Elisabeth Charlotte From Habsburg-Lothringen (1922-1993): Letter Waldstein 1950

You are bidding on one typewritten nobility letter from 1950 out of Waldstein.

This is what is meant Waldstein Castle in Deutschfeistritz near Graz.

Written and signed by Elisabeth Charlotte of Liechtenstein, b. of Habsburg-Lorraine (1922-1993), daughter of the last Austrian Emperor Charles I (1887-1922), wife of Heinrich Prince of Liechtenstein (1916-1991) since 1949 and mother of Politician Vincenz Liechtenstein (1950-2008), who was almost three months old at the time and is also mentioned in the letter. He was born in Waldstein Castle.

Aimed at a Countess Ledóchowska, di Clara Ledochowska (*26. June 1911 in Sarns), secretary at the Austrian Embassy to the Holy See (Vatican).

DatedWaldstein, 21. October 1950.

Excerpts: "Dear Countess Ledóchowska, [...] We are hugely grateful to you, but unfortunately we can't go to Rome right now. [...] We would have loved to go to these magnificent celebrations of the proclamation of dogmas. It's going to be magnificent. [...] We are now in the mountains with Vincenz [...]. Vincenz continues to grow very strongly, is in good health, and is very happy when a cow, or a pig, or any other animal suddenly looks into his wagon. We also go hunting a lot and I shot my first deer two weeks ago. With many, many thanks and warmest regards, Elisabeth Liechtenstein."

Scope: one A4 page; without envelope.

Condition: Paper browned and slightly wrinkled. Please also note the pictures!

Internal note: Clara L. 92 Adel Hochadel

About her father Charles I and her son Vincent (source: wikipedia):

Charles I (*17. August 1887 as Archduke Carl Franz Joseph Ludwig Hubert Georg Otto Maria of Austria at Persenbieg Castle, Archduchy of Austria under the Enns; † 1. April 1922 in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal) from the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty was the last Emperor of Austria from 1916 until his renunciation of “any share in state affairs” in 1918 and as Charles IV. (Hungarian IV. Károly) was also Apostolic King of Hungary.

In addition, he was Charles III. (Czech Karel III.) King in the Austrian crown land of Bohemia.

In 2004 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II. beatified.

Life: Karl was the eldest son of Archduke Otto, a member of the Austrian Imperial House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and his wife Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony. His paternal grandfather, Archduke Karl Ludwig, was a younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I and, after the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf, he was a claimant to the throne of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary from 1889 to 1896; Karl was therefore a great-nephew of the emperor. Otto's older brother, Karl's uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, was heir to the throne from 1896 until his assassination in 1914. Charles had a brother, Archduke Maximilian, who was eight years younger than him.

Life until 1916: Archduke Karl was born on the 17th. Born in August 1887 at Persenbieg Castle and baptized there two days later by St. Pölten Bishop Matthäus Binder. He lived the first years of his life with his parents either in Persenbieg, the Villa Wartholz or at his father's various station locations in Prague, Brno and Ödenburg. The upbringing was the responsibility of a nanny until the age of seven, before Georg Graf Wallis was appointed as his tutor. From the beginning, Maria Josepha attached great importance to the fact that her son was raised in the Catholic faith, and later also brought in the theologian Godfried Marschall. In addition, particular attention was paid to acquiring foreign language skills. Educational trips through Europe completed the Archduke's training program.

In principle, Karl was educated by private tutors, but from the age of twelve, from August 1899 to June 1901, at the request of his parents, he also attended the Benedictine-run Schottengymnasium in Vienna, which was unusual for a member of the ruling family. Here he took the final exams on the middle school curriculum.

In 1903, Emperor Franz Joseph I appointed him lieutenant in the Uhlan Regiment “Arzduke Otto” No. 1 and from then on Karl received primarily military training. Theoretical subjects such as weapons and gunnery, railway and telegraph engineering, tactics and army organization were on his curriculum. Karl then pursued a career as an officer in the cavalry and on the 1st. In September 1905 he began active military service with the dragoon regiment “Duke of Lorraine and Bar No. 7” in Kutterschitz near Bilin in Bohemia; in 1906 he was stationed in Brandeis-Altbunzlau. On the 1st In November 1906, Karl was promoted to first lieutenant. In the same year he interrupted his military service to study for two years at the Charles Ferdinand University in Prague. As a private listener, Karl listened to lectures by selected university professors, primarily on legal subjects (including constitutional law, canon law, civil and criminal law as well as economics and finance). On the 1st In July 1908 he returned to his regiment and took over squadron command.

After the death of Karl's father in 1906, his older brother and heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand took over the guardianship of his nephew. Franz Ferdinand had been married in an inappropriate morganatic marriage (“to the left hand”) since 1900, which is why his descendants were excluded from the succession to the throne. Therefore, Archduke Charles was second in line to the throne behind his uncle. When he declared his majority in 1907, Karl received his own entourage, headed by his chamberlain, Prince Zdenko Lobkowitz. From 1916 to 1918 he was adjutant general of the new emperor.

Between March and November 1912, Karl served in Kolomea, Galicia, before joining the Imperial and Royal Infantry Regiment No. 39 in Vienna took over. Here Karl lived in Hetzendorf Castle with his wife Zita and maintained friendly relations with Franz Ferdinand, who may have informed his nephew in more detail about his reform plans from 1913 onwards.

