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318:(1858–1889), a married man 13 years her senior, after returning from Cairo following the death of her father. In November of that year, she managed to meet him and soon they began an affair. She was 17 and he was 30. Upon finding out, her family reacted negatively: her sister Hanna called her foolish, and her mother was enraged, accusing her of compromising herself and ruining the lives of all of her family members. Historian Lucy Coatman disputes Larisch's claims (who Georg Markus refers to), citing letters by Mary and from within the family which prove Helene and Hanna had no knowledge of Mary's affair with Rudolf until the tragedy occurred.
287:
Institute for
Daughters of the Nobility in the Salesian convent in Vienna's third district. When she came of age, her mother threw parties and tried to be invited to court so that she could find the best husband for her daughters. It seems that Vetsera had a strained relationship with her mother, confiding in a friend that "Mamma has no love for me... Ever since I was a little girl she has treated me like something she means to dispose of to the best advantage". During the winter of 1887, the Vetsera family travelled to
518:
322:
514:, and that Rudolf then shot himself. Lucy Coatman, who is planning a biography of Vetsera, argues against this, citing a letter written by Mary shortly before the Mayerling incident. In it, Mary confirms that she lost her virginity to Rudolf on 13 January 1889. Coatman states that this proves Mary could not have died of a botched abortion, as a pregnancy would not have been evident at the time of their deaths.
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483:
Gerd Holler and a member of the
Vetsera family, accompanied by other specialists, inspected her remains. The bones were in disarray, but shoes and long black hair were found in the coffin. Upon careful examination, Holler found no sign of a bullet wound on the skeleton. The skull cavity showed signs
286:
status she had as the wife of a newly made noble, and for this, she needed her daughters to marry into the best possible families. Vetsera was thus raised in a strict household under the pressure of having to climb socially and fulfill the dreams of her mother. For education, she was sent to the
549:
for further examination. Forensic experts found the bones were indeed 100 years old and those of a young woman aged around 20, but since part of the skull was missing, it could not be determined if there had ever been a bullet hole. Vetsera's bones were re-interred on 28 October 1993.
561:, where they had been placed in 1926. Written in Mayerling shortly before the deaths, they state clearly that Vetsera was preparing to die alongside Rudolf out of love for him. They were made available to scholars and exhibited to the public in 2016.
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Vetsera's maternal uncles were quickly summoned to remove their niece's body and bury it as discreetly as possible. Even her mother was forbidden to attend the ceremony. The body was taken to the closest cemetery, the one at the
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When
Flatzelsteiner approached a journalist to sell both the story and the skeleton, the police became involved. Flatzelsteiner confessed and surrendered Vetsera's remains, which were sent to the Legal Medical Institute in
367:. She wrote: "If I could give him my life I should be glad to do it, for what does life mean for me?" In her farewell note to her sister, she wrote "we are both going blissfully into the uncertain beyond."
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and opened the door from the inside. In the dark room, he found the crown prince sitting motionless by the side of the bed, leaning forward and bleeding from the mouth. Vetsera's body lay on the bed, with
345:, to which she reacted with a laugh. Later, Kaspar went to the police, concerned for the safety of the heir to the throne, but she was dismissed and told not to interfere with imperial affairs.
533:
at his expense, which took place in
February 1993. Flatzelsteiner told the examiners that the remains belonged to a relative killed 100 years earlier who may have been shot in the head or
923:"<italic>Elizabeth, Empress of Austria</italic>. By Count Egon Corti. Translated by Catherine Alison Phillips. (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1936. Pp. xii, 518. $ 4.00.)"
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510:, who had found that only one bullet was fired. Lacking forensic evidence of a second bullet, Holler advanced the theory that Vetsera died accidentally, probably as the result of an
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On 16 May 1889, Vetsera's mother had her daughter exhumed. Vetsera's remains were transferred from the original wooden coffin to a copper one and reburied.
