Obituary: Otto von Habsburg

Otto von Habsburg, the last heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, died on July 4th at his home in Pöcking, Bavaria, aged 98. His funeral took place on Saturday July 17th in Vienna, where his body was interred in the Imperial Crypt alongside his wife, the German Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen who died in February 2010. His heart was taken to Hungary and buried a day later in the Benedictine Pannonhalma Archabbey in accordance with the Habsburg tradition.

Otto von Habsburg’s full name is Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xavier Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius von Habsburg. He was born at Reichenau an der Rax, Lower Austria, in November 1912. His father, Charles, was Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary; his mother was Zita of Bourbon-Parma. His great-uncle was the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and according to genealogists, his ancestry could be traced back to the sixth century.