When the family was headed by Count Albert the Rich in 1153, it conquered considerable territories including Alsace and Switzerland, and later an area extending as far as Germany upon the accession of Rudolf I of Habsburg in 1273. In 1278, the Habsburgs conquered Austria, Styria and Carniola – thus founding the House of Austria.

Etched in history

The Habsburgs can be traced as far back as Guntram the Rich in 959. Rudolf I (1218-1291) then acceded the throne in 1273 to become the King of Germany. It was Rudolf I who established the foundations of the dynasty’s strength, then centered on Austria. His descendents would go on to rule Bohemia, Hungary, Spain, the Austrian territories, the Netherlands and parts of Italy.

The House of Habsburg did not escape family dramas. The eternally young and beautiful Elizabeth of Wittelsbach, affectionately known as “Sissi,” born in 1837 and wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Habsburg (1830-1916), despised the aristocracy and called herself a “Democrat.” A Bavarian by origin and Austrian by marriage, Sissi liked nothing better than Hungary. She became the Empress of Austria at 16. Decades later, however, at the age of 61 she was assassinated in by a young Italian worker, anarchist Luigi Lucheni, in Geneva, Switzerland.

There was also the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophia, Princess of Hohenberg. They were killed in Sarajevo June 28, 1914. Ferdinand was traveling to observe a major maneuvering of his troops in Bosnia when he and his wife were murdered by Serb patriot, Gavrilo Princip – an event which triggered the launch of the First World War in 1914.

A life of turmoil … a full life!

Otto von Habsburg was born Nov. 20, 1912 and became Crown Prince at the age of two upon the death of Emperor Franz Joseph. At the premature death of his father, in 1922, Archduke Otto became the head of one of Europe’s most prestigious dynasties.

His mother, Empress Zita, was a woman of faith, dignity, and courage. Despite material difficulties she raised her children with dignity according to their social rank, even though they lived a life in exile in Spain, Belgium, Canada and Switzerland.

Archduke Otto obtained a broad education under the direction of Austrian and Hungarian personalities, and he went on to earn a doctorate of political and social sciences in 1935 at the University of Louvain in Belgium.

As a result of an Austrian law, the Habsburg family’s land was expropriated and von Habsburg was banned from Austrian territory. He had already known, however, a life of exile: Spain (1922-1926); Belgium (1926-1939); France (1939); the United States (1940-1944); France (1944) and the United States again (1944-1951). Following World War II, he attempted a trip to Austria, but was expulsed at the request of the Soviet occupiers.

Rejects Hitler’s proposal

In 1932, while working at the University of Berlin, Otto von Habsburg was contacted by Adolf Hitler, who proposed a restoration of the monarchy in Austria on the condition he adhere to Nazism. He refused outright.

In result, the Führer condemned von Habsburg to death, and with a price on his head, Archduke Otto took refuge in the United Sates – moving to Washington where he was asked on several occasions to serve as an advisor to US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Central European issues.

He then worked as a journalist, traveling throughout much of the world and became a specialist in European issues. Over the years, he has authored almost 40 books on a wide array of subjects including history, politics, international affairs and European politics.

In 1936, he became a member of the Pan-European Union, and its representative in Washington from 1940 to 1946. He subsequently became the organization’s vice president in 1957, and in 1973, its president.

Since the end of World War II, he has been a proponent of a unified Europe, one that extends to the Ukraine, Iceland and Albania, yet leaves Turkey behind. After the war, he fought Communism and helped thousands of European Jews flee the nightmare of Nazism.

As the President of the Pan-European Movement it has been his objective to assist in the creation of a democratic Europe, inspired by Christian values, considering himself “a Christian, and a European.”

Between 1979 and 1999, Otto von Habsburg was elected to the European Parliament, representing Bavaria for the conservative German CSU party (Christian Social Union).

In August 1989, would go on to initiate the “Pan-European Picnic,” in the Hungarian city of Sopron, where some 700 East Germans made their way to the West. In November of that same year, the Berlin Wall came down.

A German citizen since 1953, he lives in Bavaria and is a member of the Academy of Moral and Politics Sciences, the Institut de France in Paris, the Royal Academy of Moral and Politics Sciences in Madrid, the Academy of Portuguese Culture in Lisbon and the Mexican Academy of International Law in Mexico City. He holds numerous medals, decorations, awards and honorary doctorates.

Since 1966, after renouncing any desire to seek a return to the throne, Otto von Habsburg was permitted to return to Hungary.

Otto von Habsburg married Regina, Princess of Saxe-Meiningen at Nancy. The couple has seven children: Andrea (1953), Monika (1954), Michaela (1954), Gabriela (1956), Walburga (1958), Charles (1961), Paul Georg (1964) and 22 grandchildren.

The future of the dynasty is thus assured by his eldest son, Charles, who was born Jan. 11, 1961. Charles married in 1993 the Baroness Francesca de Thyssen-Bornemisza. The couple has three children and reside in Salzburg, Austria.