Mayerling incident 1889

   Death of Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria-Hungary  and Maria (Mary)  Vetsera 

               

                    I remember as a nipper watching the  1976 series BBC  'Fall of Eagles' about the decline and collapse of the Imperial rulers of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Russia: Episode 4 concerned the Mayerling incident: On 30th January 1889, Crown Prince Rudolph ( born 21st August 1858) and his mistress Mary Vetsera ( born 19th March 1871) were found dead at Mayerling, a hunting lodge near Vienna.  

           Rudolph was married to Princess Stephanie of Belgium, cousin once removed to Queen Victoria. He visited Britain at least twice. In 1878 his travels took him to Scotland and Ireland, besides England. Rudolph represented the Austrian-Hungarian dual monarchy at Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee of 1887, where he was made a Knight of The Order of the Garter. His death was particularly mourned by Bertie, the Prince of Wales and future Edward VII. 

The bodies of the  couple were found behind locked doors, so it is not quite clear exactly what occurred. Both left letters indicating that they were intending to end their own lives. On the balance of probabilities Rudolph shot Mary, then shot himself six hours later. Rudolph had been fascinated by thoughts of death and taking his own life. His long term mistress, Mitzie Caspar, had tried alerting the authorities to Rudolph's desperate mental state, claiming that he had suggested a suicide pact with her.  Rudolph kept a skull and pistol on his desk. Prone to depression,severe anxiety, and insomnia, Rudolph was also taking morphine to counter the ill effects of gonorrhea, whilst drinking heavily, though Rudolph's consumption may not have been excessive by European aristocratic standards of the day.  

It is also worth remembering that marital infidelity was very prominent amongst European Royals, and that Rudolph was no exception. Historians can not agree exactly when the affair started. Mary would need a chaperone, with secret locations being chosen,and an intermediary needed to exchange letters, Rudolph was not directly approachable.  Mary and Rudolph may have been holding clandestine meetings as early at April 1888 ( the view of KING & WILSON  below) or as late as 5th November 1888 ( the view of COATMAN below).  Rudolph still carried on with his affair with Mitzie Caspar.  On January 29th 1889, Mary appeared to have arrived at Mayerling without anything apart from the clothes that she was wearing. It seems that Mary left home to see Rudolph and then got talked into letting herself be smuggled into Mayerling to be with him. 

Rudolph was a liberal nationalist, particularly pro- Hungarian autonomy or even independence from Austria. He was friend of Hungarian radical newspaper editor Moritz Szeps  who published Rudolph's articles under false names. An interesting claim has been made that Rudolph was getting so estranged from his imperial parents that he was going to assist in a Hungarian rebellion, but was informed that such an uprising was not going to happen just before before his final trip to Mayerling ( KING & WILSON ). Finally, it is worth noting that  Rudolph was non-religious, to the point of Atheism, also a poet and composer of songs. He was far removed from the traditional and conservative view of the ideal Habsburg prince.

The aforementioned 'Fall of Eagles' detailed the impact of the tragedy : Rudolph's mother Empress Elisabeth ( 'Sisi) is depicted as contriving the 'official' version, maintaining that Mary poisoned Rudolph and then shot herself, even stating this to her husband- Rudolph's father- Emperor Franz Josef 1. Empress Elizabeth is particularly hostile to Rudolph's widow Stephanie, and downright horrid towards the Vetsera family. Mary's uncles were not even allowed to take a coffin to Mayerling to take away her body, but have to prop up her corpse between them in a carriage that left in darkness. As well as trying to cover up the dignity of the Royal family there was the problem of how to bury the bodies within the rites of the Catholic Church  when suicide was suspected. However, Sisi and Franz Josef, though desperately trying to maintain the official Court protocol,  genuinely did seem to mourn the loss of Rudolph. The Vetsera family were shamefully bullied by the authorities, even though they were mourning Mary's death. 

 It is possible to argue that had Rudolph survived he would have tried to  steer the empire away from the influence of Kaiser Wilhelm- the two men did not care for each other- and greater Austrian links with Britain and France would have resulted. And the course of European history could therefore have been different.: By this 1880's the Empire's fortunes were declining, Austrian forces had been driven out of Italy, and lost the 1866 Seven Weeks War with Prussia. They needed allies to survive.

But on the other hand, Franz Jozef lived until 1916, and seemed very reluctant to concede much ground to Rudolph so the Austrian-German alliance would have prevailed. It is also highly likely that Rudolph was determined to end his life, but only if he could be part of a pact with another person. Sadly Mary, who had never previously indicated a desire to kill herself, got drawn into Rudolph's appetite for self destruction. Rudolph was therefore destined never to succeed to the Habsburg throne.

The tragedy inspired at least two films 1957 and 1968, both titled 'Mayerling' . There is another movie 'The Crown Prince' , but I can only trace a Spanish version with Italian subtitles on Youtube.  There had already been the German film ' Kronprinz Rudolph's Letze Lieben' ('Crown Prince Rudolph's Last Love') from 1956. Then there is the gorgeous 'Mayerling' ballet, based on music by Franz Liszt, with Kenneth Macmillan as the choreographer, from 1978 which is still being performed. The arts programme 'The South Bank Show' had a documentary on the making of this ballet screened in 1978, can be found on Youtube in several parts at the time of writing. The theme of a doomed and impossible love affair has an ongoing appeal which inspires the creative imagination. 

The first English language biography of Mary Vetsera by Lucy Coatman should be published at the end of 2024. More information from author website. 

 With the meltdown of the British Library computer system, I have not been able to consult as much source material that would have liked . As usual, any errors or schoolboy howlers are the responsibility of the author of this piece, and can not be blamed on any other source that has been cited. 

Sources 

Books

'Twilight of Empire- The Tragedy At Mayerling And The End Of The Habsburgs' , Greg KING & Penny WILSON, St Mary's Press, 

'The Heir Apparent-A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince' , Jane RIDLEY, Random House, New York, 2013

Youtube

Scandal in the House of Hapsburg -the Mayerling incident  Talk by Lucy COATMAN , from the 'History Indoors' Youtube channel     accessed 31st December 2023. 

Fall of Eagles episode 4   accessed 31st December 2023 .

Mayerling (1957)  Film staring Audrey Hepbern and Mel Ferrer, accessed 6th January 2024. 

Mayerling -The Ballet 2014 performance, accessed 7th January 2024. 

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