The Assassination of the Archduke

October 28, 2013
For all the horror that his assassination caused, Archduke Franz Ferdinand the man remains under-recognized. Made heir after his cousin committed suicide and his father declined the throne, Ferdinand was not the Emperor Franz Josef's favorite. Making things worse, Ferdinand fell in love with Sophie Chotek, who despite aristocratic ancestry was considered unfit for marriage. They did marry, but it was a hollow victory: Sophie became a morganatic spouse, excluded from the privileges of Austro-Hungarian royal society. Rather than the romantic storyline, which feels forced (Princess Isabella of Croÿ "plays the role of wicked stepmother"), it is the descriptions of royal society where the account is strongest. The inane and petty rules and procedures of a long dead monarchial society led to the consistent humiliation of Franz and Sophie in royal court and also likely contributed to their demise. The Emperor and royal officials insisted that Ferdinand visit Sarajevo in 1914, despite the volatile political climate and Ferdinand's multiple attempts to cancel the trip. King and Woolman craft a sophisticated portrait of a man who cared deeply for his family, and was destroyed not just by an assassin's bullet, but by a decrepit society that could not tolerate his independent streak.

July 15, 2013
The vilified heir to the Hapsburg throne wins a touching rehabilitation in this nonscholarly look at his love match and sad demise. King (A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York, 2008, etc.) and Woolmans (25 Chapters of My Life: The Memoirs of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, 2010) find a juicy story in the scandalous romance of the Hapsburg emperor's nephew, whose marriage pact with Sophie Chotek may have helped contribute to his assassination in Sarajevo. By 1900, the old reactionary Emperor Franz Joseph I had been on the throne of the Austro-Hungarian confederation for more than 50 years, outliving several younger heirs to the throne, including his own son, Rudolf, who committed suicide. The emperor never liked his nephew, Franz Ferdinand, who was a cautious, piously Catholic, army-trained 35-year-old with "watery blue eyes" and who may have harbored reformist tendencies. The one daring act of his life was the choice of Sophie as his bride. A serene, mature Bohemian aristocratic, daughter of an impoverished diplomat, she was unequal to the station of an emperor's wife. Despite the emperor's injunction against marrying her, Franz Ferdinand finagled an official agreement that allowed him to marry Sophie if he signed a "morganatic union," which prohibited her from inheriting rights to the Hapsburg throne. Indeed, while the marriage seemed wonderfully happy, resulting in a loving, bourgeois home life, the exclusion of Sophie from nearly all official duties next to her husband caused the couple nearly 15 years of torment and added to the general animosity against the couple in the kingdom. The ill-planned visit of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie to Bosnia "to attend maneuvers" is depicted in this light-pedaling study as a "colossal" setup. An entertaining challenge to a century of misconceptions.

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Starred review from August 1, 2013

Historians King (The Court of the Last Tsar) and Woolmans take a fresh look at the circumstances surrounding the June 28, 1914, assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, which sparked the onset of World War I. Unlike such books as Lavender Cassels's The Archduke and the Assassin, this work focuses more on the unlikely romance between the pair than on the violence brewing in Europe at the time. Descriptions of the couple's warm family life are offset by plenty of accounts of court intrigue and the snubs at the highest level directed at Sophie, who had been a lady-in-waiting prior to her marriage to the Habsburg heir. King and Woolmans have clearly undertaken a great deal of original research and uncovered many new sources, including material provided by Franz Ferdinand's descendants. The authors make a strong case for the theory (still not officially accepted) that the archduke and duchess were sent to Sarajevo by court powers who were aware they might well be killed. VERDICT With the 100th anniversary of this tragedy less than a year away, this personal and political study, with its revisionist take, will be popular with historians and general readers alike and is highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 3/11/13.]--Barbara Ferrara, Chesterfield Cty. P.L., VA

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