Mayerling incident

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The Mayerling incident is the series of events surrounding the apparent joint suicide pact of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, and his mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera. They were found dead on 30 January 1889 in the imperial hunting lodge in Mayerling. Rudolf, who was married to Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, was the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth, and was heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Rudolf's mistress was the daughter of Albin von Vetsera, a diplomat at the Austrian court. Albin had been created a Freiherr (Baron) in 1870. The bodies of the 30-year-old Rudolf and the 17-year-old Mary were discovered in the Imperial hunting lodge at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods, 26.6 kilometres (16.5 mi) southwest of the capital, on the morning of 30 January 1889. The death of the Crown Prince interrupted the security inherent in the direct line of Habsburg dynastic succession. As Rudolf had no son, the succession passed to Franz Joseph's brother, Archduke Karl...

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