Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand was heir to the Habsburg throne for fifteen years and was murdered before he could inherit it. Born in 1863, he became heir presumptive in 1889 when Crown Prince Rudolf killed himself at Mayerling, and was never comfortable in the role or welcome at his uncle Franz Joseph's court. The marriage was the reason. He fell in love with Sophie Chotek, a Bohemian countess of insufficient rank, and the emperor permitted the marriage in 1900 only as morganatic — Sophie would take no royal title, could not appear beside him at ceremonies, and their children were barred from the succession. She was made to walk behind the archduchesses at court functions. His politics were more interesting than his reputation. He regarded the 1867 Compromise with Hungary as the empire's central defect, since it gave the Magyars a veto and left the Slavs — around half the population — with nothing, and he favoured some form of federal reorganisation, often called the United States of Greater Austria. That made him the enemy of Hungarian politicians and, more dangerously, of Serbian nationalists, who feared a reform that would reconcile the South Slavs to Vienna. He also opposed war with Serbia, arguing repeatedly that it would bring in Russia and destroy both empires. He went to Sarajevo in June 1914 as inspector-general of the army, on a day that was the anniversary of Kosovo, and took Sophie because on military inspections she could ride beside him. Gavrilo Princip shot them both. The war he had spent years warning against destroyed both empires within four.
- Lived: 1863 CE – 1914 CE
- Nationality: Austrian
- Roles: heir_apparent, military_inspector_general
