Anna Nahowski und Kaiser Franz Joseph by Friedrich Saathen (Hg.) / Aufzeichnungen / BÖHLAUS 1986 / Historical records of Franz Joseph and his mistress

Hardcover 1986

ISBN-10: 3205050371

ISBN: 9783205050377 / 978-3205050377

PAGES: 152

PUBLISHER: Böhlau

LANGUAGE: GERMAN / DEUTSCH

German Summary:

Es regnet den ganzen tag. Nächster Tag, Sonntag, es scheint die Wiener ertränken zu wollen, denn es regnet immer heftiger, und ich gehe doch nach Schönbrunn, komm’ durchnäßt hin und treffe sogleich den Kaiser, der ebenso naß ist wie ich. Er überhäufte mich mit Aufmerksamkeit und Zärtlichkeiten und küßte mich zum Ersticken. Ich schwamm in einem Meer von Glückseligkeit...

English Summary:

Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (German: Franz Joseph I.; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, and monarch of many other states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, from 2 December 1848 to his death. From 1 May 1850 to 24 August 1866 he was also President of the German Confederation. He was the longest-reigning Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, as well as the third-longest-reigning monarch of any country in European history, after Louis XIV of France and Johann II of Liechtenstein.

In December 1848, Emperor Ferdinand abdicated the throne at Olomouc, as part of Minister President Felix zu Schwarzenberg's plan to end the Revolutions of 1848 in Hungary. This allowed Ferdinand's nephew Franz Joseph to accede to the throne. Largely considered to be a reactionary, Franz Joseph spent his early reign resisting constitutionalism in his domains. The Austrian Empire was forced to cede its influence over Tuscany and most of its claim to Lombardy–Venetia to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, following the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 and the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866. Although Franz Joseph ceded no territory to the Kingdom of Prussia after the Austrian defeat in the Austro-Prussian War, the Peace of Prague (23 August 1866) settled the German Question in favour of Prussia, which prevented the Unification of Germany from occurring under the House of Habsburg.

Anna Nahowski (1860–1931) was the mistress of Franz Joseph of Austria from 1875 until 1889.

She was from the age of fourteen married to the silk manufacturer Heuduck, who was heavily indebted by gambling and alcoholism. She met Franz Joseph at a walk in the park of Schönbrunn. The relationship was arranged between Anna and Franz Joseph without the knowledge of her spouse. Franz Joseph visited her discreetly and regularly while her husband (whose debts were paid) was away. This arrangement continued also after she remarried the decadent Franz Nahowski. In 1889, Nahowski discovered that Franz Joseph was in parallel involved, and this time more publicly, with Katharina Schratt, which made Franz Joseph end the relationship to Nahowski. Anna Nahowski was given economic compensation for both herself and her children (whose paternity is uncertain) in exchange for signing a contract of silence. Her daughter Helene, who is believed to have been the emperor's, was the wife of the composer Alban Berg.

Her diary was published in 1976.