in response to the 'royal marriage' proposition of about a week ago

[Guest guest]

" the

marriage of the hapless Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose famous assassination on a trip to Bosnia with his wife Sophie led directly to World War I. Franz married for love, against the preference of his uncle

the Emperor, and his wife had to live in humiliation as a consequence: " Franz

Ferdinand was the eldest nephew of the Hapsburg emperor Franz ph and therefore - the emperor's only son having committed suicide - heir to the imperial crown. He had come to Bosnia in his capacity as inspector general of the Austro-Hungarian armies, to observe the summer military exercises, and he had brought his wife, Sophie, with him. The two would be observing their fourteenth wedding anniversary later in the

week, and Franz Ferdinand was using this visit to put Sophie at the center of things, to give her a little of the recognition she was usually denied. " Back in the Hapsburg capital of Vienna, Sophie was, for the wife of a prospective emperor, improbably close to being a non-person. At the turn of the century the emperor had forbidden Franz Ferdinand to marry her. She was not of royal lineage, was in fact a mere

countess, the daughter of a noble but impoverished Czech family. As a young woman, she had been reduced by financial need to accepting employment as lady-in-waiting to an Austrian archduchess who entertained

hopes of marrying her own daughter to Franz Ferdinand. All these things

made Sophie, according to the rigid protocols of the Hapsburg court, unworthy to be an emperor's consort or a progenitor of future rulers. " The

accidental discovery that she and Franz Ferdinand were conducting a secret if chaste romance - that he had been regularly visiting the archduchess's palace not to court her daughter but to see a lowly and thirtyish member of the household staff - sparked outrage, and Sophie had to leave her post. But Franz Ferdinand continued to pursue her. In his youth he had had a long struggle with tuberculosis, and perhaps his survival had left him determined to live his private on his own terms. Uninterested in any of theyoung women who possessed the credentials to become his bride, he had remained single into his late thirties. The last two years of his bachelorhood turned into a battle of wills with his uncle the emperor over the subject of Sophie Chotek. " Franz ph finally tired of the deadlock and gave his consent. What he consented to, however, was a morganatic marriage, one that would exclude

Sophie's descendants from the succession. And so on June 28, 1900, fourteen years to the day before his visit to Sarajevo, Franz Ferdinand appeared as ordered in the Hapsburg monarchy's Secret Council Chamber. In the presence of the emperor, the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, the Primate of Hungary, all the government's principal ministers, and all the other Hapsburg archdukes, he solemnly renounced the Austro-Hungarian

throne on behalf of any children that he and Sophie might have and any descendants of those children. (Sophie was thirty-two, which in those days made her an all but hopeless spinster.) " When the wedding took place three days later, only Franz Ferdinand's mother and sister, out of the whole huge Hapsburg family, attended. Even Franz Ferdinand's brothers, the eldest of whom was a notorious libertine, self-righteously

stayed away. The marriage turned out to be a happy one all the same, in

short order producing a daughter and two sons whom the usually stiff Franz Ferdinand loved so unreservedly that he would play with them onthe

floor in the presence of astonished visitors. But at court Sophie was relentlessly snubbed. She was not permitted to ride with her husband in royal processions or to sit near him at state dinners. She could not even join him in his box at the opera. When he, as heir, led the procession at court balls, she was kept far back behind the lowest ranking of the truly royal ladies. " But here in Bosnia, a turbulent border province, the rules of Vienna could be set aside. Here in Sarajevo, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie could appear together in public as royal husband and wife. " Author: G.J. MeyerTitle: A World UndonePublisher: DeltaDate: Copyright 2006 by G.J. MeyerPages: 3-5

--

Look on this life as the illusion of

appearance–emptiness,

rely on the unborn nature of mind

and pray that you will

be of benefit to others.All practice is summed up in this.

~Spontaneously sung by Dechen Rangdröl (Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtsho Rinpoche)

Not one atom opposes us.~Ch'an Master Hongzhi ZhenjueNo wind is favorable to the sailor who has no destination in mind

~Old saying

The more alert we become to the blessing that flows into us through everything we touch, the more our own touch will bring blessing.~ Steindl-Rast A Listening Heart

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