Happy Birthday Otto

I’d like to wish a belated happy birthday to Otto von Habsburg who turned 98 on Saturday.

For the last 88 years, he’s been the pretender to the Austrian throne. His father, Charles I, was the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. Charles became emperor after Franz Joseph, who was born in 1830, died in 1916. He had been on the throne since 1848.

The heir had been Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but in 1914…well, you probably know what happened. After that, Charles was next in line, and Otto after Charles.

If things had worked out differently, Austria would have had two kings for 156 of the last 162 years.

Here’s a picture of Otto with Franz Joseph. In others, he’s a picture of a man alive today with a man born 180 years ago.

Posted by on November 22nd, 2010 at 7:04 am


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