1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:08,320 Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Eronminkie. Listener discretion is advised. 3 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: At six ten in the morning on January thirtieth, eighteen 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:20,079 Speaker 1: eighty nine, Crown Prince Rudolph of the Austro Hungarian Empire 5 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: came out of his bedroom, closed the door behind him, 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:25,959 Speaker 1: and told his valet to prepare for the day of 7 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:29,320 Speaker 1: hunting a head. The lodge where they were staying at 8 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: Marylyn in the Vienna Woods was still dark in the 9 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 1: early morning, though Rudolph was already dressed in his hunting clothes. 10 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: He said that he wanted to get a bit more sleep, 11 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:43,279 Speaker 1: have breakfast ready at eight thirty, and wake me at 12 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: seven thirty, he said. The valet, named Loshek, noticed that 13 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: Rudolph was whistling as he went back to his room. 14 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: As Loshak was setting the table, he heard two gunshots 15 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: in rapid succession, but thought nothing of it. At seven 16 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: thirty he came to the Crown Prince's bed chamber to 17 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: find it locked. Looshak knocked loudly and then again, strange, 18 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: but not too strange. Rudolf frequently used morphine and drank 19 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: enough Kognak and Champagne to pass out cold, but Looshak 20 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: had just seen him an hour ago. Lushak tried running 21 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: upstairs and down a back staircase to a second entrance 22 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: to the Crown princess chamber, but he found that that door, 23 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: too was also locked from the inside. His heart pounding 24 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,759 Speaker 1: in his chest, Looshek went to find Count Hoyas, Rudolf's 25 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: hunting body, who was also staying at the lodge. He's 26 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: probably just tired, Ayas called, let him sleep, but Looshak 27 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: insisted that Hayas come to the lock door and help. 28 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: The Count rattled the door knob. Is there a coal 29 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: stove in there? He asked? Could the Crown Prince have 30 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: passed out from the fumes? Looshak shook his head. The 31 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: rooms were heated by wood. And there's one more thing 32 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: I should probably tell you, the valet said, looking at 33 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: the floor. Rudolf wasn't alone in his chamber. He had 34 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: snuck his seventeen year old mistress Mary but Sarah to 35 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: the lodge with him. Oh Countoya said, okay, well, let's 36 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,359 Speaker 1: think about this then. The Crown Prince's brother in law, Coburg, 37 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: was set to arrive at the lodge that morning round 38 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: eight thirty to join the hunting. What if they just 39 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: waited for him? And so they waited. When Koburg finally arrived, 40 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: the trio decided that the best course of action would 41 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:41,080 Speaker 1: be to break down the door with an axe. Looshek 42 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: first tried axing the lock, but he couldn't break it, 43 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: so he decided just to break through a wooden panel, 44 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: which allowed him to reach a hand through the door 45 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:54,639 Speaker 1: and undo the lock from the inside. The three men 46 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:59,079 Speaker 1: stood outside the closed door. They decided that Loshek would 47 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: go in alone to zam in the seat, just in 48 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: case the prince and his lover were in a compromising position, 49 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: while the other two men hung back the valet. Gingerly 50 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: pressed the wooden door open. The bile froze in his 51 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,239 Speaker 1: throat and stammering, Loshek turned back to Coburg and hoyos, 52 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: the Crown Prince is dead. He managed to say. The 53 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: story of the Maryling instant as it's come to be 54 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: known as, fascinated historians and lovers of the macabre for 55 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: a century, but the event itself has become twisted to 56 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: fit pat narratives of love or revenge. It wasn't a 57 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: Romeo and juliet story, or at least it wasn't entirely 58 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: a Romeo and Juliette's story. The Mistress Mary that Sarah 59 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: was madly and wildly in love, and in her desperation, 60 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: Prince Rudolph saw an opportunity. He would bring her down 61 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: with him if it meant he'd didn't have to go alone. 62 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: I'm Danis Schwartz, and this is noble blood. Rudolph, the 63 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 1: crown Prince of the Austro Hungarian Empire, was born in 64 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,839 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty eight to a father who almost immediately despised 65 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,480 Speaker 1: him and a mother who had no time or energy 66 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: for him. The Emperor friends Joseph was an old school 67 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 1: Habsburg Conservative, a militaristic leader who valued discipline and formality 68 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: above most other things. The Empress Elizabeth, commonly known as Cissy, 69 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 1: was known for being beautiful, but her fixation on maintaining 70 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: her youth and beauty and figure could accurately be described 71 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: as obsession. Neither the Emperor nor the Empress had the 72 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: time nor inclination for parenthood. Austria Hungary wasn't like England, 73 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:02,239 Speaker 1: where Queen Victoria level. Than creating a picture of warm 74 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: and happy domesticity, no things were formal and rigid. Rudolph's 75 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: contact with his parents was akin to a modern day 76 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 