holding the young Archduke in her lap|left
Heir presumptive Otto was a son of
Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria and his wife,
Princess Maria Annunziata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Otto's father, Karl Ludwig, was a younger brother of Emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria; and Karl Ludwig became
heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne when his nephew
Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide in 1889. Although a newspaper account claimed that Karl Ludwig renounced his rights to the throne that same year (1889) in favour of his eldest son,
Franz Ferdinand, that story is not certain. On the death of Karl Ludwig in May 1896, Otto's brother Franz Ferdinand did indeed become heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. At the time of their father's death, Franz Ferdinand had been ill with
tuberculosis and there was speculation that Franz Ferdinand would renounce his rights, which would have made his brother, Otto, heir presumptive. However, this did not happen, and Otto was never first in line to the throne. In 1914, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by the
Serbian nationalist terrorist Gavrilo Princip in
Sarajevo, and Otto's son
Charles became heir presumptive. Charles inherited the throne two years later.
Youth Otto's mother died when he was six years old. Otto and his elder brother Franz Ferdinand were taught by
Alfred Ludwig, Baron of Degenfeld. Otto was not interested in learning and often played pranks on his teachers. Nevertheless, his teachers preferred the cheerful Otto more than his grumpy and irascible older brother. He was also his father's favourite, which led to a challenging relationship with his brother. Otto had a reputation as a loafer and was often involved in scandals. In one instance, he was known to have jumped nude from a private dining room in the
Hotel Sacher in front of a visiting
British peeress. He is also widely remembered for the widely circulated story that he had been spotted in a hallway at the same hotel, about to enter a lady's room, wearing nothing else but a sword. He was gradually alienated from the imperial court, and eventually even his wife distanced herself from him.
Death Around 1900, he contracted
syphilis. This caused him agonizing pain for the last two years of his life. He withdrew from public life and spent a year in
Egypt, where he found temporary reprieve. He returned to Austria, where he fell ill again. The last few months of his life, he lived in a villa in the Viennese suburb
Währing. He was forced to replace his nose with a rubber
prosthetic due to
facial deformity. == Succession ==