He said it was a very sad story and they did not live happily ever after but instead he died in exile at a very young age. He said that they loved their people very much and governed justly but Austria was a country that was ravaged by a war they did not win. I remember that they had little children that grew up without a Daddy,and my Mom,who must have overheard,I'm sure was not happy I got all the details.As a child,the fairy tales commingled with reality,past and present,and one day without becoming aware of it the bedtime fairy tales and stories stop and get tucked away in one's mind,with other childhood memories.
I probably never heard about them again until I was a teen-ager taking a European history class. In class,I heard those familiar names,Karl and Zita and learned that Karl had prevented the train carrying Lenin to Russia to enter Austria. I went home and told my Dad,who added that Karl I had known that Communists were sending Lenin secretly to Russia to take over after a planned overthrow of the Monarchy. They had to reroute the train through Sweden instead. My Dad said Karl knew how brutal the new regime would be and feared for the fate of the Russian people as well as the Tsar and his family. I'll spare you all the other thigs I learned. Well,as the years went by I learned a little more and then forgot all about it.
I can't tell you how,surprised and happy I was to read that my little girl memory,part real/part fantasy,tragedy about Kings and Queens was going to get a happy ending when the King turned into a Saint. I am really excited about it,I kept all of my Dad's books and tomorrow I am going into the basement and find anything he may have had from that era.
Yesterday I got a call,out of a clear blue sky,from a friend who wanted to know if I wanted to go to Rome for the Beatification. I had to explain that I HATE to fly. But it sure sounds tempting.
This whole event has such a dreamlike quality and seems to be taking on a life oof its own,or maybe I am really tired.