1: relationship with a polite coworker. When Rudolph was five, he 77 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: came down with a case of typhoid. His mother refused 78 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 1: to cut short her vacation to Bavaria to return home 79 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: to him. She was the type of mother who did 80 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: eventually respond to his letters, but usually after waiting a 81 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 1: few days. At age six, Rudolph's education began under a 82 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,719 Speaker 1: major General who was informed that his job was to 83 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,479 Speaker 1: toughen up the nervous young prince. To that end, the 84 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: major General forced the Crown Prince to do military drills 85 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: outside at six in the morning every morning, rain or snow. 86 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: Sometimes in the middle of the night, the major General 87 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,599 Speaker 1: would creep into the little boy's bedroom and fire a 88 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 1: gun several times, you know, to toughen him up. Once, 89 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: the Crown Prince was brought to the zoo, where he 90 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: was locked in a cage. While the boy screamed and 91 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: cried in terror, the major General shouted at him through 92 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: the bars that a wild boar was coming to eat him. Unsurprisingly, 93 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: the tax did not help toughen Rudolph up. He became 94 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: prone to bed wedding and night terrors that culminated in 95 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: a nervous breakdown at seven years old. The official story 96 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: from the palace was that Rudolph had diphtheria. As his 97 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,919 Speaker 1: education progressed, Rudolph was presented with a series of fifty 98 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: tutors for a seemingly infinite number of subjects a dozen languages, 99 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:50,039 Speaker 1: military history, diplomacy, economics. From eight in the morning until 100 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: nine at night, the crown Prince was drilled in the 101 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: things that his father decided a prince should know. Emperor 102 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: Franz Joseph wrote the prince quote us not become a 103 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: free thinker, but he should thoroughly become acquainted with the 104 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: conditions and requirements of modern times. Still, Rudolph's teenage rebellion 105 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: led to private, furtive writings about atheism, and Rudolph further 106 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 1: rebelled against his father privately by writing about his liberal 107 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: ideas for the future of Europe. But his patchwork education 108 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: had real consequences. Though he knew a little about a 109 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: lot of subjects, Rudolph was never able to gain the 110 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: critical thinking abilities to digest contradicting information. He wanted a 111 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: liberal Europe, but he never for a second questioned his 112 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: own divine right to be ruler. His education was shallow 113 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: and wrote, with no time for Rudolph to learn how 114 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: to think methodically or to tease out the contradictions in 115 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: his philosophies, and so by the time his formal education 116 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: ended a few a week shy of his nineteenth birthday, 117 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: Rudolph was a deeply unpleasant man, moody and prideful, prone 118 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: to making rash judgments and dramatic proclamations, but without the 119 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 1: patients or humility to try to understand things deeply. Rudolph's 120 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: father made him a colonel, but Rudolph approached his military 121 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: duties with a complete lack of interest. His fellow officers 122 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,679 Speaker 1: would see him staring out into the distance, either looking 123 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: bored or tired, or both. One afternoon, during a regiment report, 124 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,600 Speaker 1: Rudolph stared at the ground for ten minutes straight while 125 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: another officer was discussing important logistical matters. Finally, at one 126 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 1: point Rudolph interrupted him. Every other officer stared at the 127 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: Crown Prince, eager with anticipation. He almost never spoken meetings 128 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: there's dirt on my shoe, he said. Finally, you there, groom, 129 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: come wipe it off. The nearby servant quickly came over 130 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:07,200 Speaker 1: and knelt with a rag. When Rudolph's shoe was clean, 131 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 1: the meeting continued, and Rudolph returned to staring blankly into space. 132 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: His political career as a young man was marred with 133 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: frequent social faux pa and a sarcastic attitude that bordered 134 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: on cruel, especially with his mother and younger sister. Here 135 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 1: he was the only son and crown prince of the 136 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:35,680 Speaker 1: most powerful royal family in the world, but until his 137 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,240 Speaker 1: father died, he had no purpose in life. His only 138 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: sense of purpose or meaning came from his position as 139 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:47,120 Speaker 1: a crown prince, and so Rudolph enforced rigid protocol around 140 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 1: his position, which only served to isolate him from his 141 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: family Further, Rudolph began spending his time getting drunk at 142 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: seedy taverns, having affairs with women, and becoming a regular 143 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: customer at Vienna's best brothels. He kept a book of 144 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: his conquests, color coded by whether or not they had 145 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:13,800 Speaker 1: been virgins. When Rudolph's reputation became something murmured and politely 146 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: coughed about. In the emperor's presence. Friends, Joseph insisted that 147 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: his son get married. Reluctantly, Rudolph agreed. He rejected two 148 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: women right away for not being attractive enough, but finally 149 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,960 Speaker 1: he agreed on marrying Princess Stephanie of Belgium. He went 150 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:35,840 Speaker 1: on a trip to Brussels to dutifully propose to his 151 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: bride to be, but the entire arrangement was almost torn 152 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 1: up when his future mother in law walked in to 153 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:48,920 Speaker 1: see Rudolph infal Grante with an actress in his bedroom. 