Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria

, obverse the god of marriage encircled arms of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria Rudolf was born at Schloss Laxenburg, a castle near Vienna, as the son of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth. He was named after the first Habsburg King of Germany, Rudolf I, who reigned from 1273 to 1291. Rudolf was raised together with his older sister Gisela and the two were very close. At the age of six, Rudolf was separated from his sister as he began his education to become a future Emperor of Austria. This did not change their relationship and Gisela remained close to him until she left Vienna upon her marriage to Prince Leopold of Bavaria. Rudolf's initial education under Leopold Gondrecourt was physically and emotionally abusive, and likely a contributing factor in his later suicide. Influenced by his tutor Ferdinand von Hochstetter (who later became the first superintendent of the Imperial Natural History Museum), Rudolf became very interested in natural sciences, starting a mineral collection at an early age. In contrast with his deeply conservative father, Rudolf held liberal views that were closer to those of his mother. Nevertheless, his relationship with her was at times strained. ==Marriage==

In Vienna, on 10 May 1881, Rudolf married Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, a daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium, at the Augustinian Church in Vienna. Although their marriage was initially a happy one, by the time their only child, the Archduchess Elisabeth ("Erzsi"), was born on 2 September 1883, the couple had drifted apart. After the birth of their child, Rudolf became increasingly unstable as he drank heavily and was having many affairs. This behaviour, however, was not entirely new as Rudolf had a long history of reckless promiscuity prior to his marriage. In 1886, Rudolf became seriously ill and the couple was directed to the island of Lacroma (off present day Croatia) for his treatment. In transit, Stéphanie also became seriously ill and described "suffering terrible pain". The couple's diagnosis of peritonitis was kept secret by order of the Emperor. After intensive treatment, Stéphanie was able to recover from the illness but she was left unable to have children as the illness had destroyed her fallopian tubes. Stéphanie's symptoms and outcome indicate Rudolf had most likely infected her with gonorrhoea. Rudolf himself did not improve with treatment and grew increasingly ill. It is likely he had contracted syphilis in addition to gonorrhoea. In order to cope with the effects of the disease, Rudolf began taking large doses of morphine. By 1889, it was common knowledge at Court that Stéphanie would not have any more children due to the events of 1886, and that Rudolf's health was deteriorating. ==Murder-suicide==

in 1888 In 1886, Rudolf bought Mayerling, a hunting lodge. In late 1888, the 30-year-old Crown Prince met the 17-year-old Baroness Marie von Vetsera, and began an affair with her. On 30 January 1889, he and the young baroness were discovered dead in the lodge as a result of an apparent joint suicide. As suicide would prevent him from being given a church burial, Rudolf was officially declared to have been in a state of "mental unbalance", and he was buried in the Imperial Crypt () of the Capuchin Church in Vienna. Vetsera's body was smuggled out of Mayerling in the middle of the night and secretly buried in the village cemetery at Heiligenkreuz. The Emperor had Mayerling converted into a penitential convent of Carmelite nuns and endowed a chantry so that daily prayers would eternally be said by the nuns for the repose of Rudolf's soul. ==Aftermath of death==

Rudolf's death plunged his mother, Empress Elisabeth, into despair. She wore black or pearl grey, the colours of mourning, for the rest of her life and spent more and more time away from the imperial court in Vienna. Her daughter Gisela was afraid that she might also commit suicide. In 1898, while Elisabeth was abroad in Geneva, Switzerland, she was murdered by an Italian anarchist, Luigi Lucheni. Rudolf's death had left Franz Joseph without a direct male heir. Franz-Joseph's younger brother, Archduke Karl Ludwig, was next in line to the Austro-Hungarian throne, though it was falsely reported that he had renounced his succession rights. In any case, his death in 1896 from typhoid made his eldest son, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the new heir presumptive. However, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914 (an event that precipitated World War I), so when Emperor Franz-Joseph died in November 1916, he was succeeded instead by his grandnephew, Charles I of Austria. The demands of the American President, Woodrow Wilson forced Emperor Charles I to renounce involvement in state affairs in Vienna in early November 1918. As a result, the Austro-Hungarian Empire ceased to exist and a republic came into being without revolution. Charles I and his family went into exile in Switzerland after spending a short time at Castle Eckartsau. == Legend ==

