December 10, 1925
Princess Theresia of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha has been forced "to live in a single attic room" as her four-room apartment was seized by Vienna city officials during her "temporary absence," reports the New York Times.''
The princess has initiated a lawsuit against the city for the "restoration of her home."
Vienna is allowed by law to "requisition empty apartments," even if the owner leaves the apartment "only for a few days." The apartments are then "allotted" to other persons.
Single persons are permitted to have one room, and housing authorities have the right "to rent the extra rooms" to others if the owner has not rented the rooms out to lodgers.
Princess Theresa found her apartment seized and her furniture moved to the attic when she returned to Vienna from a trip abroad.
The 23-year-old Princess is the daughter of the late Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Archduchess Karoline of Austria.
I'm surprised the authorities aren't more aware of who stays in a home before repossessing the place. Besides the huge inconvenience of a princess moving out to a hovel, this must have been a huge embarrassment!
ReplyDeleteYou do realize this took place in 1925, less than ten years after the end of the first world war. Austria had abolished titles in 1919 (to this day, descendants of noble families in Austria cannot even use the von in their surname) so everyone was equal. There was a major housing shortage at the time. I doubt the officials were embarrassed.
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