154 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: He had brought a girlfriend along to Brussels to keep 155 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: him company for the trip where he was supposed to propose, 156 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: but these diplomatic matches were more important than fidela, at 157 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,559 Speaker 1: least on the part of the groom. Twenty three year 158 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:08,200 Speaker 1: old Rudolph became engaged to fifteen year old Princess Stephanie, 159 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: although the wedding had to be postponed for a year 160 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:15,200 Speaker 1: when it was discovered that Stephanie hadn't yet begun to menstright. 161 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: The optimistic young princess learned very quickly that her relationship 162 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:25,839 Speaker 1: with her new husband would be cordial at best. They 163 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:28,960 Speaker 1: managed to produce a daughter, but Rudolph spent most of 164 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: his time out at those ced taverns, you know, the 165 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:35,120 Speaker 1: type of place where men played cards and women danced 166 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: on tables. He didn't even bother trying to keep his 167 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: affairs a secret. Everyone knew he was out at brothels 168 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:45,680 Speaker 1: that he spent most of his time with his favorite prostitute, 169 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: a young woman named Mitzi Casper. Even so, the marriage 170 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:56,080 Speaker 1: didn't entirely collapse until Crown Prince Rudolph infected both himself 171 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:01,239 Speaker 1: and his wife with gonorrhea. The disease ease was incredibly 172 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:05,200 Speaker 1: painful and would flare up at random intervals, but it 173 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 1: was even worse for Princess Stephanie. It had shriveled her 174 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:14,200 Speaker 1: fallopian tubes. Her husband had made her infertile, and rendered 175 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: her incapable of doing the single task required of her 176 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: to make a male heir. From that point on, the 177 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: relationship between husband and wife was formal and distant, a 178 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:32,559 Speaker 1: contract between countries. Rudolph was less a husband to her 179 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:35,600 Speaker 1: and more of a jailer, someone who kept her in 180 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:40,280 Speaker 1: a cruel and distant country and constantly humiliated her again 181 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 1: and again with his infidelity. As for Rudolph, the gonorrhea 182 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:50,680 Speaker 1: led to prescriptions of morphine and opium and cocaine, which 183 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:54,200 Speaker 1: he added to his regular habits of kogniac and Champagne. 184 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: The depressive crown Prince, now all but ignored for political tasks, 185 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: entirely retreated into a world of instant gratification and pleasure. 186 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 1: He surrounded himself with people who flattered him and made 187 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: him feel important. After all, he was the crown Prince 188 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:18,320 Speaker 1: of the Austro Hungarian Empire. He was supposed to always 189 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: feel important. Mary vet Sarah had very little in the 190 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 1: way of formal education. Her mother, Helene, sent her to 191 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: an institute for daughters of the nobility, where Mary would 192 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: learn the skills to become a good society wife one day, 193 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 1: the dancing and the table manners and the like. In truth, 194 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,280 Speaker 1: Mary was just the daughter of a minor baron, and 195 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: her upward mobility in terms of social hierarchy was already 196 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,960 Speaker 1: limited by the less than spotless reputation of her mother. 197 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: Helene had been the type of woman that established matriarchs 198 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:03,959 Speaker 1: of Viennese society refused to make eye contact with. Back 199 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: when Helene was thirty two, she seduced the twenty year 200 00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 1: old Crown Prince Rudolph himself, and since Mary had begun 201 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:15,559 Speaker 1: appearing in the society scene at age fifteen, she had 202 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:19,640 Speaker 1: started building a similar reputation for herself. There was no 203 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 1: denying that she was pretty, with dark hair and dark 204 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: flashing eyes. Women muttered that her large bosom made her 205 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: figure unbalanced, but men tended to stare at it. People 206 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: rarely described Mary that Sarah as an intellectual. There are 207 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 1: other adjectives that crop up, vivacious, attention loving, captivating a flirt. 208 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,760 Speaker 1: She seemed to have very little interest in art or music. 209 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: Her primary loves were gossiping about her exploits in a 210 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 1: way that even her friends found indecorous, and second the 211 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: scandalous French romance novels that she had her maid sneaked to. 212 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:04,840 Speaker 1: Her tragedy had come to the vet Sera family early. 213 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:10,040 Speaker 1: When Mary was ten years old, her brother Ladislav died 214 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 1: in an explosion at the Viennese Ring Theater. Ladislav was sixteen, 215 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:18,320 Speaker 1: and he was one of five cadets at the military 216 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:22,120 Speaker 1: academy who were given complimentary tickets to an opera for 217 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: outstanding performance that night. A malfunction with the stage lights 218 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: caused a gas explosion that engulfed the entire theater in flames. 