Rudolf (also known as Ludolf or Ludó in folklore) was a figure in folk stories in Hungary. Legend has it, that it was his father who sentenced him to death, as he was a Hungarophile and defied his Hungarophobic father's will. However, the latter secretly pardoned him and buried a waxwork in his place, and the real Ludó lived out his life in South America. The legend's popularity peaked during the interwar period. ==In popular culture==

• In famed author André Gide's novel "Lafcadio's Adventures," there's a fictionalized conspiracy behind the Mayerling Incident whereas it was the Archduke's cousin who killed him and his young lover, titled Maria Wettsyera and called the Archduke's "young bride," • Mayerling, a 1936 film directed by Anatole Litvak, with Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux, based on a novel by Claude Anet. • Sarajevo (1940), a film directed Max Ophüls starts with Rudolf's death. • The fictionalized musical Marinka (1945), with book by George Marion Jr., and Karl Farkas, lyrics by George Marion Jr., music by Emmerich Kálmán. • Mayerling, a 1957 film, starring Mel Ferrer as Crown Prince Rudolf, Audrey Hepburn as Baroness Mary Vetsara with Lorne Greene as Kaiser Franz Josef. • Mayerling, a 1968 film, starring Omar Sharif as Crown Prince Rudolf, Catherine Deneuve as Mary with James Mason as Kaiser Franz Josef and Ava Gardner as Empress Elisabeth. • Japanese Takarazuka Revue's "Utakata no Koi"/"Ephemeral Love", based on the 1968 film. • Requiem for a Crown Prince, one-hour episode of the British documentary/drama series Fall of Eagles (1974), directed by James Furman and written by David Turner, tracks in detail the events of 30 January 1889 and the following few days at Mayerling. • Miklós Jancsó's 1975 film Vizi privati, pubbliche virtù (Private Vices, Public Virtues), a reinterpretation in which the lovers and their friends are murdered by imperial authorities for treason and immorality. • Kenneth MacMillan's 1978 ballet, Mayerling. • Japanese manga by Higuri You, "Tenshi no Hitsugi" (Angel's Coffin) (2000). • The Crown Prince, a 2006 television film in two parts directed by Robert Dornhelm, with Crown Prince Rudolf portrayed by German-Austrian actor Max von Thun. • Composer Frank Wildhorn's musical Rudolf – Affaire Mayerling (2006), produced in some territories as The Last Kiss or Rudolf – The Last Kiss. • The play Rudolf (2011) by David Logan dramatises the last few weeks of the life of Crown Prince Rudolf. • A highly fictionalized version of the incident at Mayerling is depicted in the 2006 film The Illusionist. Crown Prince Leopold (played by Rufus Sewell) is a fictional analog of Rudolf. • The Empress is a German historical drama television series based on the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, starring Devrim Lingnau in the title role, and Philip Froissant as Emperor Franz Joseph. • Corsage, a 2022 film, starred as Crown Prince Rudolph with Vicky Krieps as Empress Elisabeth. ==Titles, styles and honours==

Titles and styles • 21 August 1858 – 30 January 1889: His Imperial and Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia Honours ;Domestic • Knight of the Golden Fleece, 1858 • Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, 1877 ;Foreign ==Ancestors==

File:Young Crown Prince Rudolf.jpg|Crown Prince Rudolf during his early adulthood, c. 1879. File:Stefanie en Rudolf.jpg|Official engagement photo of Crown Prince Rudolf and Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, 1881. File:Görlich - Allegory on the betrothal of Crown Prince Rudolf and Stephanie of Belgium.jpg|Painting "Allegory on the betrothal of Crown Prince Rudolf and Stephanie of Belgium" by Sophia and Marie Görlich, dated 1881. File:Mayerling 1889.jpg|Mayerling Lodge as it appeared before Crown Prince Rudolf's death there in 1889. File:Mayerling.final letter.jpg|Crown Prince Rudolf's letter of farewell to his wife. File:Crown Prince Rudolf 1889.jpg|Crown Prince Rudolf placed in a bed for private viewing by his family at the Hofburg palace in Vienna. His head had to be bandaged in order to cover gunshot wounds. When he later lay-in-state, his skull was reconstructed using wax so that his appearance was normal. File:Wien - Kapuzinergruft, Franz-Joseph-Gruft.JPG|Crown Prince Rudolf's coffin lies to the right of his parents' coffins in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. File:Miklós Ligeti- Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria.jpg|Statue in memory of Crown Prince Rudolf in the City Park of Budapest. ==See also==