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Monday, April 28, 2014

Zita's mother ordered out of Austria

April 28, 1918

The Duchess of Parma, mother of Empress Zita of Austria, has been "ordered to leave Austria" within 24 hours, and will not be permitted to return until the "termination of the war," according to a New York Times dispatch from Geneva.

Princess Maria Antonia is one of several persons "blamed by semi-official Austrian communications" for the now famous letter of Emperor Karl to his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, who is serving in the Belgian army.

In this letter, Karl "expressed a desire to restore Belgium and Serbia," and he would "support France's just claim to Alsace-Lorraine.

One of the claims made by the Austrian government is that the Duchess of Parma was the real author of the letter, and Emperor Karl "had merely added a postscript over his signature.

The Duchess's family "connections are closer to the Allied nation than with the Central Powers."

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