Above is a large painting at the University of Oregon Museum titled ‘The Last Audience of the Habsburgs’. It was smuggled out of Austria. Hitler put a bounty on the head of Empress Zita who fled to America with her Royal Family. Rena and Zita own the same beautiful and regal energy.
So, there is Belle Burch standing before me lecturing me on the importance of knowing who is in your family tree. I told her she has to go with me to the UofO Museum to see the very large canvas that was smuggled out of Austria. Zita is from the House of Bourbon-Parma and is kin to my friend Virginia who took the infamous photo of me and titled me a insane sexual deviant and stalker. I was only following a lead, because when I discovered Belle’s mother was Catherine Van Der Turin, there was a chance she was kin to the Habsburgs who ruled the Netherlands.
Take note of the white roses and the little girl that looks like Snow White, or, Alive in Wonderland. In my book, the other girl, who lacks a complete body, will be Rose Red.
The end of the movie made from my novel ‘Capturing Beauty’ I will go meet Belle at the museum. The curator will take us into the based to behold our………………?
Jon Presco of Bohemia
Eventually, one of the Empress’s sheltered daughters, the Archduchess Charlotte, remarkably flew the nest to return to New York under the pseudonym of Charlotte de Bar and enrolled as a social worker in East Harlem, one of the city’s most underprivileged areas. Zita returned to Europe after the war, where she died at the age of ninety-six in 1989.
Most royal families did not have a family name until the 19th century. They were known as “of” (in German von) based on the main territory they ruled. For example, sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of a ruling French King were known as “of France” (see Wikipedia on House of Bourbon)
Kings of Bohemia[edit]
The kingship of Bohemia was from 1306 a position elected by its nobles.[citation needed] As a result, it was not an automatically inherited position. Until the rule of Ferdinand I, Habsburgs didn’t gain hereditary accession to the throne and were displaced by other dynasties. Hence, the kings of Bohemia and their ruling dates are listed separately. The Habsburgs became hereditary kings of Bohemia in 1627. By their acquisition of the Bohemian Crownin 1526 the Habsburgs secured the highest rank among the secular prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire.
Main line[edit]
- Rudolph I, king of Bohemia 1306–1307
Albertine line: Kings of Bohemia[edit]
- Albert, king of Bohemia 1437–1439
- Ladislaus Posthumus, king of Bohemia 1453–1457
Austrian Habsburgs: Kings of Bohemia[edit]
- Ferdinand I, king of Bohemia 1526–1564
- Maximilian I, king of Bohemia 1563–1576
- Rudolph II, king of Bohemia 1572–1611
- Matthias, king of Bohemia 1611–1618
- Ferdinand II, king of Bohemia 1621–1637
- Ferdinand III, king of Bohemia 1625–1657
- Ferdinand IV, king of Bohemia 1647–1654
- Leopold I, king of Bohemia 1655–1705
- Joseph I, king of Bohemia 1687–1711
- Charles VI, king of Bohemia 1711–1740
- Maria Theresa, queen of Bohemia 1743–1780
House of Habsburg-Lorraine, main line: Kings of Bohemia[edit]
- Joseph II, king of Bohemia 1780–1790
- Leopold II, king of Bohemia 1790–1792
- Francis, king of Bohemia 1792–1835
- Ferdinand V, king of Bohemia 1835–1848
- Francis Joseph I, king of Bohemia 1848–1916
- Charles III, king of Bohemia 1916–1918
Family name Habsburg[edit]
Most royal families did not have a family name until the 19th century. They were known as “of” (in German von) based on the main territory they ruled. For example, sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of a ruling French King were known as “of France” (see Wikipedia on House of Bourbon). The name “Capet” was an invention of the French Revolutionaries. “Bourbon” was in some sense the name of the house as it was differentiated from the previous Valois kings. Princes and Princesses of the royal house of England were known as “of England”, or later “Great Britain” (see House of Windsor) or “of” the main title associated with their parent (see Prince William of Wales). In the Middle Ages, princes of England were often known by the town or castle of their birth (see John of Gaunt, Henry Bolingbroke, or Henry of Monmouth). Even when the royal family had a last name (see House of Tudor, House of Stuart or House of Windsor), it was not used in their titles.
