Early life Franz Ferdinand was born in
Graz, then part of the
Austrian Empire, the eldest son of
Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria (the younger brother of
Franz Joseph and
Maximilian) and of his second wife,
Princess Maria Annunziata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. In 1875, when he was eleven years old, his cousin
Francis V, Duke of Modena, died, naming Franz Ferdinand his heir on condition that he add the name "Este" to his own. This inheritance made Franz Ferdinand one of the wealthiest men in Austria.
Heir presumptive In 1889, Franz Ferdinand's life changed dramatically. His cousin
Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide at his hunting lodge in
Mayerling. This left Franz Ferdinand's father, Karl Ludwig, first in line to the throne. When Karl Ludwig died of
typhoid fever in 1896, Franz Ferdinand became the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Despite this burden, he found time for travel and personal pursuits, such as his circumnavigation of the world between 1892 and 1893. After visiting India he spent time hunting
kangaroos and
emus in Australia in 1893, then travelled on to
Nouméa,
New Hebrides,
Solomon Islands,
New Guinea,
Sarawak,
Hong Kong and Japan. After sailing across the Pacific on the
RMS Empress of China from
Yokohama to
Vancouver he crossed the United States, arriving at the
World's Columbian Exposition 1893 on the
Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad on a private
Pullman car named Mascotte, and staying at the
Lexington Hotel, before continuing through to
New York and returning to Europe. Franz Ferdinand had a fondness for
trophy hunting that was excessive even by the standards of European nobility in his day. In his diaries he kept track of 272,511 game kills, 5,000 of which were
deer. About 100,000 trophies were on exhibit at his Bohemian castle at
Konopiště which he also stuffed with various antiquities, his other great passion.
Military career Franz Ferdinand, like most males in the ruling
Habsburg line, entered the
Austro-Hungarian Army at a young age. He was frequently and rapidly promoted, given the rank of
lieutenant at age fourteen,
captain at twenty-two,
colonel at twenty-seven, and
major general at thirty-one. While never receiving formal staff training, he was considered eligible for command and at one point briefly led the primarily Hungarian 9th
Hussar Regiment. In 1898 he was given a commission "at the special disposition of His Majesty" to make inquiries into all aspects of the military services and military agencies were commanded to share their papers with him. He also held honorary ranks in the
Austro-Hungarian Navy, and received the rank of
admiral at the close of the Austro-Hungarian naval maneuvers in September 1902. Franz Ferdinand exerted influence on the armed forces even when he did not hold a specific command through a military
chancery that produced and received documents and papers on military affairs. This was headed by and eventually employed a staff of sixteen. His authority was reinforced in 1907 when he secured the retirement of the Emperor's confidant
Friedrich von Beck-Rzikowsky as Chief of the General Staff. Beck's successor,
Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, was personally selected by Franz Ferdinand. Franz in 1913, as heir-presumptive to the elderly emperor, had been appointed inspector general of all the armed forces of Austria-Hungary (
Generalinspektor der gesamten bewaffneten Macht), a position superior to that previously held by
Archduke Albrecht and including presumed command in wartime.
Marriage and family In 1894, Franz Ferdinand met Countess
Sophie Chotek, a
lady-in-waiting to
Archduchess Isabella, wife of
Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen. Franz began to visit Archduke Friedrich's villa in Pressburg (now
Bratislava), and in turn Sophie wrote to Franz Ferdinand during his convalescence from
tuberculosis on the island of
Lošinj in the
Adriatic. They kept their relationship a secret, The wedding took place on 1 July 1900, at Reichstadt (now
Zákupy) in
Bohemia; Franz Joseph did not attend the ceremony, nor did Franz Ferdinand's brothers or any other archduke. Franz Ferdinand and Sophie visited England in the autumn of 1913, spending a week with
George V and
Queen Mary at
Windsor Castle before going to stay for another week with the
Duke of Portland at
Welbeck Abbey,
Nottinghamshire, where they arrived on 22 November. He attended a service at the local Catholic church in
Worksop. Franz Ferdinand and the Duke of Portland went game shooting on the Welbeck estate when, according to Portland's memoirs,
Men, Women and Things:
Assassination Bois de Boulogne phaeton automobile in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated. It is now displayed in the
Museum of Military History in Vienna near the assassination site On Sunday, 28 June 1914, at about 10:45 am, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in
Sarajevo, the capital of the
Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The perpetrator was 19-year-old
Gavrilo Princip, a member of
Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized and armed by the
Black Hand. After a short rest at the Governor's residence, the royal couple insisted on seeing all those who had been injured by the bomb at the local hospital. However, no one told the drivers that the itinerary had been changed. When the error was discovered, the drivers had to turn around. As the cars backed down the street and onto a side street, the line of cars stalled. At this time, Princip was sitting at a cafe across the street. He instantly seized his opportunity and walked across the street and shot the royal couple. Franz Ferdinand's aides attempted to undo his coat but realized they needed scissors to cut it open: the outer lapel had been sewn to the inner front of the jacket for a smoother fit to improve his appearance to the public. Whether or not as a result of this obstacle, his wound could not be attended to in time to save him, and he died within minutes. Sophie also died en route to the hospital. A detailed account of the shooting can be found in
Sarajevo by Joachim Remak: One bullet pierced Franz Ferdinand's neck while the other pierced Sophie's abdomen. ... As the car was reversing (to go back to the Governor's residence because the entourage thought the Imperial couple were unhurt) a thin streak of blood shot from the Archduke's mouth onto Count Harrach's right cheek (he was standing on the car's running board). Harrach drew out a handkerchief to still the gushing blood. The Duchess, seeing this, called: "For Heaven's sake! What happened to you?" and sank from her seat, her face falling between her husband's knees. Harrach and Potoriek ... thought she had fainted ... only her husband seemed to have an instinct for what was happening. Turning to his wife despite the bullet in his neck, Franz Ferdinand pleaded: "
Sopherl! Sopherl! Sterbe nicht! Bleibe am Leben für unsere Kinder! – Sophie dear! Don't die! Stay alive for our children!" Having said this, he seemed to sag down himself. His plumed hat ... fell off; many of its green feathers were found all over the car floor. Count Harrach seized the Archduke by the uniform collar to hold him up. He asked "
Leiden Eure Kaiserliche Hoheit sehr? – Is Your Imperial Highness suffering very badly?" "
Es ist nichts. – It is nothing." said the Archduke in a weak but audible voice. He seemed to be losing consciousness during his last few minutes, but, his voice growing steadily weaker, he repeated the phrase perhaps six or seven times more. A
rattle began to issue from his throat, which subsided as the car drew in front of the Konak bersibin (Town Hall). Despite several doctors' efforts, the Archduke died shortly after being carried into the building while his beloved wife was almost certainly dead from internal bleeding before the motorcade reached the Konak. The assassinations, along with the
arms race,
nationalism,
imperialism,
militarism of
Imperial Germany and the alliance system all contributed to the
origins of World War I, which began a month after Franz Ferdinand's death, with Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand is considered the most immediate cause of World War I. After his death,
Archduke Karl became the heir presumptive of Austria-Hungary. Franz Ferdinand was buried with his wife Sophie in
Artstetten Castle, Austria. == Character ==