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troops had disturbed
Vetsera's grave, and when it was being repaired in 1955, the monks found a small skeleton inside the coffin, with no apparent
541:, it could not be confirmed. Other experts confirmed the presence of the remains of a bullet, as well as the hair being singed from the impact.
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to
Vetsera. While he probably just did not want to die alone, Vetsera seemingly perceived the plans as the dramatic union-in-death of
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266:. Mary had three siblings, Ladislaus "Laci" (1865–1881), Johanna "Hanna" (1868–1901), and Franz Albin "Fery" (1872–1915).
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Crime at
Mayerling: The Life and Death of Mary Vetsera: With New Expert Opinions Following the Desecration of Her Grave
884:
Crime at
Mayerling: The Life and Death of Mary Vetsera: With New Expert Opinions Following the Desecration of Her Grave
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Crime at
Mayerling: The Life and Death of Mary Vetsera: With New Expert Opinions Following the Desecration of Her Grave
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Vetsera appears to have been deeply in love, maybe even thinking that she was a credible threat to her lover's wife,
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obtained copies of
Vetsera's farewell letters to her mother and other family members which had been found in a bank
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having already set in. Later it was determined that the crown prince had first shot Vetsera, then himself.
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The last photograph of Mary (on the right), wearing the dress in which she was buried. On the left is
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On 29 January 1889, the imperial couple hosted a family dinner party before leaving for
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In 1991, Vetsera's remains were disturbed again, this time by Helmut Flatzelsteiner, a
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von Vetsera was born on 19 March 1871 as the third child and second daughter of Albin
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von Vetsera's main goal was to advance socially, for which she had the support of the
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337:(1864–1945). Meanwhile, Rudolf was involved in a long-term relationship with actress
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Baltazzi children and married the eldest daughter. He was raised to the rank of
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on 30 January 1889, following an apparent murder-suicide, which is known as the
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furniture dealer obsessed with the Mayerling incident who removed them for a
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because of the illness of the father. While there, Vetsera supposedly had an
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Austrian noblewoman, mistress to Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (1871–1889)
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The Mayerling Tragedy: How and Why did Prince Rudolf and Mary Vetsera Die?
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A woman of Vienna, Joachim von KĂĽrenberg, Cassell, 1955, ASIN B001882BM8
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183:. Vetsera and the crown prince were found dead at his hunting lodge in
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After Kaspar had refused to die with him, the crown prince proposed a
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824:"Mayerling Journal; Lurid Truth and Lurid Legend: A Hapsburg Tale"
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Schmemann, Serge; Times, Special To the New York (10 March 1989).
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1038:"Mayerling Revisited: The Short Life and Death of Mary Vetsera"
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of the incident, including records of the investigation by an
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341:(1864–1907). It was to Kaspar that Rudolf first proposed a
783:"Scandal in the House of Habsburg: The Mayerling Incident"
1024:
from the Austrian National Library, 31 July 2015 (German)
659:, The Durham University Journal 84, no. 2, 1992, p. 204.
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Constantinople, Philip Mansel, Penguin Books Ltd, 1997,
378:. The crown prince excused himself and travelled to the
309:
578:
Crime at Mayerling: The Life and Death of Mary Vetsera
276:, even though she did not have the right to visit the
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744:(in Hungarian). Budapest: Európa. pp. 139–140.
401:In the end, Loschek smashed in a door panel with a
236:(1847–1925), member of a wealthy noble family from
484:of trauma, which could have been inflicted by the
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1085:Eulogy on Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary
118:Salesian Institute for Daughters of the Nobility
997:
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1051:(1). Illinois Wesleyan University. Article 6.
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398:joined him, and they tried to open the door.
169:Baroness Marie Alexandrine "Mary" von Vetsera
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740:von Wallersee-Larisch, Marie Louise (2017).
992:
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989:, Volume 58, No. 11, November 2008, p. 67.
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171:(19 March 1871 – 30 January 1889) was an
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314:In 1888, Vetsera became infatuated with
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673:. Riverside, CA: Ariadne. p. 22.
