Otto von Habsburg also known by his royal name as
Archduke Otto of Austria, was the last
Crown Prince of
Austria-Hungary from 1916 until the dissolution of the empire in 1918, a realm which comprised modern-day
Austria,
Hungary,
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, the
Czech Republic,
Slovakia,
Slovenia, and parts of
Italy,
Montenegro,
Poland,
Romania,
Serbia and
Ukraine died he was , 98.. He remained the Crown Prince of Hungary until 1921. He was the head of the
House of Habsburg and the
Sovereign of the
Order of the Golden Fleece between 1922 and 2007,
[5] and at the same time, the Habsburg
pretender to the former thrones.
(20 November 1912 – 4 July 2011)
The eldest son of
Charles I, the last
Emperor of Austria and
King of Hungary, and his wife,
Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Otto was born as third in line to the thrones, as
His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke and Prince Imperial Otto of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. With his father's accession to the thrones in 1916, he was himself likely to become the Emperor. As his father never abdicated, Otto was considered by himself, his family and Austro-Hungarian legitimists to be the rightful Emperor-King from 1922.
[6] Had the dual monarchy still existed, he might have had an 89-year reign.
[7]
Otto was active on the Austrian and European political stage from the 1930s, both by promoting the cause of Habsburg restoration and as an early proponent of
European integration—being thoroughly disgusted with
nationalism—and a fierce opponent of
Nazism and
communism.
[3][8] He has been described as one of the leaders of the Austrian anti-Nazi resistance.
[9] After the 1938
Anschluss, monarchists were severely persecuted in Austria, and—sentenced to death by the Nazis—Otto fled to the United States, with a visa issued by
Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
Otto Habsburg was Vice President (1957–1973) and President (1973–2004) of the
International Paneuropean Union, and served as a
Member of the European Parliament for the
Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) 1979–1999. In 1961,
Francisco Franco offered him the crown of
Spain, but he declined on account of the Habsburg dynasty's long absence from the Spanish throne, and recommended
Juan Carlos.
[10] As a newly elected Member of the European Parliament in 1979, Otto had an empty chair set up for the countries on the other side of the Iron Curtain in the European Parliament, and took a strong interest in the countries behind the Iron Curtain during his tenure. Otto von Habsburg played a central role in the
revolutions of 1989, as a co-initiator of the
Pan-European Picnic. Later he would be a strong supporter of the EU membership of central and eastern European countries.
[11] A noted intellectual, he has published several books on historical and political affairs. Otto has been described as one of the "architects of the European idea and of European integration" together with
Robert Schuman,
Konrad Adenauer, and
Alcide De Gasperi.
[12]
Otto was exiled in 1918 and grew up mostly in Spain. His devout Catholic mother raised him according to the old curriculum of Austria-Hungary, preparing him to become a
Catholic monarch. During his life in exile, he lived in
Switzerland,
Madeira, Spain,
Belgium,
France, the
United States, and from 1954 until his death, finally in
Bavaria (
Germany), in the residence
Villa Austria. At the time of his death, he was a citizen of Germany, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, having earlier been
stateless de jure and
de facto and possessed passports of
Monaco, the
Order of Malta, and
Spain.
His funeral took place at
St. Stephen's Cathedral in
Vienna on 16 July 2011; he was entombed in the
Imperial Crypt in Vienna and
his heart buried in
Pannonhalma Archabbey in Hungary.
Early life
Otto was born at
Villa Wartholz in
Reichenau an der Rax,
Austria-Hungary. He was baptised
Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xavier Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius on 25 November 1912 at Villa Wartholz by the Prince-Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal
Franz Xaver Nagl. His godfather was the Emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria (represented by
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria); his godmother was his grandmother
Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal.
[13]
In November 1916, Otto became Crown Prince of
Austria, Hungary and Bohemia when his father, Archduke Charles, acceded to the throne. However, in 1918, at the end of the First World War, the monarchies were abolished, the Republics of
Austria and
Hungary founded instead, and the family was forced into exile. Hungary did become a kingdom again, but Charles was never to regain the throne. Instead,
Miklós Horthy ruled as regent until 1944, in a kingdom without a king.
He spoke
German,
Hungarian,
Croatian,
English,
Spanish,
French and
Latin fluently. In later life, he would write books in German, Hungarian, French and Spanish.
[14] His mother made him learn many languages because she believed he one day might rule over many lands.
