The Habsburgs weren’t just a powerhouse of European politics; they also amassed a collection of truly bizarre anecdotes. Here are 10 crazy facts that showcase their twisted hobbies, ill‑fated decisions, and even a lingering curse that haunted the line for centuries.
10 Crazy Facts About the Habsburg Dynasty
1 Their Last Member Is On The Path To Sainthood
Remember Karl I, the emperor who tried to broker a disastrous peace deal with France? Though he stepped down in 1918, effectively ending the Habsburg line, his story isn’t quite over. Today he’s widely known as Karl the Blessed and is being pushed as a strong candidate for future canonisation by the Catholic Church.
The Vatican recognised a second miracle attributed to his intercession in 2008, a key step toward sainthood. If the process concludes successfully, Karl will join the rare ranks of saints who once authorized the use of chemical weapons – the Austro‑Hungarian forces deployed chlorine gas during World War I.
That would be a fittingly bizarre coda for a dynasty that managed to blend royal grandeur with unsettling eccentricities. Karl ruled for only two years, yet his legacy may outlive the empire itself, becoming the longest‑revered Habsburg in spiritual history.
2 The Whole Family Was Plagued By A Creepy Curse
In 1848, Emperor Franz Joseph ordered the execution of a group of Hungarian rebels. One of those rebels, the son of Countess Karolyi, allegedly cursed Franz Joseph before his death. That hex is blamed for a string of tragic events that haunted the family for the next seven decades.
Franz Joseph narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, while his wife fell victim to an Italian anarchist’s bullet. Their son died in a murder‑suicide pact with his lover. Other family members suffered bizarre fates: one fell from a horse, another perished in a house fire, two took their own lives, and one simply vanished at sea, never to be seen again.
Beyond physical misfortunes, the curse seemed to gnaw at their sanity. After the Mexican emperor Maximilian’s death, his consort spent thirty years locked in an insane asylum. The cascade of misery culminated with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, an event that sparked World War I and ultimately shredded the Habsburg empire.
3 Maximilian Was Tricked Into Ruling Mexico
In 1863, a coalition of Mexican elites conspired with Napoleon III of France to oust liberal President Benito Juárez and install a pliant monarch. Their chosen figurehead was Ferdinand Maximilian, a minor Habsburg who, despite his friendly demeanor, was remarkably naïve.
When Napoleon assured Maximilian that the Mexican populace had elected him emperor, Maximilian took the claim at face value and set sail for the New World. He arrived in 1864, only to find the nation already spiralling into civil war, with French troops using his ascension as a pretext to crush Juárez.
By 1867, French forces were expelled, yet Maximilian stubbornly refused to abandon his ill‑fated throne, proclaiming his desire to stay with his “people.” The Mexicans, unsurprisingly, responded by executing him, sealing his place as a tragic footnote in Habsburg history.
4 Ferdinand I Was A Genuine Idiot
While many European royals suffered from inbreeding, it was rare for such afflicted heirs to actually inherit the throne. Ferdinand I was the odd exception, assuming the imperial mantle in 1835 despite possessing the mental age of a small child.
He struggled with basic tasks: opening doors baffled him, and he could not sign his name. One of his favorite pastimes involved placing a waste‑paper basket on his head and rolling across the floor. He even refused to acknowledge an eagle he saw because it had only one head, whereas the family crest displayed a two‑headed eagle.
Despite these glaring deficiencies, Ferdinand ruled for over a decade before a 1848 coup forced his abdication. One of his final recorded utterances, upon hearing of an open revolution, was a bewildered, “Are they allowed to do that?”—a poignant illustration of his genuine simplicity.
5 The Entire Family Was Hopelessly Deformed
The perils of relentless inbreeding extended beyond mental decline; they manifested physically in a grotesque condition now known as the “Habsburg Jaw.” Portraits reveal that virtually every family member sported a dramatically protruding underbite, their chins resembling aircraft landing strips.
