Friday, October 3, 2008

Franz Joseph's rebuke to Leopold

October 3, 1902.

Austrian emperor Franz Joseph has sent a stunning rebuke to King Leopold II by inviting the king's daughter, Princess Stephanie, Countess Lonyay, to Vienna. The invitation is said to be "a mark of depreciation of King Leopold's recent unkindness to his daughter."
King Leopold refused to meet his daughter, when she came Belgium to attend her mother's funeral. Because of the king's behavior, Stephanie was unable to attend Queen Marie Henriette's funeral.

Princess Stephanie's first marriage was to Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, who committed suicide at Mayerling. Thus, Franz Josef was her father-in-law.

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