[15]
Years in exile
Otto's family spent the subsequent years in Switzerland, and on the Portuguese island of
Madeira, where Charles died prematurely in 1922, leaving the 9-year-old Otto
pretender to the throne. On his father's deathbed, his mother, then-Empress Dowager Zita, told the 9-year old, "your father is now sleeping the eternal sleep—you are now Emperor and King".
[16] The family eventually relocated to the
Basque town of
Lekeitio, where 40 Spanish
grandees bought them a villa. Meanwhile, the Austrian parliament had officially expelled the Habsburg dynasty and confiscated all the official property (
Habsburg Law of 3 April 1919).
In 1935, he graduated with a
PhD degree in Political and Social Sciences from the
University of Louvain in
Belgium.
[17] From his father's death throughout the remainder of his time in exile, Otto considered himself the rightful emperor of Austria and stated this on many occasions. In 1937 he wrote,
[18]
“I know very well that the overwhelming majority of the Austrian population would like me to assume the heritage of the peace emperor, my beloved father, rather earlier than later. (...) The [Austrian] people have never cast a vote in favor of the republic. They have remained silent as long as they were exhausted from the long fight, and taken by surprise by the audacity of the revolutionaries of 1918 and 1919. They shook off their resignation when they realized that the revolution had raped their right to life and freedom. (...) Such trust places a heavy burden on me. I accept it readily. God willing, the hour of reunion between the Duke and the people will arrive soon.”
He continued to enjoy considerable public support in Austria; from 1931 to 1938, 1,603 Austrian municipalities named Otto an honorary citizen.
[19]
World War II
Otto strongly opposed the
Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany. In 1938 he requested Austrian Chancellor
Kurt Schuschnigg to resist the Nazis and supported an international intervention,
[8] and offered to return from exile to take over the reins of government in order to repel Hitler.
[20] According to Gerald Warner, "Austrian Jews were among the strongest supporters of a Habsburg restoration, since they believed the dynasty would give the nation sufficient resolve to stand up to the Third Reich".
[21]
Following the German annexation of Austria, Otto was sentenced to death by the Nazis.
[1] As ordered by
Adolf Hitler, his personal property and that of the House of Habsburg were confiscated and not given back after the war.
[22] The so-called "
Habsburg Law", which had previously been repealed, was reintroduced by the fiercely
republican and anti-monarchist Nazis. The leaders of the Austrian legitimist movement, i.e. supporters of Otto, were arrested by the Nazis and largely executed (
Stefan Zweig's novella
The Royal Game is based on these events). Otto's cousins
Max, Duke of Hohenberg, and
Prince Ernst of Hohenberg were arrested in
Vienna by the
Gestapo and sent to
Dachau concentration camp where they remained throughout the Nazi rule. Otto was involved in helping around 15,000 Austrians,
[23] including thousands of Austrian Jews, flee the country at the beginning of the Second World War.
[17][24]
Rudolf Hess ordered that Otto was to be executed immediately if caught.
[25] After the
German invasion of France the family left the French capital and fled to Portugal with a visa issued by
Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul in
Bordeaux. For his own safety, he left the European continent and lived from 1940 to 1944 in
Washington, D.C. In his war-time exile in the United States, he worked to stop or limit the bombing campaign against Austria.
[23] In the United States, he initiated the Austrian Day and was able to get Austria included in a postage stamp series on "Occupied Nations". He obtained the support of
Winston Churchill for a conservative "Danube Federation", in effect a restoration of Austria-Hungary, but
Joseph Stalin put an end to these plans.
[20] He lobbied for the recognition of an Austrian government-in-exile, for the rights of the German-speaking population of
South Tyrol, against the deportation of the German-speaking inhabitants of
Bohemia and eastern Europe, and against letting Stalin rule Eastern Europe.
[26]
In 1941,
Adolf Hitler personally revoked the citizenship of Otto, his mother, and his siblings, and the imperial-royal family found themselves
stateless.
[27]
After World War II
At the end of the war, Otto returned to Europe and lived for some years in France and Spain.
In 1949, he ennobled several people, granting them Austrian noble titles, although not recognized by the Austrian republic. As he did not possess a passport and was effectively stateless, he was given a passport of the
Principality of Monaco, thanks to the intervention of
Charles de Gaulle in 1946. As a
Knight of Malta, the Order also issued him a
diplomatic passport. Later, he was also given a Spanish diplomatic passport.
[28]
In 1956, Otto was recognized as an Austrian citizen by the Lower Austrian state government and was given an Austrian passport that was "valid in all countries
except Austria".