This deformity crippled daily life. Charles V’s jaw was so severe he could not eat in public; Leopold I would become drenched when rain fell because his open mouth acted as a bucket. Carlos II was virtually unable to speak or chew solid food, rendering him entirely dependent on others for nourishment.
Simon Winder notes in *Danubia* that while Habsburg men could grow beards to mask their prominent chins, the women were forced to display the deformity openly, underscoring the dynasty’s tragic aesthetic legacy.
6 The Entire Family Was Hopelessly Inbred
In an era when royal lands were divided through marriage alliances, the Habsburgs adopted a blunt solution: marry within the family as often as possible. This strategy kept territories consolidated but introduced a genetic time bomb.
Leopold I, for instance, wed his own niece, Margaret Theresa of Spain, and insisted she address him as “uncle” even as they shared a bedroom. Cousin‑marriages and unions with aunts were commonplace, while marrying outside the clan was frowned upon.
The consequences were catastrophic. The Spanish branch of the dynasty collapsed when Carlos II, a product of generations of close‑kin unions, proved physically disabled, mentally impaired, and infertile, dying childless in 1700. His death marked the end of Habsburg rule over Spain and its overseas empire.
7 Karl I Made The Worst Peace Deal In History
While the Habsburgs are best remembered for allying with Germany during World I, Emperor Karl I (also known as Charles I) secretly reached out to France in a desperate attempt to secure a peace treaty as the war dragged on.
His overture essentially promised the French anything they desired, a move that convinced French Premier Georges Clemenceau that the Austro‑Hungarian forces were on the brink of collapse. Clemenceau publicly rejected Karl’s proposal, delivering a crushing blow to the empire’s morale.
The public rebuff not only demoralised the troops but also embarrassed Karl before the Kaiser, threatening the fragile alliance he hoped to preserve. Historians often label this attempt as the worst peace deal ever concocted, given its disastrous political fallout.
8 Franz Ferdinand Shot Anything That Moved
Before becoming infamous as the spark that ignited World I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was renowned for an almost obsessive hunting habit. He traversed the Austro‑Hungarian Empire, indiscriminately shooting any creature in his path.
On a single day in the 19th century, he reportedly felled 2,140 animals. By the time of his assassination at age 51, estimates suggest he personally killed close to 300,000 living beings, with pheasants, partridges, and deer comprising the bulk of his tally.
His penchant for displaying trophies turned his estate at Konopiště into a macabre gallery, boasting 100,000 deer mounted on walls, creating a hazardous maze of antlers. He even repurposed two shot elephants—one as a massive waste‑paper bin, the other as an oversized ashtray—underscoring his relentless zeal for destruction.
9 Rudolf II Was A Crazy Alchemist
Rudolf II, the final Habsburg sovereign to make Prague his capital, became infamous for abandoning governance in favour of arcane pursuits. Though he reigned as Holy Roman Emperor, his true passion lay in transforming himself into a wizard.
An avid occultist, Rudolf chased the legendary philosopher’s stone, hoping to achieve eternal life. He enlisted celebrated alchemists—most notably the flamboyant Englishman John Dee—and consulted mystics such as Nostradamus, who penned horoscopes for the emperor.
His fascination extended to collecting esoteric artifacts, including alleged ties to the Jewish Golem legend, which some claim was conjured on Prague’s streets during his reign. Rudolf’s obsession with the supernatural eclipsed any real political legacy.
10 Leopold I Loved Weird Blood Sports
In the 17th century, royalty proved their masculinity through hunting, yet Leopold I took the tradition to grotesque extremes. The Holy Roman Emperor refused ordinary shooting parties, instead devising blood sports that placed animals at severe disadvantages.
One of his favourite pastimes involved wrapping a live fox in a blanket and commanding a troupe of dwarfs to beat the helpless creature with sticks until it perished. He also employed falcons to chase herons and submerged deer in deep pools, subsequently shooting them one by one with a crossbow.
While Leopold’s cruelty was already staggering, his successor Rudolf II may have eclipsed him by using cheetahs to hunt through the streets of Prague, cementing the Habsburgs’ reputation for bizarre and brutal entertainment.