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Pretender Archduke Otto, Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia
Born	November 20, 1912 (1912-11-20) (age 95)
Title(s)	Archduke and Crown Prince of Austria, Crown Prince of Hungary and Bohemia
Throne(s) claimed	Austria, Hungary
Pretend from	April 1, 1922 -
Monarchy abolished	1918
Last monarch	Charles I
Connection with	Eldest son
Royal House	Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Charles I of Austria
Mother	Zita of Bourbon-Parma
Spouse	Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen and Hildburghausen
Children	Andrea, Monika, Michaela, Gabriela, Walburga, Karl, Georg
Predecessor	Charles I of Austria

Otto, Crown Prince of Austria or Otto von Habsburg (born 20 November 1912 as Archduke Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius of Austria, later of Austria-Este) has been the head of the Habsburg family since 1922 and is the eldest son of Charles, the last Emperor of Austria and last King of Hungary, and his wife, Zita of Bourbon-Parma. He is a former member of the European Parliament for The Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) party and honorary president of the International Paneuropean Union.

Otto lives in Bavaria in Germany, and is a citizen of Germany, Austria, Croatia and Hungary. Although his official name in Germany is Otto von Habsburg, he is referred to as Otto Habsburg-Lothringen by Austrian authorities, since the use of noble titles and prepositions like "von" is forbidden by the Austrian constitution. He is also often known as Archduke Otto of Austria, Crown Prince Otto of Austria, and in Hungary simply as Habsburg Ottó.

Otto and his great-granduncle Emperor Franz Joseph

Otto was born at Villa Wartholz in Reichenau an der Rax, Lower Austria. He was baptised on November 25, 1912, at Villa Wartholz, by the Prince-Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Franz Xavier Nagl. His godfather was the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (represented by Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria); his godmother was his grandmother Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal.^[1]

In November 1916, Otto became Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia when his father, Archduke Charles, ascended to the throne. However, in 1918, at the end of the First World War, both monarchies were abolished, the Republics of Austria and Hungary founded instead, and the family was forced into exile. Hungary did become a kingdom again, but Charles was never to ascend the throne. Instead, Miklós Horthy ruled as "regent" until 1944, in a kingdom without a king.

Otto's family spent the subsequent years in Switzerland and on the Portuguese island of Madeira, where Karl died prematurely in 1922, leaving the 10-year-old Otto pretender to the throne. Meanwhile, the Austrian parliament had officially expelled the Habsburg dynasty and confiscated all the official property (Habsburgergesetz of 3 April 1919).

In 1935 Otto graduated from the Catholic University of Leuven, having studied social and political sciences.

Otto spent most of the war years in Washington, D.C. (1940 – 1944), after escaping from Belgium to Paris with his mother, Empress Zita, and other family members. His cousins Max, Duke of Hohenberg, and Prince Ernst of Hohenberg were arrested in Vienna by the Gestapo and sent to a concentration camp until the end of the war. Many other Habsburgs suffered the same fate, the main reason for leaving friendly Belgium and escaping to France. When Paris was in danger, the family left the French capital moved to Portugal with a visa issued by Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux. A fervent Austrian patriot, Otto opposed the Nazi Anschluss in Austria in 1938 and, sentenced to death by Hitler, chose to leave Europe altogether.(Ironically, the code name for the operation carried out by the German army in the Anschluss was 'Otto'). After the war, Otto lived for some years in both France and Spain.

Otto von Habsburg giving a speech

In 1961, Otto renounced all claims to the Austrian throne and was eventually allowed to return to his home country in 1966. (Austria had until the mid 1950s been officially neutral, staunchly republican and ill-disposed to welcome back the heir to a deposed dynasty.) The renunciation was only a formality offered to the republican government and was not seen as binding within the royal circles of Europe.

An early advocate of a unified Europe, Otto was president of the International Paneuropean Union from 1986 to 2004. He served from 1979 till 1999 as a Member of the European Parliament for the conservative CSU party, becoming the Senior Member of the supranational body. He is also a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. He was a major supporter of the expansion of the European Union from the beginning and especially of the acceptance of Hungary).

Recently, Otto warned that Russia is becoming the greatest threat to Europe and compared the actions of Putin to those of Hitler.^[2]When Archduke Otto had visited Budapest very recently, a well known journalist asked him about what was his view regarding Vladimir Putin and comparing him with Boris Yeltsin, he answered: “Yeltsin was chaotic, but at least he still had some democratic principles. Putin, on the other hand, was a secret policeman from the age of twenty-three, and up to now. His mentality is completely different. He speaks of these things very honestly, but we don’t take proper notice of it. He said, for instance, at the beginning of his term when he was an appointed President, that he would be expanding military expenditures considerably for Russia. Did we take any notice of this? No, we continued to disarm on our side. Once again let’s go back to the same old sentence, ‘One doesn’t learn from history.’ " The Archduke is convinced that Putin might become something between a new Hitler or Stalin, he has the physique du role of a tyrant. Revival of Stalin nostalgia in Russia, along with nationalism, strengthen his views.