[25]
On multiple occasions, and as late as the 1960s, the Austrian police would be looking for Otto, suspecting that the "enemy of the republic" had entered the country.
Political career
In a declaration dated 31 May 1961, Otto renounced all claims to the Austrian throne and proclaimed himself "a loyal citizen of the republic", a move that he made only after much hesitation and certainly "for purely practical reasons".
[29] In a 2007 interview on the occasion of his approaching 95th birthday, Otto stated:
The Habsburg Law of 1918 stated that Charles' descendants could only return to Austria if they renounced their royal claims and accepted the status of private citizens. The Austrian administrative court found on 24 May 1963 that Otto's statement was sufficient to meet this requirement. However, several elements in the country, particularly the
Socialists, were ill-disposed to welcoming back the heir of the deposed dynasty. This touched off political infighting and civil unrest that almost precipitated a crisis of state, and later became known as the "Habsburg Crisis." It was only on 1 June 1966, after the
People's Party won an outright majority in the national election, that Otto was issued an Austrian passport, and was finally able to visit his home country again on 31 October 1966 for the first time in 48 years.
[31]
An early advocate of a
unified Europe, Otto was president of the
International Paneuropean Union from 1973 to 2004.
[32] He served from 1979 until 1999 as a Member of the
European Parliament for the conservative
Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) party, eventually becoming the senior member of the European Parliament. He was also a member of the
Mont Pelerin Society.
[33] He was a major supporter of the expansion of the
European Union from the beginning and especially of the acceptance of Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. During his time in the European Parliament, he was involved in a fracas initiated by fellow
MEP Ian Paisley.
[34] In 1988,
Pope John Paul II had just begun a speech to the Parliament, and Protestant Paisley shouted at the Pope, "I denounce you as the
Antichrist!", holding a poster reading "Pope John Paul II Antichrist". Otto snatched Paisley's banner and, along with other MEPs, helped eject him from the chamber.
[35][36]
He was one of the men instrumental in organising the so called
Pan-European Picnic at the Hungary-Austria border on 19 August 1989.
[3] This event is considered a milestone in the collapse of Communist dictatorships in Europe.
[37]
He was reportedly a patron of the
Three Faiths Forum, a group which aims to encourage friendship, goodwill and understanding amongst people of the three monotheistic faiths of
Christianity,
Judaism and
Islam in the
United Kingdom and elsewhere.
[citation needed]
In December 2006, he observed that, "The catastrophe of 11 September 2001 struck the
United States more profoundly than any of us, whence a certain mutual incomprehension. Until then, the United States felt itself secure, persuaded of its power to bombard any enemy, without anyone being able to strike back. That sentiment vanished in an instant. Americans understand viscerally for the first time the risks they face."
[38]
On 5 July 2007, Otto von Habsburg received the
Freedom of the
City of London from the hands of
Sir Gavyn Arthur, a former
Lord Mayor of London.
[39]
He was known as a supporter of the rights of
refugees and displaced people in Europe, notably of the ethnic Germans displaced from Bohemia where he was once the Crown Prince.
[40] He was a jury member of the
Franz Werfel Human Rights Award.
[41] He also held
Francisco Franco in a high regard and praised him for helping refugees, stating that he was "a dictator of the south American type, not totalitarian like Hitler or Stalin".
[10]
In 2002, he was named the first ever honorary member of the
European People's Party group.
[42]
Death and funeral
Otto and Regina lying in repose in the
Capuchin Church, Vienna, draped with the
Habsburg flag. The guards of honour are dressed in Austro-Hungarian uniforms.
After the death of his wife,
Regina in 2010, Otto stopped appearing in public. He died at the age of 98 on Monday, 4 July 2011, at his home in
Pöcking, Germany. His spokeswoman reported that he died "peacefully and without pain in his sleep". He was survived by his younger brother,
Felix, as well as 7 children, 22 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
[3][6]
On 5 July, his body was laid in repose in the Church of St. Ulrich near his home in Pöcking, Bavaria, and a massive 13-day period of mourning started in several countries formerly part of Austria-Hungary.
[43] Otto's coffin has been draped with the
Habsburg flag decorated with the imperial–royal coats of arms of Austria and Hungary in addition to the Habsburg family coat of arms.
In line with the Habsburg family tradition, Otto von Habsburg was buried in the
family's crypt in
Vienna, while his
heart will be buried in a monastery in
Pannonhalma, Hungary.
[6]
Family
4-year old Crown Prince Otto of Hungary in Budapest in 1916, attending his parents' coronation as King and Queen of Hungary, painted by Gyula Éder.