After the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in the Sarajevo assassination attempt on January 28th. In June 1914, according to the house laws of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, Karl was heir to the Archduke's throne "ex lege", i.e. without a further decision from the Emperor. However, Karl was not involved in the decision-making processes during the July Crisis, which ultimately led to the First World War. On the emperor's orders, after the outbreak of war, Karl was assigned to the Army High Command (AOK), where Chief of General Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf did not allow him any say in strategic operations. Rather, Charles visited the front on behalf of the emperor, attended troop parades and handed out awards. On the 1st In July 1915 he was promoted to major general and appointed by Franz Joseph I to his immediate surroundings in order to gain insights into the “art of government” and to learn how ongoing political and administrative decisions were made at the highest levels. The monarch could not bring himself to transfer political responsibility.

On 12. In March 1916, Karl was appointed lieutenant field marshal and assigned to the 11th. Army under Colonel General Viktor Dankl on the Italian front. Karl took command of the XX. Corps (Edelweißkorps) and led his troops during the South Tyrol offensive in spring 1916. On 12. In August 1916, Karl was assigned to the Romanian theater of war, where he took over the newly formed Archduke Carl Army Group and set up his headquarters in Sighisoara, Transylvania.

Marriage and offspring: On the 13th On June 21, 1911, Karl became engaged to Zita of Bourbon-Parma in the Villa delle Pianore near Lucca (Italy), whom he married on June 21st. October of the same year in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I in Schwarzau am Steinfeld Castle (Lower Austria). According to critics, his decision to marry the "Italian", as his wife was referred to by opponents of this union especially after Italy's declaration of war on Austria-Hungary in 1915, contributed nothing to the desirable international anchoring of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, since Zita did not come from one (more) ruling noble house came from a country that was not friendly with Austria.

The marriage resulted in eight children:

Otto (1912–2011) ⚭ 1951 regina Princess of Saxe-Meiningen (1925–2010)

Adelheid (1914–1971)

Robert (1915–1996) ⚭ 1953 Margherita of Savoy (1930–2022)

Felix (1916–2011) ⚭ 1952 Anna Eugenie Duchess of Arenberg (1925–1997)

Carl Ludwig (1918–2007) ⚭ 1950 Yolande von Ligne (1923–2023)

Rudolph (1919–2010)

⚭ 1953 Xenia Chernyshev Besobrasov (1929–1968)

⚭ 1971 Anna Gabriele Princess of Wrede (* 1940)

Charlotte (1921–1989) ⚭ 1956 Georg Herzog zu Mecklenburg (1899–1963)

Elizabeth (1922–1993) ⚭ 1949 Heinrich Prince of Liechtenstein (1916–1991)

title:Karl's great title, which was only reproduced in the last state handbook, was:

“Charles the First, by the grace of God Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, of that name the Fourth, King of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, Lodomeria and Illyria; King of Jerusalem etc; Archduke of Austria; Grand Duke of Tuscany and Kraków; Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Bukovina; Grand Duke of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia, Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli, Ragusa and Zara; Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradiska; Prince of Trent and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and Istria; Count of Hohenembs, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg, etc., Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro and on the Windische Mark; Grand Governor of the Voivodship of Serbia etc. Etc."

Residences: Charles I lived in Hetzendorf Palace in Vienna with his family from 1912 to 1914. He mostly spent the summer months in his villa Wartholz in Reichenau an der Rax in Lower Austria. After his accession to the throne on the 21st In November 1916, the monarch spent most of his time on inspection trips, most of which he completed with the Imperial and Royal Court Salon Train. Three to four such trips per month were not uncommon. On the 15th On March 6, 1917, the Imperial and Royal Court was moved from Schönbrunn Palace to the Blue Court in the Laxenburg Palace Park. February 1918 to the Imperial House in Baden. Baden had been the operational headquarters of the Army High Command (AOK) since January 1917. From 1. until 27. In July 1918, Eckartsau Castle in Marchfeld was the official residence of the Imperial and Royal Court, then until 22. October the Villa Wartholz, before he left on October 27th after a final official trip as head of state (he visited the University of Debrecen with Empress Zita). Returned to Vienna in October 1918. In the Vienna Hofburg, apartments were set up for the emperor and his family in the Amalienburg; Rooms were also adapted in Schönbrunn, with a bathroom being installed here in 1917 for Empress Zita.

Reign (1916–1918):With the death of Emperor Franz Joseph on January 21st November 1916, Karl was emperor and king “ex lege”. There was no need for a formal accession to the throne in the kingdoms and countries represented in the Imperial Council (Cisleithania), i.e. in Old Austria. However, the leading politicians in the Kingdom of Hungary (Transleithania) attached great importance to the historic coronation ceremony, which involved the oath to the Hungarian constitution.

Karl was already there on the 30th. December as “Charles IV.” or Hungarian “IV. Károly” to be crowned King of Hungary. From then on, his hands were largely tied in the Hungarian half of the empire when it came to the constitutional possibility of reforms. In particular, it was impossible to separate areas from the Hungarian crown's jurisdiction, although this would have been necessary to satisfy the national wishes of the Slavs of the Dual Monarchy. (Franz Ferdinand had planned to restructure the dual monarchy immediately after taking office, before this would have made it impossible for him to take the Hungarian coronation oath.)

Emperor Karl and Empress Zita each received 50,000 gold pieces from Hungary as a coronation gift, which they used for apartments for war invalids with large children and their widows. donated the reconstruction of Transylvania.

Karl did not imitate the legendary style of government of Emperor Franz Joseph, who - also due to his old age - managed all matters solely from his study in the Vienna Hofburg and, in the last years of his life, from Schönbrunn. During his reign he moved the official seat of the Imperial and Royal Court no less than five times, only staying in Vienna longer at the beginning and end of his reign and only visiting Budapest for short visits. Karl spent most of his time on inspection trips, mainly with the Imperial and Royal Salon Train, although three to four such trips per month were not uncommon. Karl regularly chaired meetings of the Joint Council of Ministers, which decided on foreign and war policy. It was also unusual that the monarch discussed all important decisions with his wife Zita and received advice from her. Zita was also present as a listener at many meetings.