219 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 1: Crowds trampled each other trying to reach the emergency exit doors, 220 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: which only swung in, trapping the occupants inside. Ladislav's body 221 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: was only identified because his mother Helene, recognized the cuff 222 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:49,680 Speaker 1: links that he had been wearing. But the event didn't 223 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: seem to affect young Mary too deeply, far from becoming morbid. 224 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:56,960 Speaker 1: If anything, as she grew into a young woman, she 225 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: became impatient for I am er for excitement, for scandal, 226 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:07,119 Speaker 1: for love. If life was fleeting, why waste it waiting 227 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: through the insufferably restrictive formalities of Austrian high society when 228 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: it was so much more fun to make interesting things happen. 229 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:21,000 Speaker 1: Preserving her virtue had very little appeal for Mary. When 230 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 1: there were so many men that she saw staring at her, 231 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 1: Mary didn't concern herself with their age or whether or 232 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:32,320 Speaker 1: not they were married. Her flirtations became games of conquest, 233 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: and Mary, intellectual or not, was very good at games. 234 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: But fate came for Mary vet Serah when she saw 235 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: the Crown Prince Rudolph in the royal box at a 236 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: horse race. He was so close that she could watch him, 237 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: studying him in profile as the sun led him from behind. 238 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: His light mustache the curl, and his brown hair. The 239 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:05,879 Speaker 1: black cape he wore embroidered with golden squares. He was magnificent, 240 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 1: like the hero of one of her French romance novels. 241 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: When the two were introduced at a ball, she practically 242 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: spun home informing her maid that she had finally seen 243 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:21,440 Speaker 1: the Crown Prince and that he was beautiful. The teenage 244 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: infatuation came easily for Mary. Like almost every girl her age, 245 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:30,040 Speaker 1: she had souvenir post cards that featured the young Crown Prince, 246 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: much in the same way a young Cape Middleton had 247 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 1: a poster of Prince William. For Mary's mother, Helene, she 248 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: was content to indulge in the infatuation, After all, she 249 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:44,480 Speaker 1: had had her own brief affair with the Prince. Helene 250 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 1: was perfectly happy to wink and close the door on 251 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,679 Speaker 1: Mary in one of her many suitors, and so she 252 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: found very little to condemn when Mary began taking her 253 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: carriage out to the prater every day, hoping to accidentally 254 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: see Rudolph. But those meetings soon became less accidental. Rudolph 255 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 1: had a cousin named Countess Marie Larrish, the type of 256 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:12,280 Speaker 1: woman who delighted to indulge in any shred of gossip 257 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 1: if it made things more entertaining for her. She was 258 00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:18,480 Speaker 1: also the type of woman who knew exactly how to 259 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:23,399 Speaker 1: exploit an opportunity for profit. Rudolph had been seeing women 260 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:28,280 Speaker 1: mistress's prostitutes prostitute who became mistresses since the beginning of 261 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:32,320 Speaker 1: his unhappy marriage to Princess Stephanie, and his cousin, the 262 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:36,640 Speaker 1: Countess was usually good at procuring those women for him 263 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:41,400 Speaker 1: for a price. As the affair between the very married 264 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,120 Speaker 1: thirty year old Rudolph and the sixteen year old Mary 265 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:50,359 Speaker 1: that Sarah began, Countess Larish began taking little fees both 266 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: from Mary and Rudolph to act as a go between 267 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,679 Speaker 1: for their meetings, and by little fees the equivalent today 268 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: of a few hundred thousand dollars, the Countess would tell 269 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: Mary that she needed to pay up if she ever 270 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:08,439 Speaker 1: wanted to see the Crown Prince again. To Rudolph, the 271 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:12,399 Speaker 1: Countess would not so indiscreetly let him know that he 272 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,960 Speaker 1: would pay if he wanted certain matters to remain private, 273 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:19,720 Speaker 1: and so for a good part of the year, young 274 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,840 Speaker 1: Mary would be swept away from her home by the Countess, 275 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:27,119 Speaker 1: who delivered her to Rudolph whenever he requested, before she 276 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 1: was spent safely deposited back to her mother. Helene and 277 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,320 Speaker 1: the Countess were close. The married countess herself had had 278 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: two illegitimate children by one of Helene's brothers. But what 279 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:42,879 Speaker 1: was just meant to be a trifling little fling soon 280 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:47,440 Speaker 1: became so much more for young Mary. One afternoon, as 281 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:50,640 Speaker 1: the Countess escorted Mary up the back stairs and through 282 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:55,159 Speaker 1: the kitchens to Rudolph's chambers at Hofburg Palace, Mary gingerly 283 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: stepped ahead. Oh don't worry, I know the way, she smiled. 