Similarly, the Habsburg name was used as one of the subsidiary titles of the rulers above, as in “Princely Count of Habsburg” (see above under Habsburg-Lorraine). The Habsburg arms (see above) were displayed only in the most complete (great arms) of the prince. The dynasty was known as the “house of Austria”. Most of the princes above were known as Archduke xyz “of Austria” and had no need of a surname. Charles V was known in his youth after his birthplace as “Charles of Ghent”. When he became king of the Spains he was known as “Charles of Spain”, until he became emperor, when he was known as Charles V (“Charles Quint”). In Spain, the dynasty was known as the “casa de Austria”, and illegitimate sons were given the title of “de Austria” (see Don Juan de Austria and Don Juan José de Austria). The arms displayed in their simplest form were those of Austria, which the Habsburgs had made their own, at times impaled with the arms of the Duchy of Burgundy (ancient).
The British Royal family had helped arrange the Austrian Imperial Family’s evacuation from Austria in 1919, something I talk about in chapter 12 of The Emperors, and they came to their aid again by arranging safe transport for the Dowager Empress and her younger children to Canada. The family had fled Belgium after the Nazi invasion, making it through France, Spain and Portugal, and across the Atlantic to New Jersey, where they spent some time in New York and the Hamptons, but with the Germans having cut off all access to their bank accounts, funds were tighter than ever and Zita was reduced to making salad made from dandelion leaves. Eventually, the British once again came to her aid by facilitating her move to Quebec, a predominantly Catholic and French-speaking part of the Empire, which suited the Dowager Empress perfectly, since French was her first language and some of her children were still learning English.
Zita (with her children, above), who always wore black in mourning for her late husband the Emperor, moved north, but her five sons chose to join the war effort. Otto, as the eldest, remained in America, making anti-Nazi propaganda films, raising money for Allied causes and coordinating Austrian exile groups; his younger brother, the Archduke Robert, went to London to work with other exiled representatives of countries which had fallen to the Wehrmacht; Karl-Ludwig and Felix both later signed up to join the US Army, and the youngest boy, Rudolf, smuggled himself back into Austria to join the Resistance.
Initially, it was Karl-Ludwig, Rudolf, Charlotte and the youngest daughter, the Archduchess Elisabeth, who accompanied their mother, along with their grandmother Maria Antonia of Portugal, Dowager Duchess of Parma, who had fled the Austrian revolution wearing nearly every piece of jewellery she owned. So much so that one British officer onboard the train thought she looked like an over-decorated Christmas tree. Felix went north to help find a house for them. In Montreal, they met with Princess Alice and her husband, the Governor-General, and I came across this account of their friendship in Princess Alice’s hugely enjoyable memoirs, For My Grandchildren, which, as its name suggests, was constructed almost like a long letter, a reminiscence of an extraordinary life, for the Countess’s grandchildren.
We went to Montreal in October, where there was a reception for us and Granpa received a degree from the University of McGill and attended one of the luncheon-club dinners at which seven hundred people were present. These are only for men and all the big-shots attend them. Granpa had a long talk with Sir Edward Beatty, President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, about Canadian affairs… We saw Archduke Felix of Austria and the Archduchess, who were taking a house in Montreal. The Empress Zita had not yet arrived with her mother … [She arrived a few weeks later] The four children, Carl, Rudolf, Charlotte and Elisabeth were also there. The Emperor had died in 1922, after being married to Zita for about ten years, during which time they had eight children and Granpa remarked that had he lived he and Zita might have exceeded the record set up by her parents, who had twenty-one! These four children, whose ages ranged from nineteen to twenty-three, were all well brought up, with charming manners, and appeared young for their ages.
The Countess was slightly mistaken about the number of Zita’s siblings – while her father Roberto had fathered over twenty children, they had been between two wives. Zita’s mother, Maria Antonia, was his second, married after the death of his first, Maria Pia.
After Felix and Karl-Ludwig returned to America to fight in the war, the Governor-General and Princess Alice invited the Empress and her two youngest daughters, Charlotte and Elisabeth, to visit them and stayed in regular contact whenever they visited Montreal.
The Empress Zita of Austria and her two charming daughters, Charlotte and Elisabeth, came to stay with us. The Empress led an austere and secluded existence, and as a consequence the girls, although they were old enough to attend university, had little experience of social life. I well remember their excitement when we took them out to dinner and a movie in Quebec! They are both happily married now [Author’s Note: After the war, Charlotte married Georg, Duke of Mecklenburg, and Elisabeth married Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein]. The Empress’s lady-in-waiting, Countess Kerstenbruck, used to visit our aides-de-camp in the staff room in order to have a sherry and a cigarette, as such indulgences were not permitted in the ascetic apartments of the Empress! They lived in a dreary little house with no curtains, no pictures and floors covered with linoleum which had been a priests’ convalescent retreat. I felt very sad for her [Zita] and her eight children, and I thought they seemed very poor. She was strict with the girls, so that they knew no one and were always chaperoned by the lady-in-waiting to and from the university. Zita still wore the same dress as she did when she became a widow – down to the ground, right to her hands and up to her ears and chin with no ear-rings or any bit of jewellery. In contrast she was very talkative, well informed and cultivated. She spoke English fluently, but we spoke French to the children (they lived in Quebec), but they were learning English. [Zita] had her old mother with her, who was much more worldly She was looked after by one of Zita’s hideous brothers – she had twenty-one brothers and sisters of the Parma family. We sat down to a typical German tea of butterbrod and little square cakes and biscuits. Only [a friend]and I were allowed cups of tea – the others, tumblers of water.