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422:Mary Vetsera's grave in Heiligenkreuz
310:Relationship with Crown Prince Rudolf
212:von Vetsera (1825–1887), an Austrian
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870:"Love is Dead | History Today"
646:, Dodd, Mead & Co, 1916, p. 111
327:Countess Marie Larisch von Moennich
280:. She wanted to break out from the
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968:Mayerling: Die Loesung des Ratsels
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889:
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781:Coatman, Lucy (8 February 2023).
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644:The Last Days of Archduke Rudolph
491:Holler claimed he petitioned the
460:was unchallenged until after the
1140:Austrian people of Greek descent
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1125:Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria
1036:Ridley, Chelsea (15 May 2011).
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899:Coatman, Lucy (February 2022).
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699:Ridley, Chelsea (15 May 2011).
181:Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria
128:Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria
1120:Burials at Heiligenkreuz Abbey
1115:Mistresses of Austrian royalty
927:The American Historical Review
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248:). Albin Vetsera had been the
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859:, Penguin Press, 1980, p. 219
768:, Ariadne Press, 1995, p. 30.
580:, Ariadne Press, 1995, p. 23.
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886:, Ariadne Press, 1995, p. 28
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1074:The Vetsera Collection
555:Austrian National Library
442:to give permission for a
224:(present day Bratislava,
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620:, Christopher Aidan Long
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335:Crown Princess Stéphanie
669:Markus, Georg (1995).
614:The Androom Archives:
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456:The official story of
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228:), and his wife, born
1069:Baroness Mary Vetsera
1045:Constructing the Past
1005:, Ariadne Press, 1995
705:Constructing the Past
553:On 31 July 2015, the
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195:Family and early life
130:, involvement in the
1135:Nobility from Vienna
1071:at Wikimedia Commons
1020:31 July 2015 at the
981:Murder at Mayerling?
935:10.1086/ahr/42.4.764
531:forensic examination
396:Hoyos-Stichstenstein
264:Emperor Franz Joseph
37:Mary Vetsera in 1888
1110:Austrian baronesses
1078:3 July 2013 at the
857:A Nervous Splendour
855:Morton, Frederick,
642:Grant, Hamil, ed.,
631:Baron Albin Vetsera
617:Baltazzi, Alexander
365:star-crossed lovers
316:Crown Prince Rudolf
173:Austrian noblewoman
828:The New York Times
671:Crime at Mayerling
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376:Kingdom of Hungary
355:Mayerling incident
339:Mizzi/Mitzi Kaspar
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293:Khedivate of Egypt
244:(then part of the
222:Kingdom of Hungary
199:Marie Alexandrine
189:Mayerling incident
132:Mayerling incident
47:Marie Alexandrine
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751:978-963-405-820-5
495:to inspect their
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794:14 February
394:Joseph von
262:in 1870 by
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1094:Categories
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505:Archbishop
429:Cistercian
59:1871-03-19
943:1937-5239
836:0362-4331
725:, p. 241.
481:physician
479:In 1959,
432:monastery
414:Aftermath
384:Mayerling
185:Mayerling
149:Parent(s)
115:Education
89:Mayerling
1076:Archived
1018:Archived
512:abortion
497:archives
493:Holy See
464:. After
448:insanity
372:Budapest
299:with an
270:Freifrau
259:Freiherr
254:orphaned
250:guardian
234:Baltazzi
226:Slovakia
214:diplomat
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177:mistress
175:and the
155:Freiherr
810:My Past
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535:stabbed
304:officer
301:English
283:parvenu
252:of the
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109:Austria
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547:Vienna
470:bullet
466:Soviet
403:hammer
297:affair
242:Greece
232:Hélène
230:Eleni
204:Freiin
152:Albin
142:Freiin
67:Vienna
50:Freiin
1041:(pdf)
983:, in
474:skull
440:abbot
392:Count
388:valet
349:Death
289:Cairo
278:court
238:Chios
216:from
138:Title
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843:2022
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746:ISBN
711:(1).
675:ISBN
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527:Linz
201:Mary
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43:Born
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