Free And the Rest Is History by Marlene Wagman-Geller Page B

of the imperial family who were present were Franz’s stepmother and her two daughters. Upon her marriage, Sophie received the title of Princess of Hohenberg; she could never attain the rank of archduchess. European royals accorded Sophie little respect, with the exception of King George V and Queen Mary, who welcomed her to Windsor Castle in November 1913.
    Although tensions existed between the couple and the court, inside Artstetten Castle Sophie was Franz’s undisputed queen. Soon, in contrast to the dead animals lining the walls, the house came alive with the birth of children: Sophie, Maximilian, and Ernst. Because of the nature of their marriage contract, the children did not carry their father’s name of Habsburg; their surname was von Hohenberg. After the birth of his youngest, Franz wrote to his stepmother, “The most intelligent thing I’ve ever done in my life has been the marriage to my Soph. She is everything to me: my wife, my adviser, my doctor, in a word: my entire happiness. Now, after four years, we love each other as on our first year of marriage, and our happiness has not been marred for a single second.” However, even the enclave of their home could not keep the bitterness at bay. Franz named one of the pathways in their estate’s magnificent garden Oberer Kreuzweg (“The Upper Stations of the Cross”), a bitter nod to the degradations his wife had to endure at court.
    In 1914, General Oskar Potiorek, governor of the Austrian provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina, invited the archduke to watch his troops on maneuvers. Franz decided to accept as a fourteenth-anniversary present for Sophie. Away from the Austrian court, strict protocol was not enforced, which meant on their visit Sophie could accompany her husband everywhere. Franz was warned that the visit might be potentially dangerous; many of the people living in Bosnia-Herzegovina were angry over Austrian imperialism and wanted their independence from the crown. In answer the archduke replied, “Mann ist überall in Gottes Hand” (“It’s all in God’s hands”). It was an attitude that would decide their fate.
    In 1910 a secret terrorist organization, the Black Hand, whose motto was “Unification or Death,” formed with the intent to rid the Balkan states of the yoke of Austria. When they discovered that the archduke was on his way to their country, they planned their vengeance on the hated House of Habsburg.
    The military exercises went off well and were followed by an official visit to the capital city of Sarajevo on Sunday, June 28, to round off the trip. Franz and Sophie traveled the short distance from their hotel to the capital by a special train. There they joined a convoy of six cars to drive through the streets to an official welcome at the town hall. Franz was dressed in full military regalia; Sophie beamed with joy at riding alongside her beloved husband for a state event, in a street lined with spectators. The car had its roof down so the crowds could have a better view of the waving royal couple. At the same time, seven young members of the Black Hand, assassins who had been trained in neighboring Serbia, were waiting to move into action, thereby altering world history.
    When the royal procession passed the central police station, Nedjelko Cabrinovic hurtled a hand grenade at the archduke’s car. The driver accelerated when he saw the object flying toward them, and the grenade exploded under the wheel of the car behind the royal one. Two of its occupants were seriously wounded, and a dozen spectators were hit by bomb splinters. In anger Franz shouted, “So you welcome your guests with bombs!” Although badly shaken, they attended the official reception at City Hall. Afterward the archduke inquired about the members of his party who had been wounded. Upon learning that they had sustained serious injuries, he insisted on visiting them in the hospital. Baron Morsey