[Gottfried P. Doerler]

(this thread does not really deal with arms and armour [the only arms involved probably being sabers and halberds of honour guards], but i think it fits with "general history")

On 4th of July, Otto von Habsburg, last heir to the throne of austro-hungary died aged 98.
although republican austria had a knotty relationship to the habsburgs (exiled in 1919, got an austian passport in the 1960s with the note "valid for all countries except austria"), today for the last time the old habsburgian funeral rite is conducted in vienna.
it was in 1916 (video) after the death of emperor francis josef, when Otto walked behind the sarcophagus as a 4-year-old, now he is buried in the same manner.
his corpse will be entombed in the imperial crypt, his heart separately interred in the pannonhalma abbey in hungary on sunday 17th.

many guests are expected, royal houses, state representatives from all countries of former austro-hungary and thousends of "commoners", but i hope to get an acceptable spot.

most interesting for me, being a man of the 1980+ generation, is the humble entombement ceremony.
as a herald knocks on the gates of the crypt, a capuchin monkfrom inside askes "who demands entry ?"
the herald then says, "Otto of Austria; former Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary; Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, Lodomeria, and Illyria; Grand Duke of Tuscany....." whereon the monk answers "I don`t know him"
this is repeated, next time the herald says "Otto, son of...., member of ......", wich again is answered by "I don`t know him"
only by the third time, when the herald says "otto, a sinful mortal man" the gates are opened.

otto is the last to be entombed in the crypt, because it is almost ful, as his ancestors have been placed there since 1618.

mfg

[Craig Peters]

I remember hearing about this. It is sad to me that a man connected to such an illustrious and perhaps also notorious line has passed. Did he have any children, or not?

[Jeffrey Faulk]

He has at least an heir, Karl von Hapsburg. Not sure if there are other children of his. This is rather a shame, honestly, but at least he had quite a long and very full life-- not many can lay claim to that. This is genuinely what one could describe as the 'end of an era'...

[Werner Stiegler]

I don't think he's badly placed with seven children of his own. Karl simply is the oldest son in the line with five older sisters and a younger brother.

I'll spare myself commenting on the morality of the house of Habsburg en detail. They were kings and acted the part.

[Gottfried P. Doerler]

well, as for the morality of the house - they ruled austria for 800 years, spain from 1506-1700, so there surely were some great mistakes during that timespan. but they became better towards the end, and otto was very engaged for the unification of europa.
wikipedia "As a newly elected Member of the European Parliament in 1979, Otto had an empty chair set up for the countries on the other side of the Iron Curtain in the European Parliament, and took a strong interest in the countries behind the Iron Curtain during his tenure. Otto von Habsburg played a central role in the revolutions of 1989, as a co-initiator of the Pan-European Picnic. Later he would be a strong supporter of the EU membership of central and eastern European countries"

however, they have a strong supranational and multicultural element, which was reflected by ceremonies held by members of all 3 monotheistic religions. cardinal schönborn for christians, rabbi steven langnas for jewish and mustafa ceric, the grand-mufti of sarajewo, for muslims.
the funeral was somewhat crowded, only invited guests permitted to the cathedral of st. stephen (~1000), and perhaps 100.000 attenders outside. they had some video-walls erected on the plaza. although being quite tall, i could not get a good view on the funeral procession which was over a mile long, but i saw the king of sweden passing by

as for arms and generall military there was a wide variety of uniforms, dalmatians where there, carrying schiavonnas, szekler-hussars, grenzers carrying blades looking like yathagans, and dragoons with the m1904 saber, now reproduced by coldsteel