Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl
Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl Ludwig Joseph Johann Maria was born on
the 27th of December 1868 at Vienna as the third and youngest son of Erzherzog Karl
Ludwig, the younger brother of Kaiser Franz Joseph I. and his second wife Maria
Annunziata von Neapel-Sizilien. After the early death of his mother he was affectionately
raised by his stepmother Maria Theresia mainly at the estates at
Reichenau and Schloß Artstetten. On the 25th of April 1884 he was commissioned
as a
Leutant in ulan regiment number 4 shortly followed by his admission to the
Order of the Golden Fleece. After three years of military education where he
displayed more technical talent than interest in horses, he was transferred to
Genie-Regiment number 2 followed by his promotion to Oberleutnant on the 26th of
October 1889.
After the son of Kaiser Franz Joseph, Erzherzog Rudolf, committed
suicide, the dynastic importance of Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl grew from year to
year. His eldest brother Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand, who became the new heir to
the throne, suffered during these years from Tuberculousis and later effected a
morganatic marriage to Gräfin Chotek which forced him to renounce any dynastic rights
for his children whilst his other brother, Erzherzog Otto, the father of the later
Kaiser Karl, was a notorious playboy and it was commonly hoped that he would
also renounce all his rights if the worst case should happen. As so often in
history everything turned out differently in the end but all these dynastic circumstances
caused the award of - mainly foreign - high honours and orders to Erzherzog
Ferdinand Karl whilst he performed his military career. On the 28th of November
1891 he received the Saxon Order of the Rautenkrone and on the 31st of January
1893 the grand cross of the Order of the Crown of Württemberg. On the 26th of
April 1893 Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl was promoted to Hauptmann 1st class and
simultaneously transferred to Pioneer Battalion number 5. On the 27th of
October 1893 he was transferred to the more prestigious Tyrolean Kaiserjäger
where he received his promotions to Major on the 27th of October 1895 and to
Oberstleutnant on the 22nd of April 1897 - both with the 1st regiment of the Tyrolean
Kaiserjäger at Innsbruck. On the 4th of June 1897 he was honored with
the award of the Bavarian Order of St.Hubertus and on the 3rd of October 1898 he
received the grand cross of the Serbian Order of the White Eagle. Additionally with his promotion to Oberst on the 27th of October 1898 he was
transferred to the
4th regiment of the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger. On the 30th of November 1898
Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl received the Military Merit Cross. This award was in
close connection with the 50 years crown jubilee of the Kaiser; all the Archdukes who
performed duty in the army and had not previously received this award received that cross on
this day. On the 21st of April 1899 he was transferred to the 3rd regiment of the
Tyrolean Kaiserjäger soon followed by his taking over the command of this regiment
on the 13th of May 1899. At the end of June 1899 Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl was honored
with the title of Oberstinhaber of infantry regiment number 48. During the
following years as a regimental commander he was honored with several foreign decorations: the
grand cross with chain of the Order of Karl III. from Spain
(8th June 1900), the portrait of the Shah of Persia with brilliants (19th
October 1900), the Order of the Chrysanthemums from Japan (6th May 1901), the grand cross
of the Order of the White Falcon of Saxon-Weimar (18th June 1901) and
the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle (27th November 1901).
Around 1900 the troubles between his brother, the heir to the
thrown Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser regarding the morganatic
marriage with Gräfin Chotek came to the fore. Erzherzog
Franz Ferdinand had hoped that his brothers would support his position but both Erzherzog
Otto and Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl maintained dynastic discipline and more than this both
refused to attend the wedding ceremony. Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand was deeply
hurt and would never forget or forgive this "treachery" as he saw it. It was just at this time
that Erzherzog Frerdinand Karl meet for the first time Berta
Czuber (1879-1979), the daughter of a professor from the technical university at the
Viennese Technikerball. Besides his enthusiasm for the
theatre, Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl was also very interested in technical problems
which seem to be have been promoted by his origin from a technical branch of the
service It was for him always a pleasure to be the patron of the annual ball of the
technical university. He immediately fell in love with the charming young lady
but one could imagine the problems which would arise if it was a
scandal that his brother wanted to marry a countess of the highest and oldest
nobility and he became engaged with a girl from a good but untitled family! The
first years, while he was a regimental commander at Vienna and Trient, they met secretly. On the 17th of October 1902 Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl received the
commendation of the Kaiser for his efforts as a regimental commander which allowed
him to wear the Bronze Military Merit Medal (Signum Laudis) on the red ribbon
and was transferred to Prague as commander of the 18th infantry brigade shortly
followed by his promotion to Generalmajor on the 26th of October 1902. At this
post he received his last two decorations, the grand cross of the Maltese Knightly Order (2nd June 1903) and the
grand cross of the Russian Order of
St.Andreas (6th October 1903).
The rumours about his love affair grew and finally in 1903
Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl steeled himself and asked the Kaiser for his
permission to marry the beloved Miss Berta Czuber. He hoped that it could work
if he offered to retire from his military ranks probably becoming
Hoftheater-Intendant or if he promised to stay away from Vienna - it shows how far
his imagination differed from reality! Kaiser Franz Joseph I. acted as he had
to do and refused to sanction this affair. Now the time for his brother's revenge
had come. Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand started a real campaign against his younger brother
and more than this he demanded the severest possible
punishment for Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl. The situation came to a head in 1904 and so
Generalmajor Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl was released from further duty with the
official cause "on health grounds" on the 18th of October 1904 and was
advised to stay away from Vienna - the permission to marry was still refused, of
course. The lovers now "fled" to Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl's own
estates Schloß Rosenstein and Rottenstein near Meran and retired from social
life. In love and war everything is allowed and so they married secretly in
1909 in Switzerland but the marriage remained childless. It took some time until
the Kaiser was informed about this but then he had to react on this disobedience
to
his orders. In August 1911 Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl was excluded from the
dynasty, he lost all his titles, ranks and rights, all his honours, orders and decorations
were dispossessed and the couple were banished from Vienna -
Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand had his revenge! Only the Kaiser himself mitigated the
hard punishment in agreeing to the payment of a small annual subsidy from the
family treasures. Ferdinand Karl now assumed the name "Ferdinand Burg"
which was a pseudonym often used by his father during traveling.
After the murder at Sarajevo in 1914 Ferdinand Burg received
special allowance to travel to Vienna and to take part in the funeral ceremonies
of his eldest brother. But the folks saw a suffering, broken old man ignored
by all members of his family. Only a short while later on the 12th of March 1915
did Ferdinand Burg, the former Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl, die at Munich at the
age of only 47. His human remains were buried at the cemetery at Untermais near Meran -
his beloved wife survived him by more than 50 years!
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