Otto Franz Joseph von Österreich

Archduke Otto Franz Joseph of Austria was born in Graz on April 21, 1865, and died in Vienna on November 1, 1906. He belonged to the House of Habsburg, was the younger brother of the future heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, and was the father of Emperor Charles of Austria. Because of his cheerful nature and engaging manner, he was exceptionally popular within his family and among his tutors. He was often known publicly as “the handsome archduke.” Otto was the second of three sons of Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria, a brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I, and his wife, Maria Annunziata of the Two Sicilies. His elder brother Franz Ferdinand later became heir to the Austrian throne, while his younger brother Ferdinand Karl belonged to the branch of the family from which Otto was adopted in 1885 by his unmarried uncle, Archduke Ludwig Viktor. When Otto was six, his mother died of a lung disease common in her family. He was educated together with Franz Ferdinand under the direction of Count Ferdinand Christoph Eberhard von Degenfeld-Schonburg. The family lived in Vienna at the Palais Erzherzog Carl Ludwig on Favoritenstraße. Their summer residences were Villa Wartholz and Artstetten Castle. Otto was not considered a particularly diligent pupil and frequently played practical jokes on his teachers. Nevertheless, his cheerful and uncomplicated nature made him very popular with relatives and tutors. He was also especially close to his father. Otto returned this affection and visited Carl Ludwig as often as he could, even when he had to travel from distant garrisons and could stay for only a few hours. Otto’s military career took him to various garrisons. When Franz Ferdinand became seriously ill in the early 1890s, Otto temporarily took over his representative duties. He presented himself as personable and unassuming. Emperor Franz Joseph valued his perpetually good humor and the amusing stories with which he entertained him, and apparently would have preferred him as future heir to the throne over Franz Ferdinand. The question of the succession became especially important after the death of Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889 and the death of Otto’s father, Carl Ludwig, in 1896. Under Salic succession law, Franz Ferdinand initially became heir to the throne. When he fell ill, however, rumors arose that Otto might replace him. These speculations intensified when the emperor made the Augarten Palace available to Otto as a prestigious residence and considerably enlarged his household. Franz Ferdinand was reportedly so alarmed by this that he quickly recovered while staying at a health resort in Egypt. On June 28, 1900, Franz Ferdinand signed an agreement excluding his future children from his morganatic marriage to Sophie Chotek of Chotkowa from the succession. Otto and his descendants were thus established as the future heirs after his brother. Because of Otto’s early death, however, this arrangement took practical effect only after Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo in 1914. Otto’s eldest son, Charles, consequently became heir to the throne and in 1916 ascended the Austrian imperial and Hungarian royal thrones as Charles I. Otto married Princess Maria Josepha Luise of Saxony in Dresden on October 2, 1886. She was a daughter of King George of Saxony and Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal. The marriage had come about under unusual circumstances. Franz Ferdinand had traveled to Saxony with Otto to choose a suitable bride from among the king’s daughters. Since none of the princesses appealed to him and he behaved discourteously, Otto eventually proposed to Maria Josepha himself. The couple had two sons: Karl Franz Joseph, the future Emperor Charles, and Archduke Maximilian Eugen of Austria. The marriage was nevertheless unhappy. Otto withdrew from his wife, who was considered inaccessible and maintained close relationships with only a few members of the family. She also took limited care of their firstborn son; Charles grew up largely under the supervision of his grandfather at Villa Wartholz. In addition to his marriage, Otto had relationships with women of bourgeois background. He had two children with the dancer Marie Schleinzer, Alfred Joseph and Hildegard. In 1902, Schleinzer married the spa physician Julius Cohn, who adopted the two children. In 1911, Cohn received the hereditary title “Edler von Hortenau.” Otto also had two children from another relationship with the operetta singer Luise Robinson. Around 1900, Otto contracted syphilis, which was incurable at the time. In July 1906, he was therefore discharged from military service on the emperor’s orders. At that point, Otto still hoped to recover and expressed his dismay at his dismissal in a letter to Nora Fugger. He spent the final months of his life seriously ill in his villa on Anton-Frank-Gasse in Vienna’s Cottage district, together with Luise Robinson. She and his stepmother, Infanta Marie Therese of Braganza, cared for him. Otto died on November 1, 1906, in the presence of his spiritual adviser, Vienna Auxiliary Bishop Godfried Marschall. After his death, Luise Robinson received a generous settlement from Emperor Franz Joseph, while each of her two sons was granted 100,000 crowns. A few months later, she married an officer, but the marriage soon broke down. Otto is also commemorated by the Otto Refuge, a mountain shelter on the Rax in Lower Austria, which was named after him.