MAY BE A KING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23953, 31 October 1939, Page 10

MAY BE A KING

OTTO OF HAPSBURG REPORT OF MOVEMENT IN GERMANY DISCONTENT WITH NAZIS Increasing dissatisfaction with the straits into which Hitler and the Nazi Party have led the Third Reich is revealed in recent reports that a monarchical revival movement aimed at the enthroning of the Archduke Otto of Habsburg is gaining momentum According to cable reports a number of highly-placed German Army officers have been removed from their commands and arrested for their support of the movement, and reference to the imminence of a “ Conservative revolution ” in Germany was made by the former First Lord of the British Admiralty, Mr A. Duff Cooper, on his arrival at New York to undertake a private lecture tour. Father Died in Exile The Archduke Franz Josef Otto of Austria was born at Villa Wartholz, Lower Austria, on November 20, 1912, and he is now 27 years of age. He is the eldest son of the ex-Kaiser Karl I of Austria, who was also King Karl IV of Hungary, and of Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma. His father died in exile at Funchal, Madeira, in April, 1922. In November. 1918, the family was expelled from Austria following the collapse of the Central Powers, and took up its abode in Switzerland, living first at Schloss Hertenstein, on the Lake of Lucerne. When the ex-Em-peror and Empress, after two abortive attempts to regain the throne of Hungary, were banished to Madeira in 1921, the children were taken to Schloss Warteg, Switzerland, the seat of the ducal family of Bourbon-Parma, whose head is the step-brother of the exEmpress Zita. Later she was allowed to go to Spain with her children. In April, 1922, a conference of the Legitimist parties in Hungary declared that it regarded Otto as King of Hungary. The Queen Mother, the statement added, was to be the guardian of the King’s interests. But in November, 1922, the Hungarian Government replied to + his declaration by decreeing the abolition of the entire Habsburg dynasty so far as Hungary was concerned. This decision, however, was not recognised by the Legitimists on the ground that it was reached under pressure from the Entente. . Later there was talk from time to time of Otto being chosen as King of Hungary on condition that he renounced his right to the Austrian throne in order to placate the Powers —but on this point his mother was obdurate. Bid for Popularity It was reported in April. 1933. that the Austrian Chancellor (Dr Dolfuss) had obtained Mussolini’s consent to the i-e-establishment of Austro-Hungarian union with Otto as King of the new dual monarchy. Making a bid for popularity among the Austrian people, Otto laid the foundations of a political philosophy that, in view of later developments, might take him to power. He said that a constitutional monarchy on British lines was the only solution of Austria’s difficulties and rejected Fascism as a remedy. But a restoration. he said, must be brought about in a legal way. and the time was not ripe. In January, 1935, however. Otto executed a complete change of front, declaring in favour of Fascism and the Corporative State and against Parliamentary democracy. This move was strongly resented in Hungary, but the archduke explained that it referred only to Austria and that he would abide by the Hungarian Constitution. To some extent —as far. at least, as the masses are concerned —he has weakened his position, but not necessarily beyond redemption, and he and his advisers have never been lacking in ability to readjust themselves to the realities of a situaton. Perhaps the greatest force that has driven him is an ambitious mother. A formidable woman, narrow-browed, black-eyed, white-faced, embittered, concentrated, tenacious, with a family tradition of intrigue, she dominated her husband, the ill-fated Karl, in his life. She opposed abdication when the monarchy was crumbling in Vienna and Budapest, and the last loyal troops deserted them and said to her husband “I would rather fall with you here, for then Otto would succeed. And if we fall—there are other Habsburgs.” It was only when Zita was convinced that legitimist principles would not be violated that she allowed Karl to sign, and saw the Habsburg black and yellow flag replaced by the red-white-red of the republic. Husband and wife retired with their son _to Italy, but foolish advise sent the impulsive Karl back on two occasions on wild bids for his lost throne. Both ended in disaster. To a Germany faced in its own interests with the necessity of getting rid of Hitler and his satellites, the Archduke Otto is a “ best bet.”