Charles was determined to reduce the influence of the military elites. Already on the 2nd In December 1916 he took over command of the army and moved the Army High Command (AOK) from Teschen to Baden. He now intervened directly in the conduct of the war and took responsibility for both victories and defeats. On the 1st In March 1917, Karl deposed Chief of General Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf. In doing so, he eliminated the influence of the military in the civilian sector and transferred political and diplomatic leadership back to the Austrian and Hungarian governments. the foreign minister. At the same time, he distanced himself from the state of emergency that had been imposed on Austria since 1914. However, due to its weakness compared to its “brother in arms”, Austria-Hungary had become dependent on the Supreme Army Command of the German Empire for military decisions even before Charles came to power.

During the personnel changes that Emperor Charles carried out soon after the beginning of his reign, he appointed trusted people, most of whom were from Franz Ferdinand's entourage. By dismissing Foreign Minister Burián and the powerful Hungarian Prime Minister István Tisza, Karl pushed back Hungarian dominance in foreign policy, and with the new Foreign Minister Ottokar Czernin and Heinrich Clam-Martinic as Austrian Prime Minister, politicians from the Bohemian high aristocracy loyal to Austria took the lead. The reason for Czernin's appointment on January 22nd The main thing in December 1916 was that he shared Karl's view of the need for an early peace agreement.

In 1917, Austria-Hungary was in crisis, particularly domestically. The war and the Allied blockade had led to a shortage of materials and raw materials, an economic crisis, poverty and hunger. In view of protests and strikes as well as a strengthening of the labor movement, the new emperor feared a revolution.

From January to March 1917, regulations on tenant protection, health insurance and labor law in companies that served military purposes came into force in Cisleithania. The Tenant Protection Ordinance attempted to offset the rising cost of living and, in particular, to protect soldiers' wives from having their apartments evicted due to rent arrears. It is controversial in the literature whether these were personal initiatives by Charles I in the spirit of modern social policy or appeasing measures by the Imperial and Royal Clam-Martinic government.

The first domestic policy measures attributed to Charles I personally were the reconvening of the Imperial Council in the spring of 1917 and a political amnesty; Last but not least, they followed dynastic considerations.

On the 1st In June 1917, the Kaiser commissioned the establishment of a Ministry for Social Welfare, which was intended to combat the war epidemics and introduce social welfare for those affected by the war, but also included youth welfare, housing and social security. He was appointed as the first minister on December 22nd. December 1917 on December 30th Viktor Mataja was appointed to the government in August without a portfolio.

However, the Clam-Martinic ministry was considered to be unsuccessful overall and was therefore approved by Charles I on December 23rd. In June 1917 it was exchanged for the (hardly more successful) Seidler Ministry. On the 24th On November 30, the resolution was passed to create the Ministry of Public Health, for which the Ukrainian chemist Ivan Horbaczewski was appointed on November 30. He was appointed to the government in August 1917 without a portfolio. He was only born on the 30th. July 1918 under the on 25. In July 1918, the monarch appointed the prime minister, Hussarek, the emperor's penultimate head of government, as department minister.

In Entente circles that wanted the monarchy to be preserved, the changes made in 1917 raised hopes that the monarchy could reform itself and break away from Germany. In fact, according to the British historian Francis Roy Bridge, they were just gestures and not a clear political program.

Peace efforts and war goals: The new ruler increasingly recognized the hopelessness of the Central Powers' situation. The peace offering of the 12th However, December 1916 failed due to the German Reich's refusal to name concrete peace goals.

At the Council of Ministers for Common Affairs on 12 In January 1917 the peace conditions were discussed in detail. Karl put up for discussion a maximum program that envisaged the (no longer likely) annexation of Congress Poland, Montenegro, the Serbian Mačva, border improvements on the seventhTurkish border and the deposition of the Serbian Karageorgevich dynasty. His minimal program, however, was limited to demanding the full territorial integrity of the monarchy and the annexation of the Montenegrin Lovćen and the change of dynasty in Serbia (ffor Karl the murder house Karageorgewitsch).

In the spring of 1917, Karl tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a separate peace with the Entente through his brother-in-law Sixtus Ferdinand of Bourbon-Parma (Sixtus Affair). The Sixtus Letter was later described as a sign of Emperor Charles' "naive impulsiveness" because he misjudged the dangers of exposing the secret process and the Entente's reaction. The emperor's approval of French claims to Alsace-Lorraine stood in obvious contrast to his unwillingness to make his own territorial concessions (for example on the question of the cession of Trentino to Italy). The Kaiser's wish for peace talks ultimately failed because of the French hope of victory (the USA was on the 6th. entered the war in April), due to the demands of Italy, but also to the intransigence of the German Reich, where the tone was increasingly set by those forces that were counting on a Siegfrieden peace.

The peace efforts, the reservations against unrestricted submarine warfare, the ban on the bombing of civilian targets and the positive response to the peace appeal of Pope Benedict XV, who was seen as an ally of Italy, led to Charles' ever greater differences with the German Empire , but also with German nationalist circles in our own country. In connection with the papal appeal for peace, Emperor Karl Czernin instructed the Vatican to inform “that Austria-Hungary was not a priori negative about the question of restoring the state existence of Serbia and Montenegro.” However, this should not mean “Austria-Hungary giving up territorial gains can be derived from these two states” (26. September 1917).

