February 15, 1926
The late Emperor Franz Joseph's will was published for the first time today. The document, which was drawn up in 1901, "showed that the old Emperor even then provided against a possible breakdown of the empire and the Habsburgs' loss of the throne," according to a report in the New York Times.
Franz Joseph, who died in 1916, had the foresight to settle part of his "huge personal fortune in a Habsburg family trust fund," and caused him to "provide meticulously against everything." including divorce and heirs dying childless, "everything which might happen to the empire or his family except the situation which has actually come to pass."
Most of his fortune has been wiped out by inflation and confiscation. Some of the late emperor's servants are now suing his heirs "in order to have their pensions valorized."
It is because of these suits, the decision was made to make the will public.
In a document, dated February 6, 1907, the Emperor set aside 60 million crowns (then about $12,000,000) of his fortune for the Habsburg family trust, known as a latifunda.
"If, in the course of time and historical development, of the monarchy's form of government should be changed and -- God forbid! -- the Crown did not remain with our house, then the succession in his latifunda should be governed only by the private legal principles of the General Civil Code of 18811."
However, Franz Joseph did not consider this an immediate possibility and expected the monarchy to consider it for a few more centuries.
"We, Francis Joseph I, by the grace of God Emperor of Austria (his full titles followed) are resolved to create out of our private inherited fortune a family latifunda of 60,000,000 crowns, consisting of our Bohemian and other estates, stocks, bonds, and other assets which shall bear our name."
Within two years of Franz Joseph's death, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy collapsed, and his successor, Karl, and his family went into exile. Karl died in 1922.
Franz Joseph's Bohemian estates and "practically all other estates within their borders were confiscated by Czechoslovakia, Austrian and other Succession States, except Hungary, where the Habsburg retain their rights."
There is no complete estimate of Franz Joseph's will has been made public, although it is believed to include twenty-eight castles and estates and 145,000,000 crowns in "money assets, more than two-thirds of which were in war loans."
Most of these stocks and bonds are now considered worthless due to the depreciation of the crown. Socialists, however, who are prosecuting the case against the heirs, have demanded that the servants' pensions be paid in gold. They assert the heirs have saved most of Franz Joseph's fortune.
Franz Joseph's will include an explanation for the trust:
"In order to enable my successors to diminish poverty and misery by contributing charitable gifts, I am resolved to establish latifunda profits which my successors shall enjoy."
He did not leave any "benevolent requests" except to establish pensions for his servants. Franz Joseph's direct heirs were his daughters, Gisela and Marie Valerie, and his granddaughter, Archduchess Elisabeth, who was married to Prince Otto zu Windisch-Graetz. All of the emperor's fortune, apart from what was used to create the trust, was left to the three women. Four of the emperor's most important estates were left to Archduchess Valerie, who received instructions to give her sister and her niece one-third of the value of the estates.
However, Archduchess Valerie has only been able to keep one of the properties, Ischl, as the rest have been confiscated by the Czechs. She was able to maintain this property, because her husband, Archduke Franz Salvator "renounced his Habsburg rights.
The emperor did not change his will during the world war, although he added several codicils. The first was dated on November 16, 1913, which was to settle a minimum yearly income of 400,000 crowns on the family of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, then the heir to the throne.
A provision was also made for Franz Ferdinand's morganatic wife, Sophie, who was killed with her husband at Sarajevo in June 1914. The current value of this bequest is about $6.00).
A second codicil was added on June 19, 1916, which provided an income of 50,000 crowns (now about 75 cents) for Prince Otto zu Windisch-Graez, "in view of his reconciliation" with Franz Joseph's granddaughter. The Emperor wanted the allowance to be paid in half-yearly installments. The income would be cut off if Otto divorced his wife.
Prince Otto and Archduchess Elisabeth have been separated for many years, and the archduchess is now a Socialist city councilor in Vienna.
The couple were unhappily married and only stayed together during the emperor's lifetime.
Does anyone know who the girl was that he loved?
ReplyDeletewho are you talking about
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if anyone knew who the girl was that Prince Otto Windisch~Graetz had told Emperor Franz Joseph that he had already proposed marriage to and he had loved her for a long time when the Emperor told him he had to marry Princess Elisabeth.
ReplyDeleteFranz Joseph was not all that keen on the marriage as it was considered an unequal marriage. The bio I have on Erszi makes no mention of a previous relationship although he was unfaithful during the marriage.
