On 30 January 1889, tragedy strikes the House of Habsburg when liberal Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary and his young mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera are found dead at the hunting lodge at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods, 24 km southwest of the capital, in an apparent murder-suicide by Rudolf. In Vienna, and at Mayerling, imperial officials contrive to hide the events of the Mayerling incident to prevent a massive public scandal, misleading the emperor and the empress about the true nature of the deaths. Rudolph’s letters and the report by Professor Widerhoffer finally reveal the truth to the royal couple. The episode, narrated in hindsight, ends with news of the assassination of the Empress in 1898 in Geneva.
