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Archduke Otto Franz Joseph of Austria

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Archduke Otto Franz Joseph Karl Ludwig Maria of Austria (21 April 1865 – 1 November 1906) was the second son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria (younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria) and his second wife, Princess Maria Annunziata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. He was the father of Charles I of Austria, the final Emperor of Austria.

Archduke Otto Franz Joseph
Otto Franz Joseph in 1889
Born(1865-04-21)21 April 1865
Graz, Austrian Empire
Died1 November 1906(1906-11-01) (aged 41)
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Burial
Imperial Crypt
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1886)​
IssueCharles I of Austria
Archduke Maximilian Eugen
Names
German: Otto Franz Joseph Karl Ludwig Maria von Österreich
English: Otto Francis Joseph Charles Louis Maria of Austria
HouseHabsburg-Lorraine
FatherArchduke Karl Ludwig of Austria
MotherPrincess Maria Annunziata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies

Biography

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Youth

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Archduchess Maria Annunziata holding the young Archduke in her lap
Archduke Otto in 1870
Monarchical styles of
Archduke Otto Franz of Austria
Reference styleHis Imperial and Royal Highness
Spoken styleYour Imperial and Royal Highness

Otto's mother died when he was six years old. Otto and his elder brother Franz Ferdinand were taught by Alfred Ludwig, Baron of Degenfeld. Otto was not interested in learning and often played pranks on his teachers. Nevertheless, his teachers preferred the cheerful Otto more than his grumpy and irascible older brother. He was also his father's favourite, which led to a challenging relationship with his brother.[1]: p. 58–61 

Otto had a reputation as a loafer and was often involved in scandals. In one instance, he was known to have jumped nude from a private dining room in the Hotel Sacher in front of a visiting British peeress.[2] He is also widely remembered for the widely circulated story that he had been spotted in a hallway at the same hotel, about to enter a lady's room, wearing nothing else but a sword. He was gradually alienated from the imperial court, and eventually even his wife distanced herself from him.

Marriage and issue

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Under pressure from the imperial court, he married Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony, daughter of King Georg of Saxony on October 2, 1886.[3] The court in Vienna urgently needed such a wedding to repair their relationship with the Saxon royal family, after both Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and Otto's brother Franz Ferdinand had snubbed the Saxons by rejecting Maria's elder sister Mathilde.

Otto and Maria had two sons:

Their marriage was unhappy, and the Archduke was often unfaithful. He had illegitimate children including two by his mistress, Marie Schleinzer: The children were given the title and surname Edler von Hortenau.

  • Alfred Joseph von Hortenau, father of the actress Isabel del Puerto
  • Hildegard von Hortenau

With Louise Robinson he had two children. Son became an electrician and daughter a governess in Wiesbaden, Germany. After WWI both emigrated to America.[4]

Death

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The Archduke at the head of his hussars. Print by Károly Divald after a painting by Julius von Blaas

Around 1900, he contracted syphilis. This caused him agonizing pain for the last two years of his life. He withdrew from public life and spent a year in Egypt, where he found temporary reprieve. He returned to Austria, where he fell ill again. The last few months of his life, he lived in a villa in the Viennese suburb Währing. He was forced to replace his nose with a rubber prosthetic due to facial deformity.[2] He was seriously ill, and was nursed by his last mistress, Louise Robinson (8.1.1886 Kleve am Rhein - 9.11.1934 Vienna), using the pseudonym Sister Martha, and by his stepmother Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal. He died on 1 November 1906, in the presence of his spiritual adviser, Godfried Marschall (de), the auxiliary bishop of Vienna.[5]

Succession

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Archduke Otto Franz and his family

Otto's father, Karl Ludwig, was a younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria; and Karl Ludwig became heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne when his nephew Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide in 1889.

On the death of Karl Ludwig in May 1896, Otto's brother Franz Ferdinand became heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. However, it did not escape the public's attention that the Emperor never commented on his new heir-presumptive.

Count Gołuchowski, the Foreign Minister, had suggested that the emperor, considering Franz Ferdinand's lung disease and tuberculosis, might reconsider the line of succession due to concerns that his health might never allow him to fulfill a role as future emperor.

This led to speculations that Otto might inherit the throne instead. It was noticed that Otto had more personnel than was usual for an archduke and that he carried out representative tasks that would normally be done by the heir presumptive. Despite his life style, Otto was more popular among the courtiers than his elder brother. Franz Ferdinand was outraged by these speculations and by the fact that he had received the modest Modena Palace as his residence and Otto the larger Augarten Palace. Franz Ferdinand felt snubbed, although Otto assured him he had no ambitions for the throne.[1]: p. 108–109 

As Otto passed away in 1906, he was never first in line to the throne. Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914 by the Serbian nationalist terrorist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, whereupon Otto's son Charles became heir presumptive. Upon the death of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1916, Charles inherited the throne.

Honours

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The mountain lodge Erzherzog-Otto-Schutzhaus on the Rax plateau in Lower Austria, is named after him.

Decorations and awards

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Arms

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Ancestry

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Footnotes

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  1. 1 2 Friedrich Weissensteiner: Franz Ferdinand — Der verhinderte Herrscher, Österr. Bundesverlag, Vienna, 1983
  2. 1 2 Taylor, Edmond, 1908- (1963). The fall of the dynasties : the collapse of the old order, 1905-1922 (first ed.). New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-63450-601-4. OCLC 907190709. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ "Archduke Otto of Austria and his fiancee Maria Josepha of Saxony". Grand Ladies; the Belle Epoque.
  4. ↑ COURT BEAUTY DIES DESTITUTE IN VIENNA; Late Archduke Otto's Friend, Baroness Poglodowska, Was Once Great Favorite., The New York Times, November 13, 1934, p. 11.
  5. ↑ Richard Reifenscheid: Die Habsburger in Lebensbildern. Von Rudolf I. bis Karl I., Verlag Styria, Graz, 1982, ISBN 3-222-11431-5, p. 342
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie (1906), Genealogy p. 2
  7. ↑ Boettger, T. F. "Chevaliers de la Toisón d'Or - Knights of the Golden Fleece". La Confrérie Amicale. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Justus Perthes, Almanach de Gotha 1906 (1906) page 6
  9. ↑ "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Italia : Ministero dell'interno (1900). Calendario generale del Regno d'Italia. Unione tipografico-editrice. p. 54.
  11. ↑ "Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III". Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish). 1905. p. 150. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  12. ↑ Sachsen (1901). "Königlich Orden". Staatshandbuch für den Königreich Sachsen: 1901. Dresden: Heinrich. p. 4 – via hathitrust.org.
  13. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1907), "Königliche Orden" p. 29
  14. ↑ Royal Thai Government Gazette (8 January 1898). "พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์ ที่ประเทศยุโรป" (PDF) (in Thai). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2019-05-08. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. ↑ "Ludewigs-orden", Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste (in German), Darmstadt: Staatsverlag, 1898, p. 9 – via hathitrust.org
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