284 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 1: Mary had been sidestepping her escort and had already visited 285 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:09,399 Speaker 1: the palace without the Countess realizing Mary's affair had taken 286 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:13,680 Speaker 1: on a life of its own. Once, without telling anyone 287 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:17,359 Speaker 1: except her maid, Mary snuck to the Hofburg Palace in 288 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:20,880 Speaker 1: the middle of the night wearing only a lingerie nightgown 289 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:27,480 Speaker 1: and a fur coat. He's going to annul his marriage 290 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: to that awful princess Stephanie, and Mary me Mary would 291 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: tell her sister, Hannah. Hanna just rolled her eyes and 292 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 1: called her sister a stupid child. I can't believe she's 293 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:41,639 Speaker 1: so in love with the Crown Prince. You can't imagine 294 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,200 Speaker 1: anything so silly, and she has no idea how ridiculous 295 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: it is, Hannah said. Their mother, Helene found it better 296 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: just to dismiss it altogether. Your sister isn't very well, 297 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 1: she said simply. Mary didn't look well. Her eyes had 298 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:01,080 Speaker 1: begun to take on an evil glint, especially when she 299 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:04,639 Speaker 1: spoke of Princess Stephanie, and she began to revel in 300 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: her new found power to torment Princess Stephanie and to 301 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:13,360 Speaker 1: captivate the scornful attention of society. One afternoon, when Rudolph 302 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: and the Princess were at the theater to see a 303 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:20,680 Speaker 1: Sarah Bernhardt performance, Mary caused a scandal when she arrived 304 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,879 Speaker 1: wearing an extremely low cut dress and then spent the 305 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:29,560 Speaker 1: entire performance openly staring at the Royal Box instead of 306 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 1: the stage. Her visits to Rudolph were always on his terms, 307 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: but that just made them so much more electric charged 308 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:43,040 Speaker 1: in their urgency. I cannot live without having seen or 309 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:46,439 Speaker 1: spoken to him, Mary, said once to her piano tutor, 310 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:49,680 Speaker 1: I know this love is a happy dream from which 311 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: I shall have to wake. But Mary didn't want to wake. 312 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: She had caught the object of her affection, the ultimate prize, 313 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: and she refused to let him go, or rather to 314 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 1: let go of her fantasies of how they might be. 315 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: He seemed to really like her when they were together, 316 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: and from that she was able to convince herself that 317 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,960 Speaker 1: he loved her too. He even gave her a ring, 318 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 1: what she secretly called her wedding ring. It was a 319 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,600 Speaker 1: silly thing, made of cheap iron, but it was engraved. 320 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: The Crown Prince had engraved it with the letters I 321 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:33,680 Speaker 1: lv B I DT. They stood for a German phrase, 322 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:40,560 Speaker 1: please pardon my pronunciation in liebe verand been indistant, we 323 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 1: are united by love until death. The year Crown Prince 324 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: Rudolph turned thirty, his inner circle began to notice a 325 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: change in him. Though he had always been moody, his 326 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,920 Speaker 1: moods began to get violent. On a hunt with his father, 327 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,360 Speaker 1: Rudolf fired his weapon so off kilter that he almost 328 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:10,840 Speaker 1: killed the Emperor. Franz Joseph and the rest of the 329 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,200 Speaker 1: family privately believed that maybe Rudolph had been trying to 330 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,679 Speaker 1: kill him on purpose, so that he could be the 331 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:21,240 Speaker 1: emperor himself. From that point on, Franz Joseph avoided being 332 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:24,920 Speaker 1: alone with his son. The same was true for his wife, 333 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:29,520 Speaker 1: Princess Stephanie. She noticed her husband's strange moods, the dark 334 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,399 Speaker 1: circles beneath his eyes, the way he would casually toy 335 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 1: with a trigger of a pistol as he spoke to her. 336 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: She was afraid of him. Princess Stephanie went to her 337 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: father in law and begged Emperor Franz Joseph to send 338 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:47,720 Speaker 1: Rudolf on a trip to do something, anything to pull 339 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,760 Speaker 1: him out of his strange malaise. Can't you please do something, 340 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:55,840 Speaker 1: she said, your son isn't well. She was surprised by 341 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: the emotion in her voice. She so rarely ever spoke 342 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:04,159 Speaker 1: with her husband's family. Franz Joseph told her that she 343 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: was overreacting. You're giving way to fancies, my dear, he said, 344 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:15,320 Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with Rudolph. After Stephanie left the Emperor's chamber, 345 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,320 Speaker 1: a page caught up to her to inform her that 346 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:21,919 Speaker 1: from now on she should follow protocol and only speak 347 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 1: to the Emperor after requesting a formal audience through his secretaries. Meanwhile, 348 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:34,560 Speaker 1: Rudolph had become fascinated with stories about death and suicide. Suicide, 349 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:39,199 Speaker 1: especially theatrical suicides, were practically entertainment in Vienna at the 350 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:44,240 Speaker 1: turn of the nineteenth century. Newspaper readers delighted themselves with 351 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:48,120 Speaker 1: stories of chilling and romantic deaths. There was the young 352 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 1: couple who ate a formal lunch of chicken and champagne 353 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: and then went into a cemetery hand in hand to 354 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 1: shoot themselves. The woman who put on a wedding dress 355 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,160 Speaker 1: and jumped off a train. The woman who was singing 356 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:04,159 Speaker 1: in the national anthem as she leapt from her apartment window. 357 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,040 Speaker 1: Tightrope walker who hanged himself out of his own window, 358 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,480 Speaker 1: visible to the street below, and left a note that said, 359 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,760 Speaker 1: the rope was my life and the rope is my death. 