The last Austrian Crown Prince Archduke Otto von Habsburg was laid to rest in Vienna.,
The king and queen of Sweden and other European royals like the Princess Cristina of Spain and statesmen as well as thousands lining the streets mourned the loss of this impressive citizen.
He was groomed to be emperor, by his mother Zita, the last empress, he was expected to be fluent in German, English, French, as well as the languages of the Habsburg monarchy, which included Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and parts of Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and the Ukraine.
Through all the hardships, being stateless at some point, pursued by National Socialist Germany, irking Hitler by refusing to meet him and who ordered that former crown prince should be shot on sight, he followed Roosevelt’s invitation and spent the war years in the United Staates and even without his throne, he was an emperor at heart, always fighting for the unification and against extremism.
He died July 4th at the age of 98 surrounded by his family. He started his life as Crown Prince of the multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire, fought actively against National Socialist Germany, even if Adolf Hitler made intense efforts to gain the prized approval of the Habsburg and ended it as the Father of the multinational European Parliament.
His body will be laid to rest in the Habsburg Crypt – Kapuziner Gruft in Vienna’s center. In Habsburg tradition is heart will be laid to rest separately. In Hungary’s Pannonhalma Abbey.
The new head of the Habsburg household and sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece is his son Karl. The Order of the Golden Fleece was founded in 1430, there exist two branches the Spanish one with Juan Carlos I of Spain as its Sovereign and the Austrian one. Karl is married Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza, an art collector TBA21.org and the only daughter of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, a European industrialist and wellknown art collector, Madrid’s Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.
The have three children Eleonore, Gloria and Ferdinand.
The fourteen year old Ferdinand, named after the crown prince who’s assassination in 1914 started World War I, read a part of the bible.
An American Historian John W. Boyer weighs in – Habsburg a godsent to the tourism industry and a comprehensive Economist article.
At the end of the service the royal anthem: “Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze unseren Kaiser unser Land” was played, the famous Haydn piece is now the German National Anthem.
Requiem and Kyrie
The classic ceremony to be let into the Royal Imperial Crypt „Kapuziner Gruft“.
First all the titles are read and access is denied. Then fewer titles are read and still no enty. Only when access for a soul is asked access is granted.
Requiem
A trip down memory lane to his Wedding
And a theatrical version of the ritual