How, exactly, should one address a direct descendant of the last Austro-Hungarian Emperor, Franz Joseph I? Definitely not “Hi, mate!” or “G’day, Archie”. The distinguished 40-year-old beneficiary of the Danube dynasty that dominated entire swathes of Central Europe – from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century – is waiting to welcome guests to his imperial mansion in the snow-capped Austrian Alps. To live in such a place, a royal residence elevated above the amiable spa town of Bad Ischl, must be to discover a treasure every day of the year.
Compared to the Habsburg family’s formerly owned Hofburg and Schonbrunn palaces, in Vienna, the Kaiservilla is a miniature – neither overly ornate nor ostentatious – an exquisite wedding gift to the emperor from his mother Princess Sophie of Bavaria in 1854. Hypnotised by the adornments of nobility, the splashing fountain writhing with classical allusions and the meadows radiant in sunshine, I am slow to notice Maximilian Habsburg-Lothringen emerge under a balcony overhung with vines. There is no trumpet fanfare announcing my audience with the two-times great-grandson of a Habsburg emperor, just an outstretched hand, and a smile.
“Herr is fine,” explains the man in a greenish-grey loden jacket who might have been archduke. Aristocratic titles have been prohibited in Austria since the Habsburgs renounced all claims to the throne – enabling retention of the imperial villa and the private fortune – after World .