360 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,760 Speaker 1: Ridolf was particularly fascinated by the story of the famous 361 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 1: Hungarian sportsman Is van Kigel, who shot himself and used 362 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: a small hand held mirror to aim correctly. When Rudolf 363 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,639 Speaker 1: read that he couldn't talk about anything else for weeks, 364 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,640 Speaker 1: would you kill yourself with me? If I asked Rudolph 365 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: asked his private secretary. The secretary responded that although he 366 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,479 Speaker 1: would consider it a great honor, no, he wasn't willing 367 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:49,160 Speaker 1: to kill himself. Rudolph asked another officer on his staff, 368 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:54,640 Speaker 1: who also politely declined. Both men quietly asked for reassignments. 369 00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,439 Speaker 1: Mitzi Caspar, the long time lover of the Crown Prince, 370 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 1: is used to his waxing poetical about suicide. He would 371 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: often show up, drink a bottle of champagne and talk 372 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:09,679 Speaker 1: about killing himself. At this point, she was used to it, 373 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: but one evening he showed up talking about suicide with 374 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 1: such a grim and haunted look in his eyes that 375 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,959 Speaker 1: Mitzy couldn't get it out of her head. The next afternoon, 376 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 1: she went to the police station to report the conversation 377 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:28,399 Speaker 1: to the Chief of Police. If you repeat anything that 378 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: the Crown Prince said to you to anyone else, the 379 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:37,639 Speaker 1: police chief threatened, you will be prosecuted. Chastised, Mitsy returned 380 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,840 Speaker 1: to her apartments, waiting for the next time Rudolph would come. 381 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,879 Speaker 1: His final interaction with Mitsy would happen a few weeks later. 382 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:51,160 Speaker 1: Rudolph showed up drunk and spent two hours drinking more 383 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: and telling Mitsy that suicide was the only heroic answer, 384 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,639 Speaker 1: the only way to make the vague statement that he 385 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: needed to make. He was rambling, verging on scary, but 386 00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: after the police chief's threats, Mitzy didn't tell anyone. Before 387 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,840 Speaker 1: Rudolph left that night, he did something he had never 388 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 1: done before. Rudolph, a devout atheist, made the sign of 389 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:25,840 Speaker 1: the Cross on Mitzy's forehead. Rudolph spent Christmas with his family, 390 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: where his mother pulled him aside to beg him to 391 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,840 Speaker 1: be a little kinder to his younger sister, who had 392 00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: been the object of so much of his sarcasm and cruelty. 393 00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 1: I do love you, you know, Rudolph said, the cold 394 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:44,359 Speaker 1: and beautiful in brist Elizabeth. To her surprise, Rudolph began 395 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:48,040 Speaker 1: to sob, though he was a man of thirty. He 396 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,720 Speaker 1: fell to his knees and hugged his mother's skirts, crying 397 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 1: like a child. You haven't said those words to me 398 00:27:55,800 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 1: in a long time, he gasped. The Emperor Empress just 399 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:07,480 Speaker 1: stood there, motionless and embarrassed by their son's humiliating display. 400 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 1: Maybe they didn't realize, or maybe they weren't capable of 401 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:14,760 Speaker 1: realizing that he was begging for help one final time. 402 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,919 Speaker 1: A few weeks later, Rudolph told the Countess Marie to 403 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,639 Speaker 1: pick up Mary that Sarah and bring her to the 404 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:28,520 Speaker 1: palace immediately. She obliged. The Countess told Mary's mother that 405 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: they were going to go shopping, but instead they went 406 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:36,240 Speaker 1: directly to the Hofburg Palace. Here Rudolf said, take this 407 00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: money and bribe your driver to say that you've lost 408 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:43,520 Speaker 1: Mary while you were out shopping. The Countess obliged, and 409 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: when hours later she returned to Mary's house without Mary, 410 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 1: that was the story she told Helene in a dramatic 411 00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:55,920 Speaker 1: performance worthy of being on the stage. At that very moment, 412 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,479 Speaker 1: Mary and the Crown Prince were riding to Maryland Hunting 413 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: Lodge in the Woods, a few hours carriage ride outside 414 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 1: of the city, where Rudolph had quickly arranged a hunting 415 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 1: trip with a few of his friends. As soon as 416 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: the two arrived, they were treated to the Crown Prince's room, 417 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,440 Speaker 1: where Mary remained hidden, taking her meals there even as 418 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: Rudolph left to eat dinner with his guests. The lovers 419 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: were embarking on what Mary believed to be her romantic 420 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 1: destiny side by side, they wrote letters together, letters to 421 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,520 Speaker 1: their friends and families to be read after their deaths. 422 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,160 Speaker 1: That night, before they went to bed, Rudolph went to 423 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:42,440 Speaker 1: his valet Lashek, and made a simple and clear declaration. 424 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:46,280 Speaker 1: You are not to let anyone into these rooms, not 425 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:52,880 Speaker 1: even the Emperor. Loschek said he understood. Mary, seventeen years old, 426 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 1: was wearing the olive green ice skating outfit that she 427 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,720 Speaker 1: had traveled in that she had been wearing when she 428 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:02,280 Speaker 1: told her mother that two is going out shopping. She 429 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:06,160 Speaker 1: smiled and gave Loshek a gold watch encrusted with diamonds. 