[royalcello]

Archduke Rudolf's death may not have been a suicide. According to James and Joanna Bogle's biography of Karl and Zita, A Heart for Europe, there is evidence that liberals opposed to the conservative rule of Emperor Franz Joseph, knowing that the Crown Prince had somewhat different views from his father, approached him with a proposal for a coup against the Emperor. When Rudolf refused to have anything to do with such treason, they killed him and his mistress. If this theory is true, that would somewhat redeem Archduke Rudolf's character.

[xJones]

That's one story that doesn't hold up very well. Rudolph had at least two other mistresses at the time besides Maria Vetsera, was on morphine and had been diagnosed with VD. He had attempted to talk one other mistress into suicide with him previously. Only the 17 "Mary" would agree, and left farewell letters to her mother and sisters behind at Mayerling. Her tomb was ransacked by Russians in 1945 and the battered condition of her skull later discovered, was held up as proof that she'd been beaten to death instead of shot. But others have said that one entrace and exit bullet hole could still be seen on the damaged skull. Rudolph was a depressed cad who didn't want to die alone.