ReplyDeleteBut then why did the Emperor force Prince Otto Windisch~Graetz to cancel his marriage proposal to another girl to marry Princess Elisabeth if he considered PRINCE Otto beneath Elisabeth? It talks about it at the bottom of this page in the section, The Prince and the Princess,(http://www.visualstatistics.net/East-West/Mayerling%20Tragedy/Mayerling%20tragedy.htm).From the sound of what the The Emperor Franz Joseph was like, He wasn't to be crossed and I'm sure he wasn't going to be pushed around by his great granddaughter if he thought it an unequal marriage. The things I've been reading have me thinking it was Elisabeth that was unfaithful. Even the writings of her sister~in~law. I've read that family members even talked about Princess Stephanie not being his child. He filed for divorce because she was unfaithful. She filed that he was a spend thrift. If my husband was unfaithful, I wouldn't file for divorce saying he was a spend thrift. She remarried two more times. I don't find anything else on the Prince Otto. WHY? Did he become a hermit? What happened to this mystery woman? Does anyone remember her?
ReplyDeleteWhat is this "Erszi"? Is it a nickname for Elisabeth? What is the name of the book? If so, where would I find it? Why are pictures of Prince Otto non-existint? Where would I go to find one?
ReplyDeleteFor one thing, Erszi was Elisabeth's nickname. For another, she was FJ's granddaughter.
ReplyDeleteThe couple met on a tennis court. She was an archduchess, not a princess.
Erszi was married twice, first to Otto, and then to Leopold Petznek. Erszi was also unfaithful - and her great love was Egon Lerch, who was killed in the first world war.
Otto was a junior member of the Windisch-Graetz family, and he retreated into the background. He lived in Switzerland - not a hermit.
Erszi and Otto did not get divorced until 1924 - both had been living separate lives. She lived with Petznek for some years before marrying him. The NYTimes had an obit when she died -- and she is buried in a nameless grave - her decision.
She grew up in a family with little love, her father killed himself and his lover, her mother distant and unprepared to be a mother (and infected with venereal disease by Rudolf), and had her own issues. Indulged by her grandfather. The future King Albert I of the Belgians wanted to marry her, but King Leopold was against it because of her mother's behavior (second marriage). There are several bios in German on Erszi, one is called Kaiseradler und rote Nelke by Ghislaine Windisch-Graetz and Friedrich Weissensteiner's Der rote erzherzogin.
Google is a search engine, not a research engine.
Ghislaine's book has several photos of Otto - and of course, the family would have photos in their collections.
Yes,I'm searching.Do you only know what you have read from those Books or is there other information that you know? I'm trying to find where that information about the girl he spoke of to FJ came from.I'm hoping someone heard something as it is for an essay.I don't speak or read German. Wish I did!I'm going to start learning german but until then... There must be stories or tales that have trickled down through time in reference to this girl. Servants knew a lot and I'm sure there were things talked about. This is what I'm looking for.Of course, it will all be in german. HELP!
ReplyDeleteYes, I have Ghislaine's Book. But you must understand that you are not searching, you are researching, and that requires more of an effort. Otto was a junior member of a minor princely family. he married the granddaughter of the emperor, hut she not the heir to the throne. She was like all the Habsburg archduchesses, expendable. You will need to beyond sitting at your computer, using Google.
ReplyDeleteI need to be in Austria where I can bother the people whose family(FLECK) members have been in service to the Imperial family from back in the late 1800's, but that can't be done at this time. So... I was hoping that there would be someone out there that might have heard some tale of the girl passed down through the years. The girl I'm talking about had family members that worked in the palace when she was young. Do you have any ideas Marlene? Is there an English version of Ghislaine's Book or is it only in German? I think the girl I'm searching for would not be in a Biography about Archduchess Elisabeth. I have to look somewhere else. I was thinking maybe folk tales from the Vienna area. How to find a book like that? Stories passed down through the families. If only I was that lucky!
ReplyDeleteI hate to say this but 99.99% of stories that are "passed down" are made up! Moreover, the Imperial service ended in 1918. It is unlikely that Otto was in love with a servant girl. Why do not you write to one of Otto and Elisabeth's descendants. Moreover, Otto was not a member of the Imperial Family. He was the husband of an archduchess, who lost her rank and her place in the succession (after all the Habsburg males), but not her title when she married. Ghislaine's book in not in English.
ReplyDeleteI have a true break your heart non-fairy tale that I am trying to find answers to. Time definitely makes it hard to trace but none the less true.Your right she would not have been a servant. Were servants owned back then?If they were, Were their names written down in a book like a piece of property? Is there some way to look at these documents? Your a librarian, Am I correct? Would these documents be made public as history?
ReplyDeleteServants were not owned by the Habsburgs. Get thee to a library and start reading biographies and histories on the Habsburgs, plenty in English. One would assume that the Austrian National archives would have so much on the Habsburgs -- but I bet your story is actually false, because the stories usually are.
ReplyDelete