Karl rightly saw the plans for Central Europe, a close union of the two empires, represented by Friedrich Naumann's entourage, as simply a plan against the independence of the monarchy (14. May 1917). He spoke out against this close economic connection with Germany because he feared that it would put the monarchy on the same level as Bavaria and also make peace negotiations impossible. He protested to Czernin against the Central European plans because he considered them to be “an attempt by the Hohenzollerns to make Austria completely dependent on Germany”. Karl even feared a German victory in the war because it would have meant the end of Austrian sovereignty: “A blatant military victory for Germany would be our ruin.”

Although Karl was against the use of poison gas within the command area of ​​the Austro-Hungarian army, he ultimately allowed the German special units operating together with the Austro-Hungarian troops in the 12th. Isonzo Battle (the “Battle of Karfreit”) in October 1917 used poison gas.

Karl hardly had any advisors who supported his course and whom he could fully trust. Foreign Minister Ottokar Czernin initially supported the peace plans, but later he was also in favor of stronger ties to the ally. Czernin accused France in a speech on March 2 April 1918 claimed to have held secret peace negotiations. Since this was not true, the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau published on January 14th. April the contents of the secret Sixtus letters. As a result, the emperor's reputation suffered enormous damage, especially because he obviously untruthfully denied the letter. Karl was defamed as a “henpecked man” and Empress Zita as an “Italian traitor”. Czernin was founded by the emperor on the 24th. Forced to resign in April. Karl had to go to Spa to see the German Emperor Wilhelm II. go to its main headquarters and bind themselves even more closely to the German Reich.

After the military situation had further deteriorated and the conviction arose in German headquarters that the war could no longer be won, Charles I, in view of the threat of disintegration and the uncertainty as to how long the Austro-Hungarian front could hold out, decided without consultation the German ally a final peace note to all belligerent powers in order to work towards immediate peace negotiations, contrary to the stalling efforts of the German leadership. This effort was ineffective because the Allies wanted to negotiate with the German Empire as their main opponent first and only then with Austria-Hungary. However, Karl's renewed solo effort influenced the context of the German leadership's decision on January 29th. September 1918 in Spa to advocate drastic measures to end the war.

Renunciation of government and the collapse of the monarchy: Karl's attempt, with his people's manifesto of 16. October 1918 to save at least the Austrian half of the empire and transform it into a federal state with extensive autonomy for the individual nations came too late. His invitation to the nationalities of Cisleithania to form national councils was accepted; However, these new people's representatives founded states independent of each other and of old Austria (most recently on January 30th). October 1918 the German-Austrians).

Collapse of the army: At the end of October, Hungarian units of the Austro-Hungarian army mutinied on the Italian front. With Karl's consent, Hungary decided to end the real union with Austria on January 31st. October and recalled his troops from Italy. To celebrate the Armistice of Villa Giusti with Italy from 3. On November 3, 1918, which contradicted the intentions of the allied German Empire not to have to sign itself, the Emperor and King handed over supreme command over what part of the Austro-Hungarian army still obeyed the old order. November 1918 to General Arthur Arz von Straußenburg and appointed on November 4th November, at his request, Field Marshal Hermann Kövess von Kövesshaza was appointed commander-in-chief. At 6. In November, Charles's Austro-Hungarian army was demobilized; The war fleet was on Charles's orders on the 31st. October handed over to the new South Slavic state.

After the end of the monarchy (1918–1922):The complete military collapse and internal dissolution of the Danube Monarchy could no longer be denied. On the 9th November 1918 saw the abdication of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. announced; on the same day the republic was proclaimed in Berlin. Charles I's departure from his imperial office now seemed inevitable.

Charles I was born on the 11th. November 1918 by ministers of his last kk government, the so-called “Liquidation Ministry” Under Heinrich Lammasch, at the urging of the Social Democrats, especially State Chancellor Karl Renner and Karl Seitz, as well as other German-Austrian politicians, he was persuaded to forego “any share in state affairs” in the Austrian half of the empire and his government, which has now become dysfunctional, to resign from office to remove. However, he did not formally relieve the army and officers of their oath of loyalty to the emperor.

The “Imperial Manifesto”, which was intended to meet the demands of Allen sides, was drafted by kk ministers such as Ignaz Seipel together with Renner and others. On the one hand, there was a hurry to obtain the emperor's signature, as the proclamation of the Emperor on the 30th was already scheduled for the following day. The state of German Austria, which was created in October 1918, was planned to become a republic; on the other hand, a legal clash was to be avoided, which would have meant that the emperor would have to be dethroned by law by the new republic. Furthermore, they did not want to bring the civil servants and officers into a conflict of loyalty to the current monarch.

Although the statement, which was also conciliatory in tone, avoided the emotive word “abdication” and even less stipulated the renunciation of the crown for the soon-to-be six-year-old Crown Prince Otto and the dynasty, Karl's wife Zita protested against it, because for her, in her up to her Death held understanding that an abdication was an impossibility due to the “divine grace of the monarch”:

“Never! A ruler can lose his ruling rights. That is violence that precludes recognition. Never abdicate - I'd rather fall here with you - then Otto will come and even if we all fall - there are still other Habsburgs."

Nevertheless, “after a heated argument,” Charles signed on the 11th, on the urgent advice of the (still) imperial government. The “abdication proclamation” (as Josef Redlich called the document in his diary) was issued at noon on November 15th in Schönbrunn Palace, after the German-Austrian State Council had already decided shortly beforehand to submit the proposal for a law on the form of state and government of German-Austria to the Provisional National Assembly the next day . At 2 p.m. the emperor formally removed his government from office.

