Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 21 August 1858
- Empress Sissi gave birth to Rudolf in the Laxenburg Castle, located south of Vienna. It is interesting to note that the African Rudolf Lake, between Kenya and Ethiopia, was named after him.
Archduke Rudolf, the only son of Emperor Francis Joseph I and his wife Empress Sissi, was born on this day in 1858.
He was supposed to inherit the throne from his father, who tragically died at the age of 30 at Mayerling (the so-called Mayerling Incident).
Empress Sissi gave birth to Rudolf in the Laxenburg Castle, located south of Vienna (the imperial family’s mansion). Rudolf was one of their four children, and their only son.
He was raised to become the emperor and ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Rudolf held the title of Crown Prince (Kronprinz).
It is interesting to note that the African Rudolf Lake, between Kenya and Ethiopia, was named after Rudolf (today it is known as Lake Turkana). Namely, Count Samuel Teleki it de Szék and the knight Ludwig von Höhnel, who explored Africa, named it Rudolf Lake.
Rudolf was supposed to become the King of Hungary, Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, but he died 27 years before his father Francis Joseph.
It has remained unknown how he and the 17-year-old Baroness Mary Vetsera lost their lives. There are many movies about his life, (for example Omar Sharif played the role of Rudolf).
