1
Sophie, Franz’s mother, was nineteen when she arrived in Vienna, a disillusioned bride with a dull and complacent husband. He was square-faced, with dark bobbed hair. His eyes were gentle and often floated in a mystical glow. He had only two interests in life: chasing with the hounds and siring an heir.
The announcement of her marriage had come like a shat-tering blow from the devil’s claws. Her father, King Maximilian of Bavaria, had proudly informed her that the Archduke Franz Charles of Austria— the second son of Emperor Franz II— would be her husband and Vienna would be her place of residence. His face beamed, and her shock did not put a dent in it.
“It is a dynastic union between two of the greatest families of Europe,” he stated ecstatically.“The Habsburgs and the Wittelsbachs.”
Sophie covered her face in despair. Her youth was destroyed. Though Franz Charles told quirky jokes that made her laugh, he was the last man she would have chosen.
“Smile, my dear Sophie, smile,” Maximilian had said.“The old Emperor Franz has promised that his oldest, epileptic son Ferdinand will not succeed him. The throne will pass to Franz Charles, and you, my dear, will be the empress of the Habsburg Empire, the greatest dynasty in modern history.”
And it was. It covered almost the whole map of Europe. It had begun 500 years before, in the lush green valley of the Danube that flowed through Alsace and Switzerland, with a single family, the Habsburgs. While other countries used war to acquire their vast lands, the Habsburgs also used marriages and treaties. Germans, Serbs, Poles, Italians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Romanians, Croats, Czechs and 100,000 gypsies now lived under their rule.
Maximilian’s chest swelled.“And you, dear Sophie, will be empress over forty million people.” His beam could not stretch a further notch.
He did not tell her that Rudolf, Count of Habsburg, began the marriage tradition in 1273 by sacrificing his daughter Mechtild to the semi-barbarian Louis the Stern of Bavaria for his help in acquiring the lands of Bohemia. Or that Louis had beheaded his first wife.
Sophie stared at him through blinding tears.“I don’t want to be an empress,” she cried.“I want to marry for love.”
But love was not part of a dynastic union. Though Maximilian loved his daughter dearly, his country took priority.
Vienna became Sophie’s home. And Vienna, the city of dreams, the gayest in all Europe, captured her with a joyous revelation she could never have imagined.
And love came into her life.
Vienna, once a tiny fishing village on the Danube River, had become the royal residence of the Habsburgs, and was now a city of magnificent palaces with baroque facades, winding stair-cases, and gold-trimmed murals on the walls and across the towering ceilings. Streams flowed through the gardens, and foun-tains of exotic statues and mythical figures displayed the city’s