An “extra edition” of the official Wiener Zeitung was published on the 11th. November the waiver was published (along with the draft bill for the next day):

Vienna, 11. November 1918.

The Emperor issued the following declaration:

“Since My accession to the throne, I have been constantly striving to lead My peoples out of the horrors of war, for the outbreak of which I bear no blame.

I did not hesitate to restore constitutional life and opened the way for the peoples to their independent state development.

Still filled with unchanging love for all My peoples, I do not want to present My person as an obstacle to their free development.

I recognize in advance the decision that German Austria is making about its future form of government.

The people have taken over the government through their representatives. I renounce any part in state affairs.

At the same time, I remove my Austrian government from office.

May the people of German-Austria create and consolidate the new order in harmony and reconciliation. The happiness of My peoples has been the goal of My most fervent desires from the beginning.

Only inner peace can heal the wounds of this war.

Karl mp

Lambash mp“

This served both sides. The German-Austrian State Council had in its hands a document of quasi-abdication signed by Karl. Charles, for his part, interpreted his “Imperial Manifesto” in the belief that he had only temporarily “withdrew” and had not renounced the throne.

Transfer of residence to Eckartsau: Since Schönbrunn Palace belonged to the court and thus now to the new state of German Austria, the former bearer of the crown (as he was subsequently referred to in the Habsburg law from 1919) could no longer remain as a private person, Karl Habsburg-Lorraine. On the evening of the 11th In November he left the city with his immediate family and the imperial entourage and went to Eckartsau Castle in Marchfeld near Vienna, which at that time was still owned by the imperial family fund and therefore privately owned by the Habsburg family and only in April 1919 Habsburg law became state property without compensation.

Waiver also for Hungary: with a similar procedure to that in Austria enforced on 13. November for the Hungarian half of the empire, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy and Count Emil Széchenyi received a declaration from Karl at Eckartsau Castle that he would renounce the exercise of his state affairs in the Kingdom of Hungary. Although he did not formally abdicate, the crowned King of Hungary and Croatia, Charles IV, was also history. Nevertheless, in October 1921 (see below) he attempted a restoration in Hungary.

Revisionist considerations: For the German-Austrian state government of Renner, Karl Habsburg-Lorraine, who was now staying in Eckartsau Castle, was no longer just a private person. However, he did not want to come to terms with the created realities, not least driven by Zita. A little later, he also interpreted his declaration of renunciation, an “ambiguous manifesto,” as if he had not renounced the throne, but had only temporarily withdrawn from state affairs.

He wrote to the Viennese Archbishop Cardinal Piffl, whose support he had hoped for before his declaration of renunciation, from Eckartsau (quoted from the daily newspaper Die Presse, February 2010):

“… I am and remain the rightful ruler of German-Austria. I have and will never abdicate […]. The current government is a revolutionary government because it has eliminated the divinely ordained state power. My manifesto from 11. I would like to compare November with a check that a highwayman forces us to fill out for many thousands of crowns with a revolver pointed at us. […] After the army could no longer be relied on and the castle guards had abandoned us, I decided to sign. I don’t feel bound by them at all.”

The ex-emperor was far enough away from political decisions during his exile in Lower Austria and was unable to mobilize a large following there. Nevertheless, State Chancellor Renner in Vienna, who was not unaware of Karl's revisionist considerations, was alarmed. The fact that Karl tirelessly sent letters across Europe agitating against the policies of the Social Democrats gave Renner a second important motive for action. Annexation of Austria to Germany, as some Social Democrats had in mind, was out of the question for Karl and his wife Zita. Therefore, a political solution had to be found. Like the abdicated German Kaiser Wilhelm, Karl Habsburg-Lorraine was to be deported abroad. Renner's argument was helped by the fact that the situation in Eckartsau was increasingly perceived as unsafe for Karl and his family, as the castle was only protected by twelve Viennese police officers on the orders of the Vienna Police Chief Johann Schober.

At the beginning of January 1919, Renner drove to Eckartsau unannounced to talk to Karl personally about his future. Since he had not requested an audience in accordance with court ceremonial, Karl and Zita refused to meet him and sent Frigate Captain von Schonta to the ground floor to intercept the petitioner and treat him to lunch.

In the meantime, it was no longer just the Social Democrats, but also the Christian Socialists who wanted to get the former emperor out of the country. After on the 15th In March 1919, the Renner II state government was set up as a coalition of the two parties, the following three alternatives were agreed upon (quote from Die Presse):

If the emperor renounced all of his rights, he and his family could remain in Austria as a simple citizen.

If he refuses to abdicate, he must go into exile.

If he rejects both options, he will face internment.

Exile in Switzerland: The British King George V feared for the safety of the imperial family because an attempt on their life appeared to be a conceivable scenario after the murder of the Russian Tsar and his family. Zita's brothers Sixtus and Xavier von Bourbon-Parma persuade King George to have the British Lieutenant Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt transferred from Venice to Eckartsau and from 27. In February 1919 he was assigned as an “honorary officer” to protect the Habsburg family, to whom Georg assured his “moral support”.

Strutt, who was informed by the state government about the advanced plans and the three alternatives envisaged, was able to persuade Karl to leave the country and organized this. The Emperor's only remaining condition to Strutt: "Promise me that I will leave as Emperor and not like a thief in the night." Switzerland agreed to take in the family.

Lieutenant Colonel Strutt then prepared for the imperial family to travel to Switzerland. Karl had agreed on the condition that the departure was “with Allen honor”. For this purpose, Strutt organized the court salon procession of the former kk state railways.

