Crown Prince Rudolf and Crown Princess Stéphanie of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia

Rudolf (21 August 1858 - 30 January 1889), archduke of Austria and crown prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, was the son and heir of Franz Joseph I, emperor of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, and his wife and empress, Elisabeth. His death, apparently through suicide, along with that of his mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera, at his Mayerling hunting lodge in 1889 made international headlines, fueled international conspiracy rumours and ultimately may have sealed the long-term fate of the Habsburg monarchy.

Princess Stéphanie of Belgium (French: Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte, Dutch: Stefanie Clotilde Louise Hermine Marie Charlotte; May 21, 1864, Laeken, nearby Brussels -- August 23, 1945, Pannonhalma) was the wife of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. She was the daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium and his wife, Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria, and was born at the Royal Castle in Laeken. Her grandfather had been Belgium's first king and her aunt was Empress of Mexico.

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[Purplecatsoup30]

Who sings this?

[lostsplendour]

@Purplecatsoup30 30 seconds to Mars

[samk1101]

Princess Stephanie was a cousin to Prince Albert, and thus related to ever royal house in Europe. That is why this match was made as Austria felt isolated. Also, What happened to their daughter?

[lostsplendour]

@samk1101 The match was made because he was unable to marry his cousin Archduchess Maria Antonia and refused several Infantes of Portugal and Spain, Stéphanie was one of the few avalaible catholic princesses during this period. He chose her, the Saxe Coburg were not interested into insolating the Austrian Empire. About their daughter, you can read Die rote Erzherzogin (The Red Archduchess), by Friedrich Weissensteiner and there is also a video about her on this channel.

[ptrck99]

Anyone knows if there is any documentary about the Mayerling episode?

[429IDA]

Jag visste inte vem är Rudolf och Stefania,ingen aning om det.

[rayito2005]

Rudolph was so handsome.

[lostsplendour]

@johneunson Yes, they have Mayerling into a musical. I have seen recently a documentary about the Mayerling tragedy and I don't know anymore what to think abou it (murder or suicide), it's apparently quite complicate.

[ROCKSLIDZ]

Rudolf's widow Stephanie lived until August 1945, so she witnessed the defeat of Austria and Germany a second time. Ironically, she was the only one that tried to intervene regarding Rudolf's depression, but no one in the family would listen to her.

[ROCKSLIDZ]

Thanks, you did an excellent job, as always!

The day before yesterday (Nov. 11) was the anniversary of the end of WWI. If Rudolf had lived and resisted Kaiser Wilhelm, millions of lives might have been spared...and WWII probably wouldn't have happened.