Rudolph was born in 1858 and was the only son of Franz Joseph I of Austria and his wife Elisabeth, known as Sisi. Rudolph was raised by his paternal grandmother Archduchess Sophie. His parents had a difficult marriage and because of the complex familiar conflicts in the Habsburg family during that time period, Rudolph and his older sister Gisela were kept with their grandmother. There was a younger sister, Valerie, who was born ten years later and was raised by their mother.
From an early age, Rudolph was interested in science and politics. He was surprisingly bright for someone who came from one of the most inbred families in history. Zoology was a particular interest of Rudolph's. He published several articles on animal life around the Danube river in Hungary. In 1881 he even traveled to Palestine to study native birds. He was also interested in geology and had a large collection of rocks and minerals from all over the world. Electricity was another major interest of Rudolph, who was fascinated by new technology.
Rudolph had a very difficult relationship with his parents. His mother was never very maternal to him, and he and his father disliked each other even more than royal fathers and sons usually do. Part of it was politics. Franz Joseph was a very old fashion and conservative monarchist while Rudolph was much more liberal. Rudolph wrote many political treatises and supported modernizing the monarchy extensively. Privately, he wasn't a monarchist at all and heavily questioned his future role. He was also adamantly against his father's policies to the point that it was widely believed he was plotting to overthrow him. Rudolph also wrote for several newspapers anonymously on political issues.
In 1881 Rudolph married Princess Stephanie of Belgium, who was a daughter of Leopold II. Stephanie also disagreed with Rudolph's politics, being a staunch monarchist. The marriage was arranged and Rudolph and Stephanie were very unhappy. Beyond her problems with her husband, Stephanie was treated horribly by her in-laws and also had issues with her cruel father. Unhappily married and increasingly disillusioned with his role, Rudolph became self destructive. After the birth of his daughter, Archduchess Elisabeth, in 1883, Rudolph became mentally unstable and was involved with drugs.
He was also sexually promiscuous, like most royal heirs, and in 1886 he contracted gonorrhea. He used morphine as a pain killer and quickly became addicted. Beyond his sex and drugs, Rudolph was extremely depressed. He hated his royal life and lack or privacy and freedom. He also felt generally unloved and lonely, having never felt wanted by his parents. His marriage also became even worse after he passed his gonorrhea on to poor Stephanie, which rendered her infertile for the rest of her life.
In between bouts of sanity (and occasionally brilliance) Rudolph continued to spiral downward. In 1888 he became involved with Baroness Mary Vetsera, a seventeen-year-old girl who's mother was a royal hanger-on. Mary immediately fell in love with Rudolph, who was thirty, and became obsessed with him in the way teenage girls often do with older men. Rudolph jumped into an affair with Mary and the two became increasingly fascinated with death. Rudolph had been suicidal for a while at this point. According to some accounts he had asked his wife and then a different mistress to die with him. Rudolph was too afraid to do it alone. Mary was willing, or perhaps Rudolph simply thought she was willing. In late January, Mary ran away with Rudolph to his hunting lodge at Mayerling.
Mary left only a brief note for her mother, who searched for her child in vain for several days. On January 30th or the night before, Rudolph killed Mary either by shooting her or hitting her head with a blunt object. Accounts differ. Rudolph sat by the body for several hours writing letters to his family and gathering the courage to kill himself. He shot himself in the head in the early hours of the morning, and the bodies were found shortly afterwards.
There was an immediate cover-up. Mary's body was taken away and hidden. Her family was only able to bury her after they found out what happened and threatened to make a scandal. Her uncles were required to take her body out in their carriage dressed and posed as if she was still alive. Officially, Rudolph died of heart failure, though rumors were immediately spread and his death remains a mystery to this day. There are some conspiracy theories that involve both Rudolph and Mary having been murdered, but the murder-suicide theory is the most likely given what little evidence is available.
Rudolph's death was very significant historically. Only men could succeed to the throne in Austria, so Rudolph's sisters and daughter had no right to the throne. In Rudolph's place, the heir became his cousin, Franz Ferdinand. And we all know how that turned out.
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