In December 2006, Otto observed that, "The catastrophe of September 11, 2001 struck the United States more profoundly than any of us, whence a certain mutual incomprehension. Until then, the United States felt itself secure, persuaded of its power to bombard any enemy, without anyone being able to strike back. That sentiment vanished in an instant...Americans understand 'viscerally' for the first time the risks they face."^[3]

Main article: Denunciation of Pope John Paul II by Ian Paisley

Otto is alleged to have struck fellow MEP Ian Paisley. When Pope John Paul II gave a speech to the European Parliament in 1988, Paisley shouted at the Pope, "I renounce you as the Antichrist!" and held up a poster reading "Pope John Paul II Antichrist", whereupon he was excluded from the session and expelled from the room by other MEPs.^{[4] [5]}

Coronation photograph of Zita as Queen of Hungary, with her husband, King Charles IV and Crown Prince Otto between them.
Photo: 31 December 1916

Otto has been married since 1951 to Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen and Hildburghausen. The couple have seven children and 23 grandchildren:

• Archduchess Andrea of Austria (1953). Married Hereditary Count Karl Eugen of Neipperg. They have three sons and two daughters.
• Archduchess Monika of Austria (1954). Married Luis Gonzaga de Casanova-Cárdenas y Barón, Duke of Santangelo, Marquess of Elche, Count of Lodosa and Grandee of Spain, who is a descendant of Infanta Luisa Teresa of Spain, Duchess of Sessa and sister of Francis, King-Consort of Spain. They have four sons.
• Archduchess Michaela of Austria (1954). Monika's twin sister. Married firstly Eric Teran d'Antin, and secondly Count Hubertus of Kageneck. She has two sons and a daughter from her first marriage. Twice divorced.
• Archduchess Gabriela of Austria (1956). Married Christian Meister in 1978, divorced in 1997. She has a son and two daughters. She is an international sculptor.
• Archduchess Walburga of Austria (1958). Married Count Archibald Douglas, from the Swedish nobility. They have a son.
• Archduke Karl of Austria (born 11 January 1961), married Baroness Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza (daughter of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza) in 1993. They have two daughters and a son. They separated amicably in 2003.
  • Eleonore (1994-)
  • Ferdinand Zvonimir (1997-)
  • Gloria (1999-)
• Archduke Georg of Austria (1964). Married Duchess Eilika of Oldenburg. They have two daughters and a son.
  • Zsófia (2001-)
  • Ildikó (2002-)
  • Károly-Konstantin (2004-)

Otto and his wife reside at the "Villa Austria" in Pöcking near the lake Starnberger See, Bavaria, Germany.

• In the 'personal biography' Charlotte Chandler wrote about Billy Wilder, Nobody's perfect (2002), Wilder describes how he attended the funeral of Franz Joseph I as an eight-year-old and felt envious of young Otto, whom he saw dressed "completely in white, in the uniform of the Hussars". Twenty-five years later, Wilder, then a successful screenwriter, had a visitor. It was none other than the prince, whom Wilder describes as "just a man in a gray suit, not made by a tailor. He had thinned hair. My hair had thinned too, but I was only mortal". After some talk, Otto came to the point. "He wanted to know whether the time was right for an extravaganza film about the Danube monarchy. If so, he wanted me to keep him in mind, because he could be available as an expert on the Austro Hungarian Empire. But how could he? He never had the chance to be an expert."

• Otto used to be a chain smoker until his marriage, smoking up to hundred cigarettes a day. Today he has quit smoking with the exception of one day in the year: the World No Tobacco Day.

• Willy Brandt, the former chancellor of West Germany, was elected into the European Parliament simultaneously with Otto von Habsburg. Habsburg was not pleased with the attendance time of his colleague, so he pinned a note on Brandt's bureau door, reading "Bureau for rent". Much to the amusement of the fellow parliamentarians it stayed there for several weeks.

• Had he actually reigned as Emperor from 1922, Otto would have the longest reign of any monarch in the recorded history of the world, 85 years.

• On 5th July 2007 he received London’s highest honour, the Freedom of the City of London from the hands of Sir Gavyn Arthur, former Lord Mayor of London.

• Gordon Brook-Shepherd Uncrowned Emperor - The Life and Times of Otto von Habsburg, Hambledon Continuum, London 2003

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen

• Erzherzog Dr. Otto von Habsburg (Autorisierte Ehrenseite)
• An essay on Republicanism vs Monarchism by Otto
• Video interview of Otto von Habsbourg (French) European NAvigator