"Rudolf..the man who might have dragged the Monarchy into the 20th century"
By sally tarbox on 19 January 2018
Format: Hardcover
Having recently read a 1930s book on Empress Elizabeth of Austria, this later (1978) biography of her son, Crown Prince Rudolf, gives a much franker and more informative look at the facts of the imperial family.
I had been left wondering why, exactly, Elizabeth pretty much abandoned her husband to travel...and why he allowed it. Judith Listowel explains that the Emperor infected his wife with a venereal disease early on in their marriage; his guilt made him more tolerant.
I had also been unclear about Prince Rudolf's apparent suicide; what drove him to it? Here this too is made much clearer - a combination of physical and mental illness (he too had the illness of his father, compounded with possible family madness and increasing morphia addiction); a not particularly happy marriage; disgruntlement at being constantly ignored by his father; and fears for the country's future, as tensions in the area arose ,later to lead to WW1)
Despite Rudolf's many failings, he was undoubtedly an intelligent and far-sighted man; Listowel wonders whether if he had succeeded to the monarchy, the War might even have been averted.
But was it even suicide? Despite the Emperor's stringent efforts to keep all information on the incident hidden away, the author comes up with some intriguing evidence to the contrary...

A readable but serious work with quite a bit about the political unrest of the time. Informative and interesting. ( )