The investigations into the murder and suicide in the House of Habsburg remain a mystery to this day. Crown Prince Rudolf shoots his young lover Mary Vetsera and himself. How did this tragic incident at the Mayerling hunting lodge come about?
Since then, the small community has been considered one of the most dramatic places in the Vienna Woods. More than 100,000 visitors come to the Carmelite monastery, which now stands on the site of the hunting lodge. The crime is said to have taken place where the altar of the chapel is located today.
Three years earlier, Rudolf had bought the estate in Mayerling and had it converted into a small hunting lodge. Hunting was a popular pastime for the Habsburgs. Such an informal hunting trip was also suspected when Rudolf set off for Mayerling in January 1889. But one day after his arrival, the fatal pistol shots were fired.
Crown Prince Rudolf, the heir to the throne, the hope of the dynasty and the empire, is dead – so wrote the Neue Freie Presse in the evening edition of January 30, 1889. The whole country was in turmoil. At first it was assumed to be an accident, but rumors soon spread of murder and suicide, even a love death.
The imperial family tried to cover up the alleged suicide and murder. As a suicide, Rudolf was not even entitled to a church funeral. A medical report was issued certifying that the crown prince was of unsound mind. It was clearly a “courtesy report”.
But how was the murder of Mary Vetsera explained? She was accused of suicide in a fictitious corpse report and secretly buried in the cemetery at Heiligenkreuz Abbey. They put her in a hackney carriage dressed and stuck a stick in her dress so that she wouldn’t fall over during this cover-up.
The exact circumstances of Rudolf and Mary Vetsera’s death have not yet been fully clarified and are still the subject of speculation. According to the current state of knowledge, it is assumed that Rudolf, who was plagued by depression, first shot his lover Mary Vetsera and then killed himself with a shot to the head.
Ultimately, this incident shook confidence in the Habsburg Monarchy.
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