lZita, the last Empress of Austria-Hungary, died yesterday at her longtime residence, a Roman Catholic home for the elderly in Zizers, a village in eastern Switzerland. She was 96 years old.
News agency reports of her death were confirmed by an official reached at the Zizers police headquarters.
Zita was crowned at 24, left her realm at 27 and was widowed at 30. Born a princess of the House of Bourbon-Parma, she was the consort of Karl I, a member of the Hapsburg dynasty who was the last Emperor.
Karl was born an archduke and was crowned King of Hungary as well as Emperor of Austria after the death in 1916 of his great-uncle, Emperor Franz Josef. He thrust himself into official matters but was ordered by his Government in 1918 to take no further part in the direction of state affairs. He and Zita, whom he married in 1911, moved to Switzerland in 1919. Failed to Restore Monarchy
Zita and her husband failed in two attempts in 1921 to be restored as monarchs in Hungary. She used to say the latter attempt failed only because all the Hungarian railroad trains were so full of the beet crop that there was no transportation avilable to move the Hapsburg supporters to Budapest.
Karl died in 1922. After her husband’s death Zita donned nunlike mourning clothes and for some years moved about Europe in the interests of the Hapsburg succession, especially promoting the ascension of Otto, her eldest son, to the Hungarian throne.
In her declining years, Zita lived for a time in Tuxedo Park, N.Y.
She would be seen taking little lonely walks near her home, a strange black-veiled figure wearing high-button shoes.
The Almanach de Gotha listed Zita as the 10th of the 19 children of the deposed Duke Robert of Bourbon-Parma. Her mother, Duke Robert’s second wife, was the former Princess Antonia of the royal family of Portugal, the house of Braganza. Born on May 9, 1892
Zita was born on May 9, 1892, at the Villa Pianore near Viareggio, Italy, and received an education calculated to endow her with piety and a decorous interest in music.
On Oct. 21, 1911 she was married Archduke Karl. He became the heir to Franz Josef in 1914, when the previous heir, Karl’s uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated along with his wife.
After reigning for 64 years, Franz Josef died on Nov. 21, 1916, and Karl and Zita were crowned, first in Vienna and then in Budapest, in lavish ceremonies criticized by many of their subjects as being inappropriate for the moment when privation caused by World War I was beginning to take effect.
Prodded by Zita, the mild and well-meaning Karl reorganized the Government with such tactlessness that on Nov. 11, 1918, he was ordered by his Government to refrain from the overseeing of affairs of state. The move to Switzerland ensued. Chaotic Conditions
Conditions in Hungary became chaotic after the Austro-Hungarian capitulation and order was restored by Adm. Nicholas Horthy de Nagybanya, who was named Regent of Hungary on March 1, 1920.
Karl returned to Hungary on March 20, 1921, in an appeal to regain his throne but was asked by Admiral Horthy to leave the country. On Oct. 21 of the same year Karl and Zita flew to Hungary, landing in a wheatfield where they met with a group of royalist sympathizers, and headed a march on Budapest. At Torbagy, near the capital, they were surrounded by Hungarian police and arrested two days later.
Admiral Horthy turned Karl and Zita over to the British, who exiled them to Funchal, Madeira. Karl contracted pneumonia and died on April 1, 1922, two months before Zita’s eighth child was born.
The year 1930 found Zita living with her family in the castle of Steenockerzeel near Brussels.
When the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940, Zita and her family fled, just ahead of the Nazis and came to the United States as refugees on July 20, 1940.
The first of Zita’s children was Otto, widely known as Otto von Hapsburg, a writer and a member of the European Parliament who lives in Pocking-Starnberg in southern West Germany.
The Associated Press reported that after a private funeral today in Switzerland, Zita’s body is to lie in state at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, where a requiem Mass is to be held April 1. The agency also reported that interment is to be in a vault at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.
