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The incident, thought to have been a suicide pact, caused an enormous scandal and political ructions, and has since spawned numerous films, radio plays, operas, ballets, not to mention conspiracy theories. On the morning of 30 January 1889 their only son, 30-year-old Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria – who was married to Princess Stephanie of Belgium – was found shot dead, alongside the body of his young mistress, 17-year-old Baroness Mary Vetsera, at the royal hunting lodge of Mayerling, deep in the Vienna Woods. The castle had passed into the hands of the Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth of Austria. If that isn’t enough romantic tragedy, there is then the legendary Mayerling Incident. She spent the rest of her days in seclusion, at Bouchout Castle in Belgium, still deeply in love with Maximilian right until she passed away in 1927, at the age of 86. Poor old Charlotte, whose mind was already in meltdown due to an acute (and probably justified) persecution mania, suffered a complete mental collapse. After trying to hold out in a siege, Maximilian was executed by firing squad on the morning of 19 June 1867. Charlotte sailed back to Europe, to desperately drum up support for her husband. Things came to a head in 1866 when Maximilian refused to pull out of Mexico, in spite of Napoleon III urging him to do so. There was also the problem of the American Civil War, which was just coming to a close, and the Americans’ objections to any European meddling in the affairs of the New World. Maximilian was a conservative in outlook, whereas his new subjects were liberal. Their short 3-year sojourn in Mexico was a disaster. In 1864 he and Charlotte sailed to Mexico, to take up his new role of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, an idea encouraged by Napoleon III of France who wanted a monarchist ally in the New World. The couple were to enjoy their romantic idyll for only a few short years. The couple couldn’t wait to move in, and inhabited the ground floor whilst the building work was in progress. Building works were begun in 1856 and continued for another 4 years. He chose to build a beautiful castellated castle on the rocky spur, overlooking the sparkling Adriatic Sea, and dedicate it as a monument of love to his wife, Charlotte of Belgium. It is said that Ferdinand fell in love with the area, near Trieste, after sheltering there during a storm. Those stern, forbidding Victorians were keen romantics at heart, and the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian was no exception. It wasn’t unknown for aristocrats and tycoons to build grandiose dwelling-places for themselves, usually in a style which harkened back to a romanticised view of the Middle Ages or an elusive Arthurian era. The Victorian era was a notable one for extravagant building projects. The Curse has it that anyone who sleeps in the place will die a violent death in a far country, and that was the grim fate which befell many of its occupants. A beautiful mid-19th century castle in the north-east of Italy may be responsible for cursing an entire European dynasty, and may even be held indirectly responsible for the start of World War One.