On the 23rd, at the Kopfstetten-Eckartsau train station on the Siebenbrunn–Engelhartstetten local railway, which is closest to the castle. March 1919, in the evening around 7 p.m., Karl - in the uniform of a field marshal and "with Allen honors" - and Zita, the children Otto, Adelheid, Robert and Felix as well as Karl's mother Archduchess Maria Josepha and a small entourage of a few loyal followers made the journey to Switzerland Exile on. On the platform, British military police saluted in front of the saloon car and, although it was raining and it was already dark, around 2,000 people stood to say goodbye to the Emperor, to whom Karl called out “Goodbye, my friends!”

The imperial automobile, which has been in the Imperial Carriage Castle in Schönbrunn Palace since November 2001, was also transported on the court train.

Karl lived in exile in Switzerland with his family from the age of 24. March 1919 at Wartegg Castle near Rorschach on Lake Constance and since 20. May 1919 in Prangins on Lake Geneva.

Revocation with the “Feldkircher Manifesto”:In the morning hours of the 24th In March 1919 the special train passed Feldkirch on the border with Liechtenstein. Here, still on home soil, Karl revoked his declaration of renunciation in the “Feldkirch Manifesto,” which he had already prepared in Eckartsau and which remained largely secret, and thereby protested against his dismissal:

“What the German-Austrian government, Provisional and Constitutional National Assembly has done since the 11th November 1918 […] decided and decreed and will continue to resolve is null and void for me and my house.”

The reason he gave was that German Austria had committed itself to the republican form of government without first consulting the people. Therefore, German Austria’s decisions are “null and void for me and my house”. However, at the time of his abdication he had already known that the State Council had spoken out in favor of a Republic of German-Austria and that a corresponding decision by the National Assembly was imminent. In his declaration of resignation there was no mention of the fact that the decision on the future form of government would have to be made in a referendum; on the contrary: the ex-emperor had promised that he would recognize the decision that German Austria would make.

Karl had copies of the manifesto sent to friendly heads of state. However, the manifesto was not published in German Austria because the leading Christian Social politicians strongly advised Karl against it. He entered Switzerland in civilian clothes.

Habsburg law: expulsion and expropriation: Karl's “Feldkirch Manifesto” was ultimately reason enough for Karl Renner to pass the law of 3. April 1919, concerning the expulsion from the country and the takeover of the assets of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine (StGBl. No. 209/1919) to finally prohibit Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, his wife Zita and their descendants from returning to Austrian territory if they do not declare their allegiance to the Republic of Austria. With the constitutional law, all ruling rights of the dynasty were abolished and, still in force today, enshrined in it:

“§ 2. In the interest of the security of the Republic, the former bearer of the crown and the other members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, unless they expressly renounce their membership of this house and all claims to power derived from it, and profess themselves to be loyal citizens of the Republic have been expelled from the country. The federal government, in agreement with the main committee of the National Council, is entitled to determine whether this declaration can be recognized as sufficient.”

As a result, some members of the Habsburg-Lorraine family decided to live abroad, others to recognize Republican Austria and break away from the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. In 1982, without a waiver, Karl's widow and last empress, Zita Habsburg-Lothringen, was ultimately allowed to enter the country again by the Kreisky IV federal government. The decision was traced back to a private conversation in February 1982 between the Spanish King Juan Carlos I and the Social Democratic Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky in his holiday villa in Mallorca. The constitutional lawyers in the Federal Chancellery found a loophole: “The wife of a kuk monarch has no right of succession and therefore cannot possibly be subject to the 'Habsburg' law of 1919, which requires the members of the imperial family entitled to inherit to declare their loyalty to the Republic. The border officials were instructed to allow Zita to enter the country, although she continues to refuse to declare her loyalty.”

In addition to the expulsion from the country, the National Assembly of German-Austria also decided to confiscate the Habsburg family funds, but not the demonstrable private assets of individual family members. On the same day, the nobility was abolished for all Austrian citizens with the Nobility Abolition Act.

Restoration attempt in Hungary: Karl eagerly maintained contact with legitimist circles, especially in Hungary, where the monarchy was restored in 1919 after a short interlude of a Soviet republic and on January 1st. In March 1920 Miklós Horthy, who was supposedly loyal to the Habsburgs, was elected Reich Administrator. Charles had promised him that he would inform him about his plans and only return after the political situation had calmed down; Nevertheless, he tended to trust the judgment of his advisors, especially Colonel Anton Lehár (brother of the composer Franz Lehár), that the time was ripe for a Habsburg restoration.

Without warning, Karl returned incognito by automobile across Austria to Budapest at Easter 1921 and ultimately demanded the resignation of the Reich Administrator. He only insisted on Horthy's oath of loyalty, without his objections regarding domestic political difficulties and, above all, the threat of intervention by the Entente or a declaration of war by the successor states of Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia should be taken seriously. Only after a week's stay in Szombathely (Steinamanger) in western Hungary was he convinced of the futility of his efforts and traveled back to Switzerland, where he and his family stayed in the so-called Schlosshotel Hertenstein in Weggis near Lucerne.

Already on the 20th In October 1921, Karl made a second attempt, again without informing Horthy, who had already become suspicious of him, and flew to Ödenburg with his wife Zita in a Junkers F 13. Legitimists there had meanwhile begun to combine the irregulars under Ostenburg, who opposed the cession of Burgenland to Austria (see the land seizure of Burgenland and the 1921 referendum in Burgenland), and other small contingents of troops into an army. However, since the telegram announcing Karl's arrival arrived a day late, the departure was significantly delayed. The slow pace of the advance gave the initially wavering Horthy time to gather troops in response to the threats from the Entente powers. In Budaörs, a suburb of Budapest, on the 23rd In October 1921, 19 soldiers died in a skirmish. Since it became clear that the attempted restoration would end in civil war, Charles gave up, albeit against the opinion of his military advisors. Charles's initiative had a positive effect on the annexation of Burgenland to Austria in that the military pressure of the irregulars on the Austrian gendarmerie and the federal army was now reduced. The reason for this was the disempowerment and elimination of the associations loyal to the king among the irregulars, which had followed Charles to Budapest and failed at Budaörs and were now no longer available to represent Hungary's interests militarily in Burgenland.

