Page - 619 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

Obituary for the Father Figure 619 dukes Friedrich and Eugen. However, nobody wanted to think this far ahead, no more than the fact that then, a regency of many years would perhaps have become necessary for the oldest son of the heir to the throne, Otto. Finally, however, speculations of this nature were superfluous : he was after all still there, the 27-year-old heir to the throne, Archduke Karl. Emperor Franz Joseph is said to have become increasingly callous as he grew older, or at least only rarely showed his emotions. Bewilderment was not a quality that he permitted himself to possess. For this reason, he also attempted in his old age to create the image of a sovereign who made his decisions rationally and consistently and always with the best interests of his empire and his dynasty in mind. How much of this was a facade, and how deeply some matters did in fact affect the Emperor, will never be known. His portrait has been painted by many people, and painted over with far too many layers of colour than would now allow us to see through to what lay underneath. On 29 and 30 June 1914, Franz Joseph was informed about the procedures for the burial of his dead nephew and his wife according to protocol. Theoretically, the Em- peror could have ordered for the couple to be buried in the Kapuzinergruft, the impe- rial crypt in Vienna. However, the thought did not occur to him, since Franz Ferdinand had requested otherwise, and had in fact already arranged for long-term preparations to be made in the burial chapel in the palace at Artstetten. Clearly, no-one also thought to contradict the protocol, which had been written by the Emperor and his Lord Cham- berlain, and which envisaged a hasty farewell in Vienna, followed by a transfer to Art- stetten in Lower Austria. The Austrian and Hungarian prime ministers, Stürgkh and Tisza, the Minister of the Imperial Household and also Foreign Minister, Berchtold, were already summoned to Schönbrunn the day after the Emperor returned, as was the new heir to the throne, but they too did not regard it as their business to interfere with the protocol. They only came to pay their condolences. Aside from the new heir to the throne and Franz Ferdinand’s half-sister, Archduchess Maria Annunziata, no family members were granted an appointment with the Emperor, unlike the German Ambassador von Tschirschky, whom he saw on 2 July. On the afternoon of 3 July, the bodies of the murdered couple were blessed in the Hofburg Chapel. The aide-de-camp of the Emperor on duty, Count Hoyos, noted that the time required for the procedure was 25 minutes. Then, the journey continued to Schönbrunn. The other members of the family were also not allowed much time to mourn and take their leave, since a family meal had been arranged for immediately after Franz Joseph’s return. The Emperor was not present when the dead were seen off at the Viennese Westbahnhof station. The next day, Franz Ferdinand’s three children with their tutor, Prince Thun-Hohenstein, were permitted an audience of 15 minutes. However, on 5 July, life appeared to have returned to normal. Among other things, Conrad, the Chief of the General Staff, pre- sented information to the Emperor for 40 minutes. The next day, Archduke Friedrich