Love Lies Dead at Mayerling

Two gunshots echoed from Mayerling hunting lodge in the early hours of 30 January 1889, sending shockwaves through the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Crown Prince Rudolf was found dead alongside Baroness Mary Vetsera, his 17-year-old mistress. Mary had been shot by Rudolf, who, several hours later, turned the gun on himself.

In the following weeks the imperial family sought to erase all memory of the baroness’ presence at Mayerling, knowing that her murder would deny Rudolf a Catholic burial (his suicide was excused by an abnormality in the brain). This, combined with the mixed messages the royal household sent out to the public about Rudolf’s death, began a game of whispering and finger-pointing that continues today.

Countless theories have circulated since: murder by foreign agents or on the command of Rudolf’s hated uncle, Archduke Albrecht; an orgy gone wrong; a botched abortion; an assassination by a jealous neighbour. But, while there is still much left unanswered about Mayerling, primary sources and forensic discoveries unequivocally confirm that Rudolf killed his mistress and then himself.