince Otto von Habsburg .
The prince was generally not interested in learning and often played tricks on the teachers. Even so, because of his cheerful disposition, the educators preferred him to the sullen and irascible older brother. He was also favored by his father, which contributed to the difficult relationship between the two brothers.
Life
Due to his life as a scandal-ridden idler, Otto became permanently alienated from the imperial court, so that the imperial family and finally his wife, Princess Maria Josepha Luise of Saxony (1867-1944), withdrew from him.
Around 1900 he became incurably ill with syphilis and was thus condemned to years of excruciating suffering. He spent the last months of his life in a villa in the cottage district of the Viennese suburb of Währing with his last lover, the young operetta singer Luise Robinson , who cared for him under the pseudonym Sister Martha . His second caretaker was his stepmother, Infanta Marie Therese of Portugal (1855–1944). Archduke Otto finally died on November 1, 1906 in the presence of his spiritual advisor, Auxiliary Bishop of Vienna Godfried Marschall .
Succession to the throne
After the death of his father Otto's older brother Franz Ferdinand was automatically heir to the throne according to the Habsburg house laws ; There was no need for special explanations. However, it was registered in public that Emperor Franz Joseph I made absolutely no comment on his new heir to the throne. Due to Franz Ferdinand's medical history, there were considerable doubts as to whether Franz Ferdinand would ever be able to carry out the duties of the emperor.
In 1896, Franz Ferdinand heard news that Count Goluchowski , Minister of the Imperial and Royal Houses and Foreign Affairs, had asked the Emperor to consider reorganizing the succession in view of Franz Ferdinand's lung disease. Immediately there was talk throughout the monarchy that Otto would inherit the throne, especially since he had a remarkably large court at his disposal, which was not usual for other archdukes . Due to the illness of the heir to the throne, Otto was also entrusted with representative tasks that Franz Ferdinand would otherwise have had to perform himself. In addition, the fun-loving Otto was still extremely popular at court in spite of his lifestyle in contrast to the grumpy Franz Ferdinand. Franz Ferdinand was indignant about all the intrigues, including the fact that he was only allowed to live in the Palais Modena , while his younger brother was allowed to live in the Palais Augarten . Franz Ferdinand felt snubbed, although Otto assured him that he had no ambitions for the throne.
Marriage and offspring
Under pressure from the imperial family, he married Princess Maria Josepha Luise of Saxony (1867–1944), daughter of King George I of Saxony and Maria Anna of Portugal, in Dresden on October 2, 1886 . This marriage was urgently needed in order to maintain the good relationship with the Saxon royal family , because both Crown Prince Rudolf and Franz Ferdinand had rejected Maria's older sister Princess Mathilde as a bride and thus severely snubbed the Saxon royal family. The marriage had two children:
- Karl Franz Joseph, 1916 Karl I of Austria (1887–1922); since Franz Ferdinand left no sons entitled to heir to the throne in 1914, Karl Franz Joseph became heir to the throne and from 1916–1918 the last emperor of Austria
- Maximilian Eugen of Austria (1895–1952)
Two other children come from a relationship with the bourgeois Marie Schleinzer:
- Alfred Joseph von Hortenau (1892–1957)
- Hildegard von Hortenau (* 1894)
ancestors
Honors
- The Otto-Schutzhaus , a refuge on the Rax (Lower Austria) bears his name.
literature
- Peter Broucek : Otto, Erzhg. von Österr .. In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950 (ÖBL). Volume 7, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-7001-0187-2 , p. 270 f. (Direct links on p. 270 , p. 271 ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Martin Werkmann : Otto von Habsburg: an unsolved European problem , p. 133, 1932; (Detail scan)
- ^ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the count's houses , Volume 47, p. 196 and IX, 1874; (Digital scan 1) , (Digital scan 2)
- ↑ Genealogical website for educators
- ^ Stephan Baier, Eva Demmerle: Otto von Habsburg: the authorized biography , Amalthea-Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-85002-486-5 , p. 69; (Detail scan)
- ^ Friedrich Weissensteiner : Franz Ferdinand - The prevented ruler . Austrian Bundesverlag, Vienna 1983, pp. 58–61.
- ^ Richard Reifenscheid: The Habsburgs in Life Pictures. From Rudolf I. to Karl I. Verlag Styria, Graz 1982, ISBN 3-222-11431-5 , p. 342
- ^ Friedrich Weissensteiner: Franz Ferdinand - The prevented ruler . Austrian Bundesverlag, Vienna 1983, pp. 108-109
- ↑ Descendants of Archduke Franz Karl of Austria ( Memento from October 5, 2001 in the Internet Archive )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Otto Franz Joseph of Austria |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Otto Franz Josef Karl Ludwig Maria of Austria |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Archduke of Austria, father of Emperor Karl I of Austria |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 21, 1865 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Graz |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 1, 1906 |
| Place of death | Vienna |