430 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 1: The valet watched as they closed the door behind them. 431 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: The next morning, Mary and Rudolph were found both covered 432 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 1: in blood. Mary was on the right side of the bed, 433 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,520 Speaker 1: closer to the door, her body in full rigor mortis, 434 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:27,440 Speaker 1: her eyes still open, her hair down, a handkerchief still 435 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,360 Speaker 1: clutched in her hand. The bullet had entered her left 436 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,240 Speaker 1: temple and blew off the right of her skull. In 437 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 1: official reports, Count Hoyas and Loschek both scrambled when we 438 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:43,880 Speaker 1: described what she was wearing. She was fully dressed, Loshek said, 439 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 1: in a black dress. Pas wrote, but Mary hadn't brought 440 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 1: a black dress. She had only brought the olive green 441 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,080 Speaker 1: clothes that were found folded neatly on a nearby chair. 442 00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 1: The men, awkward and formal, were trying to cover up 443 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 1: the fact that she was found naked. Rudolph was seated 444 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: on the other side of the bed, his head hanging 445 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 1: low and blood congealing at his nose and mouth. His 446 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:19,960 Speaker 1: body was only in the beginning stages of rigor mortis. 447 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: Doctors estimated that Rudolph had shot Mary six hours before 448 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:31,000 Speaker 1: he finally decided to shoot himself. After the shock of 449 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,480 Speaker 1: the gore, of the sight of blood splatter on the headboard, 450 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: and the visible brain, the details of the room began 451 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:42,560 Speaker 1: to come into focus one by one. The crystal tumbler 452 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 1: on the bedside table still filled with brandy, two shattered 453 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: champagne glasses on the floor, a broken coffee cup, and 454 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:56,760 Speaker 1: next to Rudolph a small handheld mirror like e Doan 455 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:01,320 Speaker 1: Kigel had used to perfect his deadly aim. The three 456 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:04,720 Speaker 1: men who found the bodies, the Valet Looshak, Count Hoyas, 457 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: and Coburg, sent a telegraph immediately to the court physician. 458 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: Coburg was too distraught to move, so Hoyas was sent 459 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:16,200 Speaker 1: to rush back to Vienna to tell the Emperor that 460 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: his son was dead. Remember, Coburg said, not a word 461 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:23,320 Speaker 1: of this can get out until the Emperor knows, so 462 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:27,960 Speaker 1: tell no one. Of course, Hoyas responded, not a soul. 463 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: He rushed to the train station and demanded to board 464 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,640 Speaker 1: the next train bound for Vienna that passed through the station. 465 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:37,720 Speaker 1: The station master said that the next train was an 466 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: express and it wasn't stopping there. For God's sake, Man 467 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:45,320 Speaker 1: Hoya shouted, the Crown Princess shot himself. The train stopped, 468 00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:49,960 Speaker 1: and Hoyas made it to Vienna. Meanwhile, the station master 469 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: had telephoned his brother in law, who telephoned the German embassy, 470 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,080 Speaker 1: who informed the British embassy. The only government that didn't 471 00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,240 Speaker 1: seem to know that Prince Rudolph was lying in a 472 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:03,240 Speaker 1: pile of his own blood was his own. Hayas was 473 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:07,880 Speaker 1: so unnerved by the scene, so embarrassed by the Prince's actions, 474 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,840 Speaker 1: by the violence, the blood, the nudity the mistress, that 475 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,280 Speaker 1: he tried to soften the story. When he got to 476 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 1: the palace, I didn't even see the bodies, he lied 477 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:22,160 Speaker 1: the Valet told me they poisoned themselves. None of the 478 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 1: officers wanted to be the one to tell the Emperor. 479 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:27,800 Speaker 1: It was decided that the only person who could tell 480 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:32,360 Speaker 1: Franz Joseph was his wife, the Empress. A minister interrupted 481 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:36,600 Speaker 1: her Greek lesson, hat in hand. He informed the Empress 482 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 1: that Mary that Sarah had poisoned Prince Rudolph, and then, 483 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 1: in her guilt, she had taken her own life. Rudolph's 484 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:48,360 Speaker 1: younger sister came in to see their mother weeping. He's 485 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:53,800 Speaker 1: killed himself, hasn't he, Valerie said. Elizabeth gasped and physically 486 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 1: stepped away from her daughter. Why would you think that, 487 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: she said, No, it's probably no certain that the girl 488 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 1: poisoned him. By the time they got around to telling 489 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:08,959 Speaker 1: Rudolph's wife, Stephanie, the official story was determined. There would 490 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,800 Speaker 1: be no sordid details of murder or suicide or an affair. 491 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,719 Speaker 1: They would say that Rudolph had a heart attack. It 492 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:19,400 Speaker 1: was just like when he was seven years old having 493 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: a nervous breakdown when they said it was diphtheria. Better 494 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 1: to cover up to obstocate. The most important thing is 495 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:33,640 Speaker 1: preserving royal decorum. Meanwhile, Mary's mother, Helene, had spent the 496 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:36,560 Speaker 1: past two days desperately trying to get the Chief of 497 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:40,360 Speaker 1: Police to take her missing daughter seriously. The moment he 498 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:42,920 Speaker 1: found out that Mary had been having an affair with 499 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:46,239 Speaker 1: the prince, the chief of police refused to get involved. 