Exile on Madeira: After a short internment in Tihany Abbey on Lake Balaton, Charles was born on January 1st. November with his wife Zita on board the British Danube ship Glowworm to the Black Sea and then on the British cruiser Cardiff (D58) via Gibraltar to the Portuguese island of Madeira. The Entente had now banished him there in order to make it impossible for him to appear in his former territory. The couple met there on the 19th. November 1921. Karl and Zita's children didn't arrive until the 2nd. February 1922 with her parents.

In the Hungarian Parliament on June 6th The dethronement law was passed in November 1921, which finally declared the Habsburgs deposed. Horthy assured the Entente that the Habsburgs would be excluded from the possible election of a future royal family.

Karl initially lived with his family in the Hotel Victoria, an annex of Reid's Palace near Funchal, but soon there was not enough money for it. After the last resort personal jewels were stolen, his household moved to the Quinta do Monte, a mansion in Monte near Funchal, which was given to him free of charge by the Rocha Machado banking family. The climatic conditions on the mountain were, as a chambermaid quoted by Brook-Shepherd wrote home, very unfavorable: “It was very pretty down in the town. We only had three warm days up here. […] The house is so damp that everything smells of musty. But the fog permeates everything.”

Death: On the 9th In March 1922, Karl caught a cold. Only on the 21st. In March 1922 a doctor was called who diagnosed severe pneumonia. This in turn leads to one on the 15th. Infection with the Spanish flu that occurred in March 1922 returned. The flu with high fever developed into severe pneumonia; The three doctors from Funchal, who then rented a room on the Monte so that they could be available to the patient at night, were unable to beat the disease. They administered camphor and turpentine injections, which caused abscesses on the legs, applied cupping devices, and placed mustard leaves on the patient's back, which had been pierced by the hypodermic needles, which burned his skin; Besides, they gave him oxygen. The illness resulted on the 27th. March 1922 to the onset of unconsciousness.

On the 1st At noon on April 1, 1922, Karl died at the age of 34 in the Villa Quinta do Monte. Embalming took place in the evening of the same day, followed by the exposition of the dead in uniform. A death mask was also removed.

The Villa Quinta do Monte, Karl's last residence in Madeira, was destroyed by a forest fire in 2016.

After his death

Funeral and mourning ceremonies: The funeral took place in the side chapel of the church of Nossa Senhora do Monte in Monte on January 4th. April 1922 in the presence of the Bishop of Funchal. About 30,000 people attended the ceremony.

In Prague and Budapest took place on the 4th. April 1922 Funeral services for Karl took place: in Prague as a silent mass in St. Kajetan, in Budapest as a requiem celebrated by the Primate of Hungary in the Matthias Church. At 6. In April 1922, a funeral service for Karl was celebrated in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, attended by, among others, Cardinal Piffl, Chancellor Schober and National Council President Weiskirchner. Spectators outside the cathedral sang the imperial anthem at the end of the service. On the 8th On April 1, the Knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece held the funeral service in the Teutonic Order Church.

Heart and sarcophagus: Charles' heart, removed during embalming in 1922, has been kept behind the altar of the Loreto Chapel in the Muri Monastery (Switzerland) since 1971, where the family crypt of his descendants is also located. Karl's silver heart urn bears the chronogram “CAROLI AVSTRIAE IMPERATORIS AC HVNGARIAE REGIS COR IN DEO QVJESCAT” written by Karl Wolfsgruber.

When the church authorities opened the coffin (“recognitio cadaveris”) of Charles I in 1972 in order to gain an insight into the condition of the remains necessary for the beatification (see below), the body turned out to be there only for burial was hastily embalmed and moist air could enter through a broken coffin window, although it was in good condition, “the imperial corpse failed to achieve the hoped-for miracle of integrity. 'The face was somewhat disfigured,' one participant in the procedure had to admit." After the examinations were completed, Charles I was dressed in a new uniform and reburied in a new coffin.

No transfer to the Capuchin Crypt: After Zita Habsburg-Lothringen was allowed to re-enter Austria in 1982, she planned to transfer Emperor Charles' body from the church of Nossa Senhora do Monte to Vienna and in 1983 "to move it in with his ancestors in the Capuchin Crypt". let. The then Federal Chancellor Kreisky spoke of “an act of piety” and said it was “purely a family matter”, which dispelled all concerns for his party, the SPÖ. Nevertheless, Charles' sarcophagus remained in Madeira.

After Zita was buried in the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna in 1989, her sarcophagus was initially placed on a double pedestal on which there was also space for the sarcophagus of Charles I. However, his son Otto von Habsburg did not carry out the transfer to Vienna because Otto saw this as an affront to the people of Madeira, who had helped his father a lot in the last months of his life. Since the beatification of Charles I, his burial site in Monte near Funchal has become even more important for the local population. A possible transfer of the blessed would now be a matter for the church. As part of renovations to the Capuchin crypt, the double platform was removed in 2008 and Zita's sarcophagus was converted to a single platform.