He was married to
Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen from 1951 until her death in 2010. They had seven children, 23 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren (as of 2011):
[citation needed]
- Andrea von Habsburg (born 1953). Married Hereditary Count Karl Eugen von Neipperg. They have three sons, two daughters and two grandchildren.
- Monika von Habsburg (born 1954). Married Luis María Gonzaga Gonzaga de Casanova-Cárdenas y Barón, Duke of Santangelo, Marquess of Elche, Count of Lodosa and Grandee of Spain, who is a descendant of Infanta Luisa Teresa of Spain, Duchess of Sessa and sister of Francis, King-Consort of Spain.
- Michaela von Habsburg, born on 13 September 1954 (age 56). Monika's twin sister. Married firstly Eric Alba Teran d'Antin, and secondly Count Hubertus of Kageneck. She has two sons and a daughter from her first marriage. Twice divorced.[citation needed]
- Gabriela von Habsburg, born on 14 October 1956 (age 54)
Married Christian Meister in 1978, divorced in 1997.[citation needed]
- Walburga von Habsburg, born on 5 October 1958 (age 52)
Married Count Archibald Douglas
- Karl von Habsburg, born on 11 January 1961 (age 50) -
Married Baroness Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza, born on 7 June 1958 (age 53)
- Georg von Habsburg, born on 16 December 1964 (age 46)
Married Duchess Eilika of Oldenburg, born on 22 August 1972 (age 38)
Otto lived in retirement at the
Villa Austria in
Pöcking bei
Starnberg,
Starnberg, near the lake
Starnberger See,
Upper Bavaria, Bavaria, Germany.
Titles and styles
- 20 November 1912 – 21 November 1916: His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke and Prince Imperial Otto of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia
- 21 November 1916 – 12 November 1918: His Imperial and Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia
- 12 November 1918 – 4 July 2011: His Imperial and Royal Highness Crown Prince Otto of Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia
Titles of
pretence from
1 April 1922
- By the Grace of God Emperor of Austria; King of Hungary and Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia and Lodomeria; King of Jerusalem etc.; Archduke of Austria; Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cracow; Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Bukowina; Grand Prince of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Silesia, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Guastalla, Oświęcim and Zator, Teschen, Friaul, Dubrovnik and Zadar; Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of Trento and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and Istria; Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenburg etc.; Lord of Trieste, Kotor and Windic March, Grand Voivod of the Voivodeship of Serbia etc. etc.[44]
Official in Austria
- 20 November 1912 – 21 November 1916: His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke and Prince Imperial Otto of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia
- 21 November 1916 – 12 November 1918: His Imperial and Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia
- 12 November 1918–1919: Otto Kaiserlicher Prinz, Erzherzog von Österreich, Königlicher Prinz von Ungarn
- 1919–1941 (citizenship revoked by Adolf Hitler in 1941): Herr Otto Habsburg-Lothringen
- (1941–1965 Otto did not have citizenship in any country, but he had a passport of Monaco from 1946 as His Imperial and Royal Highness Otto von Habsburg, plus a passport of the Order of Malta and a diplomatic passport of Spain under the same name)
- 1965–4 July 2011: Doktor Otto Habsburg-Lothringen
Official in Germany
[citation needed]
- 12 November 1918 – 4 July 2011: Otto Kaiserlicher Prinz Erzherzog von Österreich Königlicher Prinz von Ungarn
Ancestry
[show]Ancestors of Otto von Habsburg |
Honours and awards
Habsburg/Austrian orders and awards
Other dynastic orders
Governmental orders and awards
Non-governmental awards
Academic awards
- Medal of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, Institut de France, Paris, France
- Medal of the Academia Mejicana de Derecho Internacional, Mexico
- Medal of the Royal Moroccan Academy, Morocco
- Medal of the Academia da Cultura Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal
- Medal of the Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas, Madrid, Spain
- Honorary Professor of the University of Bogota, Colombia
- Honorary Fellow of the University of Jerusalem, Israel
- Honorary Member of the Instituto de Estudios da Marinha, Portugal
- Honorary Senator of the University of Maribor, Slovenia
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Osijek, Croatia
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Nancy, Lorraine, France
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Turku, Finland)
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Budapest, Hungary
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Pécs, Hungary
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Veszprém, Hungary
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Jerusalem, Israel
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Ferrara, Italy
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Skopje, Macedonia
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida, USA
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Czernowitz, Ukrainian
- Honorary Master in Law and Economics of the IMADEC University, Vienna, Austria
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