Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs

Belle epoque Vienna, a dizzy whirl of “sugary pastries” and “cheerful gaiety,” forms the setting for this lurid tale of lust and death in the waning days of the Hapsburg Empire. In 1889, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary was found dead in his hunting lodge at Mayerling; beside him was the body of his 17-year-old mistress, Mary Vetsera. Was this a suicide pact, a royal dalliance gone wrong, or a portent of the ruin that lay in store for the crumbling empire? Royal historians King and Wilson (Lusitania: Triumph, Tragedy, and the End of the Edwardian Age) use archival research to effectively debunk the rumors that still swirl around Mayerling, revealing the tragic personal histories of its key figures while providing an evocative look at Viennese high society. The story of Rudolf and Vetsera’s doomed love lacks the intrigue of other well-known royal mysteries, and despite the authors’ best efforts to tie the couple’s fate to the end of the Hapsburg Empire, the book’s characters—even Rudolf’s father, Emperor Franz Josef—appear as bit players in the drama that later convulsed Europe. Narrated with equal parts flair and prurience, the book is diverting but hollow, much like the courtly world it describes. Agent: Dorie Simmonds, Dorie Simmonds Agency. (Nov.)