Beatification and veneration

Karl's widow Zita, who continued to refer to her husband as "The Emperor", hoped since his death for the formal beatification of the (Zita quote) "Ruler of Peace, who lived for peace and died for peace" and was able to do so since she was allowed to re-enter Austria in 1982. The beatification process was initiated on the first anniversary of Emperor Karl's death on January 1st. April 1923, also Easter Sunday, on the initiative of the Christian Social MP and President of the National Council and later Austrian Federal President Wilhelm Miklas. With the help of the then Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Friedrich Gustav Piffl (1864–1932), who died on 1. After Emperor Franz Joseph (Charles's great uncle) appointed him Archbishop of Vienna on April 1, 1913, the prescribed regional initial examination procedure was carried out "at lightning speed", so that the case was brought to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the mid-1920s Vatican had landed for the decision review. From 1925 onwards, the evidence, statements and witness interviews required for beatification were collected in the Archdiocese of Vienna and a biography of the Habsburgs was written. In addition, historical studies were also carried out in the dioceses of Freiburg (Fribourg), Funchal, Le Mans, Luxembourg and New York.

In order to promote the beatification, the Kaiser Karl Prayer League for Peace of Nations was founded, which developed from a prayer circle that had existed since 1895. At that time, when the future Emperor Karl was just eight years old, the “stigmatized mother Vizentia from the Ursuline monastery in Sopron prophesied that he would become emperor” and “at the same time, 'extraordinary suffering'. The nun therefore recommended praying for the then Archduke.” In 1953, the Prayer League published its first yearbook. It included, among other things, descriptions of people who believed that they would receive mercy after asking for Charlemagne's intercession. Since then, members of the Prayer League have been carrying out their Kaiser Karl pilgrimage every year.

Another purpose of the Kaiser Karl Prayer League was to collect the evidence and relevant witness statements necessary for the beatification process, which in formal legal terms is a “lawsuit to determine the godly lifestyle of a particular person”, with the burden of proof on the plaintiff. Any evidence that could speak for the high miraculous power and the call to sainthood of the person to be beatified in the process can increase the chances of success and is therefore included in the dossier. In 1982, a league member was quoted by the German news magazine Der Spiegel as follows: “The emperor is an unparalleled emergency worker, a real specialist in hopeless situations.” The “reports of miracles and answered prayers” had also increased recently.

Under the chairmanship of the Kaiser Karl Prayer League by Kurt Krenn, who was auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Vienna from 1987 and bishop of the diocese of St. Pölten from 1991 until he had to resign from this office in 2004 and who had significantly promoted the cause the trial on the 20th December 2003 brought to its desired conclusion: the Congregation for the Causes of Saints published in the presence of Pope John Paul II. a decree recognizing a miraculous healing that occurred at the invocation of the deceased - the necessary prerequisite for beatification. Maria Zita Gradowska, a Polish nun working in Brazil, suffered for decades from a very painful venous disease that was considered incurable, had open ulcers and was bedridden. In 1960 she is said to have appealed to Emperor Karl for intercession. The next day she was pain-free and her ulcers had healed.

The circumstances of the beatification on March 3rd October 2004, the controversial personality of the advocate Kurt Krenn and the presence of high political dignitaries of the Republic of Austria at the ceremony - the official delegation was led by National Council President Andreas Khol - caused discussions in Austria.

The ecclesiastical memorial day for Blessed Charles was not the day of his death, but - in memory of his marriage to Zita of Bourbon-Parma - the couple's wedding anniversary, December 21st. October. In November 2009, a beatification process was also initiated for the former Empress Zita. He enjoys great reverence in the Augustinian Church in Vienna, the former Imperial and Royal Court Church, where an altar was erected to the blessed Karl. In the first decade after the beatification, more than two dozen places of veneration of Charles were established in Austria alone. The Kaiser Karl Prayer League for Peace of Nations has set up branch associations and locations around the world, some of which have relics of Charles and can be used in churches and chapels.

Vincenz Karl Alfred Maria Michael (Prince of and to) Liechtenstein (*30. July 1950 in Graz; † 14. January 2008 in Waldstein Castle, municipality of Deutschfeistritz in Styria) was an Austrian politician (ÖVP).

Life: Vincenz Liechtenstein was through his mother Elisabeth Charlotte (1922–1993, ⚭ with Heinrich von Liechtenstein) a grandson of the last Austrian Emperor Charles I. He attended a federal high school in Graz (1960–1969) and then completed a law degree at the University of Graz (Dr. iur.; 1969–1975). He then worked in the management of a forestry company. He had Austrian and Liechtenstein citizenship.

His two daughters Adelheid (* 1981) and Hedwig (* 1982) come from his first marriage (1981–1991) to Hélène de Cossé-Brissac (* 1960). His second marriage was to Roberta Valeri Manera (* 1953) in 1999.

Liechtenstein belonged to the Roman Catholic lay organization Opus Dei and was a co-founder of the JES student initiative in 1974. He was a member of the board of the Catholic Family Association and the Sudeten German Country Team. As a student, he was an Urphilistine of the Catholic Austrian Country Team Josephina in Vienna and a protector of the K.Ö.L. Ferdinandea zu Graz in the academic association of the KÖL.

Liechtenstein was a member of the Federal Council (1988–1996, 1997–2004). From 2004 to 2006 he was a member of the National Council. In 2005 he made the headlines because of a scandal because of him a meeting of the National Council's Audit Committee had to be interrupted due to drunkenness and brawling after the intervention of Green MP Peter Pilz and Liechtenstein was replaced.

Vincenz Liechtenstein died on the 14th. January 2008, completely unexpectedly, in his Waldstein Castle near Graz and was buried in the princely crypt at the Cathedral of St. Florin (Vaduz).