STRANGE STORY OF AN AUSTRIAN ARCHDUKE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 172, 23 July 1898, Page 3 (Supplement)

STRANGE STORY OF AN AUSTRIAN ARCHDUKE.

SECLUDED FOR TWENTY YEARS

Not only the court of Vienna, but likewise that of Italy, has been thrown into deep mourning by the death of the Archduke Leopold of Austria. For not onl} r was the late Prince a brother in law of King Victor Emmanuel, but his own mother was likewise a member of the family which now occupies the throne of Italy.

He was quite unknown to the present generation, having- for the last twenty years or more been to all intents and purposes under restraint, secluded iii his magnificent Castle of HoTOstein, about two hours by rail from Vienna, epilepsy, the curse of the House of Hapsburg, having reduced him to a state of complete imbecility.

Previous to his 50th year, however, he was regarded as the most brilliantly clever member of the reigning family of Austria, and greatly distinguished himself in the wars of '49, of '50 and of '64. During the war of 1866, where he commanded the Eighth Army Corps against the Prussians, the waning of his intellectual faculties became first apparent, and there is no doubt that in spite of his former military successes he was largely responsible for the crushing defeat of the Austrian Army by the Prussians, for which the unfortunate Field Marshal Benedek, who subsequently committed suicide, Avas made accountable.

In fact, it was this particular Archduke Leopold who brought about Prince Bismarck's cutting and historical remark about 'Austria's idiot Archdukes' being the 'bane of the empire.'

As soon as ever the Archduke felt that his mind was going-—in fact, within a year or two after the war of 1806 —he shut himself up in his castle of Hornstein, and absolutely refused to see any of his relatives and friends and acquaintances. Indeed, he became so shy that when on one occasion the Empress was in the neighbourhood and availed herself of the opportunity to call at the castle she was refused permission to even pass the lodge gate of the park by which the castle was surrounded.

Yet the grandest state was maintained within the castle, a superb edifice of pure Gothic architecture. There were chamberlains and cha.plains, and gentlemen in waiting, and officers of every description, besides hundreds of servants, while the stables were full of horses.

Biit there wa's no sign of life. For everybody seemed to speak in a whisper, the thick carpets deadened the sound of all footsteps, while even the very neighing- of the horses appeared to be hushed. In fact, the place was like some enchanted castle of the 'Sleeping Beauty in the Woods,' the beauty in this case being- an elderly and afflicted Archduke.

In tastes and in appearance as well as in education, he was "far more Italian than Austrian, and lie manifested all the predilection of the Italian patricia.n for art treasures, with which he crowded his castle from cellar to garret. Possessed with colossal wealth inherited to a great extent from his father, the Austrian Viceroy of Lomtaardy, he was the most munificent patron of art of every kind until about ten years ago, when he became completely imbecile, and it is estimated that at the present moment there must be stored away in his castle of Hornstein art treasures of the most costly description, and representing- a value of some £6,000,000 or £ B,ooo^ooo. Most of these will be inherited by his brother, the Archduke Rainer, as he died unmarried, llainer himself is childless, and hence it is probable that his possessions, as well as those of Leopold, will pass down to the morganatic daughter of their brother, the Archduke Henry. The latter, it may be remembered, offended the Emperor early in his reign by marrying an actress. Just at the moment when Archduke Henry and his actress wife, after a long disgrace and exile, were pardoned by the Emperor and came to Vienna to celebrate the reconciliation, they both died suddenly within twenty-four hours of one another, leaving an only daughter of IS, who was created by the Emperor a Countess of Waldeck in her own

right, was adopted by the Archduke Rainer and his wife, and has since married the Prince of Campo Franco, a grandson of that royal French Duchess of Berri and of her second husband, the Marquis Luchesi Pali.