A lady coming from a lower economic background finds her Prince Charming. A marriage against the wishes of the family. Gunned down in the streets by "freedom fighters" who eventually got what they set out for.
Markings of a fairy tale gone wrong.
In the evening ...
Markings of a fairy tale gone wrong.
In the evening ...
https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1323833986724945922
Žofie Chotková z Chotkova a Vojnína (Sophie von Chotek) was born in 1868 in a Bohemian noble family. Coming from an ancient family, she would become a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella. It was there that she met her Prince Charming. 1/10 
Archduke Franz Ferdinand von Österreich-Este was next in line to the Habsburg throne. Though both were fully in love with each other, theirs was a forbidden romance. It was a time when marrying below your social class could invite exile, and that too for the crown prince. 2/10
His uncle, Franz Joseph, had been the Emperor of the vast Habsburg realm since 1848. As one of the senior most rulers in Europe, he was also a stickler for rules. Eventually the Emperor relented on the marriage, but at a huge cost. 3/10
The marriage will be a morganatic one. No children from the marriage will inherit the Habsburg throne. While this was not unexpected, Sophie would have to endure a difficult life, as pretty much everyone in the Habsburg household treated her in a demeaning manner. 4/10
A century ago, Franz Joseph's family was struggling in their fortunes. Dispossessed of their ancestral fief of Lorraine, association with the Habsburgs and the subsequent marriage of Franz Stefan with Maria Theresia, the last of Habsburg, had changed their future completely. 5/10
But supported by Franz Ferdinand's step mother, Archduchess Maria Theresa, Sophie would make the best out of a bad situation. With grace and dedication, she managed to thaw some of the ill will against her, eventually being made a Duchess by the Emperor. 6/10
But even this would not last. In 1914, Sophie went with her husband to meet the troops in Sarajevo. It was a tense time; with Slavic militancy on the rise against the Habsburg might. Newly liberated from Ottoman rule, the Slavs wanted to re-unite with their brethren. 7/10
With much of Slavic homeland ruled by the Habsburg, they set their sights on the visiting prince. Sophie was the first to die, followed soon by her husband. The people of Austria finally found their voice and came to support the fallen prince. 8/10
Eventually, Emperor Franz Joseph set his troops for Serbia. He had received the support of Germany. Russia came to Serbian support. The Great War had begun, over "some damned foolish thing in the Balkans" and the assassins got what they wanted. 9/10
Imperial rule in Austria-Hungary, Germany & Russia collapsed, while Serbia became Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia), a union which lasted till 1992. For more on the life of Sophie von Chotek and the House of Hohenberg, you can read amazon.in/Assassination-…. 10/10
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