Page - 634 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

634 The Death of the Old Emperor to focus on any one person or topic in particular. They were rather conversational ther- apy meetings, which then, unusually for the final years of the Emperor’s life, became more frequent at the time of the Italian crisis during March, April and May 1915. They then met once again in July 1915, and finally on 10 May 1916. This was the final visit that Franz Joseph made to the court gardens.1452 The Emperor’s family also played a subordinate role in the daily routine of the old gentleman during his final years, however. Occasional family meals, in other words, an evening meal together at 5 p.m., in which only between six and eight people joined Franz Joseph to eat, clearly replaced more complex family life. Who would have come, after all ? His granddaughter Elisabeth, the married Princess Windisch-Graetz, came more frequently, but it is likely that she sought a meeting with her grandfather not least due to her financial and marital problems. Cousin Friedrich made repeated visits, not for family reasons, but in his capacity as Army Supreme Commander. Friedrich’s brother, Archduke Eugen, came only rarely, for a few minutes on 1 August 1914, and finally on 21 December when the transfer of the command in the Balkans was dis- cussed. Occasionally, Archdukes Albrecht, Heinrich Ferdinand, Franz Salvator and his son Hubert also paid a visit. However, there were also exceptions. The wife of the heir to the throne, Archduchess Zita, repeatedly came to see the Emperor, who for his part insisted on visiting Zita twice, and each time following the birth of a child. However, one constant visitor was Archduke Karl Franz Josef himself. The image of the heir to the throne needs to be adjusted in that while he was not properly prepared for his task, he did repeatedly seek an audience with the Emperor or was called to one during his frequent visits to Vienna. It is all the more astonishing that Austria’s final Emperor, Karl, made no mention in his memoirs of his impressions of his imperial great uncle during the war, what topics they discussed and what decisions were prepared or even made. From the diaries of Franz Joseph’s aides-de-camp, however, the frequency, and in some cases however also the brevity, of the meetings is quite clearly recorded. Some of the information strikes one as odd. And it all began as early as the summer of 1914. Archduke Karl Franz Josef, who on 28 June had automatically moved up the ranks to become heir to the throne, was given his first opportunity to report to the Emperor on 30 June. He appeared together with the Lord Chamberlain, Count Montenuovo, and was familiarised with his new status. The procedure was repeated on 3 July. The heir to the throne finally travelled to Bad Ischl to visit his imperial great uncle at the end of July. However, he was not permitted to live in the royal villa, but took accom- modation in a hotel. He would not have been informed regarding the process that led to the dispatch of the ultimatum. On the day war was declared, the Archduke took a long automobile trip to the Attersee and Hallstätter See lakes, returned to Bad Ischl in the evening and then visited his aunt, Gisela von Bayern, for dinner.1453 Two days later,