500 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 1: The royal family's personal life is none of our business, 501 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: he said. When finally Helene made it to the palace 502 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:57,400 Speaker 1: to ask if anyone knew the whereabouts of Rudolph or Mary, 503 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:02,320 Speaker 1: the servants tried to usher her away. Elizabeth heard Helene 504 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:05,600 Speaker 1: at the door. You're telling me the poor woman knows nothing, 505 00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:08,640 Speaker 1: the Empress muttered to her lady in waiting. Let her 506 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:13,400 Speaker 1: in without so much as a moment's introduction. The Empress 507 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:17,240 Speaker 1: gathered her height and told Helene to collect her courage. 508 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:21,279 Speaker 1: Your daughter is dead, she said, simply, so is my son. 509 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: Helene wept and was escorted out, while Elizabeth called after her. 510 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: Remember the Crown Prince died of heart failure. Back at Marylyn. 511 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,080 Speaker 1: The Crown Prince's head was bandaged and his body was 512 00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:41,640 Speaker 1: covered with a white sheet. When word finally reached the 513 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:45,440 Speaker 1: palace that it had actually been a suicide, the Emperor 514 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:49,680 Speaker 1: requested special dispensation from the Vatican to permit a royal 515 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:54,000 Speaker 1: burial anyway, which he was granted because, as the Emperor said, 516 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: the prince didn't know what he was doing. He hadn't 517 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:02,080 Speaker 1: been in his right mind. Mary's body was brought to 518 00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:06,560 Speaker 1: a store room and covered haphazardly with her clothes. She 519 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: was given a quiet, secret burial near by. Her family 520 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:14,919 Speaker 1: wasn't permitted to attend. The only connection they had left 521 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:17,840 Speaker 1: to their daughter were the letters that she had written 522 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 1: to them on Marling stationary. Dear mother, Mary wrote, forgive 523 00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:26,640 Speaker 1: me for what I have done. I could not resist love. 524 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,799 Speaker 1: I am happier in death than in life. To her 525 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 1: sister Hannah, Mary wrote, think of me now and again, 526 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:38,200 Speaker 1: and Mary, only for love. I could not do so. 527 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:40,960 Speaker 1: And as I could not resist love, I am going 528 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,960 Speaker 1: with him. Do not cry for me. I am going 529 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:47,160 Speaker 1: to the other side in peace. It is beautiful here. 530 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 1: Rudolph was tortured and lost. He felt useless, and he 531 00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:56,040 Speaker 1: was going mad from disease and the drugs and the alcohol, 532 00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:59,120 Speaker 1: and the emptiness of a life in which he had 533 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: been given everything. But for Mary, her death was merely 534 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,719 Speaker 1: a gift for her lover, a way to immortalize that 535 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,680 Speaker 1: larger than life, obsessive love that can only happen when 536 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:15,360 Speaker 1: you're seventeen years old. She would be forever part of 537 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,920 Speaker 1: his story after all. Maybe in the back of her 538 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,520 Speaker 1: mind she knew that he would never leave his wife 539 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:25,440 Speaker 1: for her, that he would never marry her. This was 540 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:28,640 Speaker 1: the only version of their story where they would end 541 00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:33,440 Speaker 1: up together. Rudolph had wanted someone devoted enough that he 542 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:36,759 Speaker 1: wouldn't have to die alone. He saw the love in 543 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:39,880 Speaker 1: Mary that Sarah's eyes, and he knew what to do 544 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:49,880 Speaker 1: with it. That's the tragic story of the Maryland incident. 545 00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:52,759 Speaker 1: But stick around after a brief sponsor break to hear 546 00:37:52,800 --> 00:38:07,520 Speaker 1: about how Rudolph's death reshaped europe. Crown Prince Rudolph's death 547 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:11,560 Speaker 1: meant that his father, Franz Joseph no longer had an heir. 548 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:16,000 Speaker 1: The next male Habsburg in line was Franz Joseph's brother, 549 00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:19,880 Speaker 1: who died, which meant that the next in line was 550 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:26,560 Speaker 1: his son, Rudolph's cousin, an archduke named Franz Ferdinand. Archduke 551 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: Franz Ferdinand didn't live long enough to take the throne 552 00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:33,279 Speaker 1: as Emperor of the Austro Hungarian Empire either, he and 553 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:37,680 Speaker 1: his wife were assassinated and Sarah Gavo by a Bosnian Serb, 554 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 1: which ignited all of Europe to fall into the First 555 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:48,200 Speaker 1: World War. One last final and very important note, if 556 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:52,040 Speaker 1: you were a loved one is having suicidal thoughts, please 557 00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:55,959 Speaker 1: know that help is available. Call the suicide hot line 558 00:38:55,960 --> 00:39:00,919 Speaker 1: now at one eight hundred two seven three eight two five. 559 00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:06,040 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and 560 00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:09,200 Speaker 1: Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The show is written 561 00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:12,480 Speaker 1: and hosted by Dana Schwartz and produced by Aaron Mankey, 562 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:16,880 Speaker 1: Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is 563 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:19,759 Speaker 1: on social media at Noble Blood Tales and you can 564 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:22,200 Speaker 1: learn more about the show over at Noble blood Tales 565 00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:25,600 Speaker 1: dot com. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit 566 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:28,840 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 567 00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:30,160 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.