Sophie Chotek von Chotkowa

Sophie Marie Joséphine Albine Chotek von Chotkow und Wognin was born on March 1, 1868, in Stuttgart, in the Kingdom of Württemberg. She was the fifth of seven siblings and came from an old Bohemian noble family documented since the fourteenth century and elevated to the rank of count in 1723. Her father, Bohuslaw Chotek, was a diplomat, while her mother, Wilhelmine Kinsky, also came from the nobility. The family had limited financial means, however, so Sophie and her siblings frequently moved between residences, living at various times in Brussels, Vienna, Saint Petersburg, and Stuttgart. Sophie received an advanced education for her time. A private tutor taught her art, literature, history, and several languages, including Latin, Greek, German, Czech, and French. After her mother’s death, she took over household duties and managed the domestic staff frugally. Her father died soon afterward, in 1896, when Sophie was 28. As she remained unmarried and was now partly responsible for her six siblings, relatives had to support the family. Her older sister Zdenka was a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, the wife of Archduke Friedrich. Zdenka later entered a convent and eventually became its superior. At her request, Sophie took over her position with the archduchess. She remained there until she was thirty. This court position contributed to her remaining unmarried for many years, but it also gave her access to imperial society. In Isabella’s household, Sophie met Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph and the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. He was 33 years old, had become heir after the death of his cousin Rudolf, and had suffered for a time from a serious lung disease. Sophie and Franz Ferdinand shared a deeply devout Catholic faith as well as a connection to Prague. A secret relationship developed between them and remained hidden for several years. Sophie is also said to have persuaded Franz Ferdinand to take his illness seriously and seek proper treatment. The relationship became public when Archduchess Isabella found not a portrait of one of her daughters but a portrait of Sophie in Franz Ferdinand’s pocket watch. Because of the difference in rank, Isabella considered the relationship unacceptable and became a determined opponent of the couple. Sophie lost her position as a lady-in-waiting and temporarily withdrew to relatives in Dresden. Emperor Franz Joseph asked his nephew to reconsider the marriage, but Franz Ferdinand remained firm in his decision. The emperor thus faced a difficult political and dynastic problem. He could permit the marriage to a woman who was noble but neither royal nor princely, or exclude Franz Ferdinand from the succession. In 1899, he finally agreed to a compromise: Franz Ferdinand was allowed to marry Sophie and remained heir to the throne, but the marriage was classified as morganatic. Sophie did not receive the rank of archduchess, and any future children were excluded from the succession. Franz Ferdinand had to swear publicly to these terms. The wedding took place on July 1, 1900, in Reichstadt, today Zákupy in the Czech Republic. Only a few members of the imperial family attended. The couple spent their honeymoon at Konopiště Castle. The marriage produced three children: Sophie, Maximilian, and Ernst of Hohenberg. Another child was stillborn in 1908. The family lived alternately in Bohemia at Konopiště and in Vienna at the Belvedere. Sophie cared for her children herself and led a close family life with Franz Ferdinand. Because of her restricted position, the couple avoided many court festivities at which their difference in rank was made especially clear. Sophie had good relations with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Marie Therese, and with Stéphanie of Belgium, the former wife of the late Archduke Rudolf. At the Viennese court, however, her position remained marked by humiliations for a long time. Protocol placed even young archduchesses ahead of her, and she was often forbidden to accompany her husband at public events. Some courtiers disparagingly called her “the servant.” Nevertheless, the marriage was regarded as loving and enduring. Franz Ferdinand kept several pictures of Sophie on his desk. Over time, her social position improved somewhat. In the year of their wedding, the emperor granted her the title of Princess of Hohenberg. In 1909, she was elevated to Duchess of Hohenberg and received the style “Serene Highness.” In 1913, court protocol placed her ahead of unmarried archduchesses. Even so, she and her husband continued to be denied certain official privileges. Since they were not permitted to be buried together in Vienna’s Capuchin Crypt, Franz Ferdinand arranged for a family chapel to be built at Artstetten Castle. On June 28, 1914, Sophie accompanied her husband to Sarajevo, where, as inspector general, he was reviewing the maneuvers of the Austro-Hungarian army in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After an initial assassination attempt, Franz Ferdinand visited the town hall despite the danger and then wanted to see the wounded in hospital. Sophie refused to let him continue alone. At a street intersection, the couple was shot by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian student. Franz Ferdinand was struck in the neck and Sophie in the abdomen. Both died shortly afterward from their injuries at the governor’s residence. Sophie was 46 years old. The assassination triggered the international crisis that led to the First World War a few weeks later. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia; the empire subsequently disintegrated and the Habsburg-Lorraine monarchy fell. Sophie and Franz Ferdinand first lay in state in Vienna and were then buried, in accordance with their wishes, in the chapel at Artstetten. After their parents’ deaths, their three children were cared for by Archduchess Marie Therese. Artstetten Castle now houses a museum commemorating the couple. Their love story was also portrayed in Max Ophüls’s 1940 film “De Mayerling à Sarajevo.”