Early in 1896 Queen Victoria was staying in Nice where she met Emperor Franz Joseph. She offered him the appointment of colonel-in-chief of the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards. The Emperor accepted with pleasure, writing three years later to the Prince of Wales:
‘I am delighted with this beautiful present, which will always remind me of its kind donor, but also of the gracious disposition of The Queen, your noble mother, who did me a singular honour when she appointed me Colonel-in-Chief of the King’s Dragoon Guards’.
The appointment was announced in the London Gazette of 24 March 1896. The Emperor commanded the regiment to adopt as their badge the Hapsburg coat of arms, the Austrian double-headed eagle. The KDG also adopted the Radetzky March by Johann Strauss as their quick march. The regiment was inspected by the Emperor on 10 June 1904 at Aldershot. It is said that he promised that if ever their two countries should be at war, any men of the regiment who were captured would be treated as his personal guests. In 1908 Franz Joseph celebrated his diamond Jubilee and gave the regiment 36 silver medals for officers and warrant officers, and 100 bronze medals for the men. These were presented at Ambala on 2 Dec 1908.
In May 1915, while the regiment was billeted at Lisbourg, Flechin, Oxelaere and Rincq, it was decided in London that the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria could no longer remain as colonel-in-chief of the regiment. The Hapsburg badge was discontinued and replaced by a crowned star and garter badge.
Franz Joseph was born in Vienna on 18 Aug 1830. He was known as Archduke Franzi and was cultivated by his mother to be Emperor. His father was Archduke Franz Karl, younger brother of Emperor Ferdinand. The Emperor was weak-minded and Franz Karl unambitious so all eyes were on young Franzi to be a suitable successor to his grandfather Kaiser Franz who had died in 1835. He was given a rigorous education which involved learning French, Latin, ancient Greek, Hungarian, Czech, Italian and Polish. From the age of 13 he concentrated on the military and for the rest of his life wore military uniform.
In April 1848 he went on campaign in Italy where Field Marshal Radetzky commanded the Austrians. Meanwhile, in Vienna a Revolution was underway. The Emperor was forced to abdicate, and because his father was not fit to rule, young Franzi, at the age of 17, was declared Emperor on 2 December 1848, known as Franz Joseph the First. Austria faced the triple threat of a Hungarian rebellion, renewed fighting in Italy and a threat from Sardinia. The biggest problem for the new Emperor Franz Joseph was the determination of the Hungarians to break free from Hapsburg control. However, the Hungarian Revolution was suppressed with the help of the Tsar of Russia’s military might.
On 18 Feb 1853 there was an assassination attempt when a Hungarian tried to stab Franz Joseph. His reign was overshadowed by a theme of violent death in his family; his brother Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico was executed in 1867, his son Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide in 1889 in the Mayerling Incident, his wife Elizabeth (Sisi) was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist in 1898 and his heir, nephew Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.
Franz Joseph imposed a dictatorship on Hungary for 18 years, until the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 which established Hungary and Austria as equal partners under a dual monarchy. But there was still the problem of Bohemian sovereignty, and the question of German unification in which there was a possibility of a confederation with Austria. The Seven Weeks War of 1866 brought things to a head, and Germany and Austria remained separate.
In 1873 the Three Emperors League was formed; Franz Joseph, Kaiser Wilhelm I, and Tsar Alexander. These three took advantage of the Ottoman Empire’s troubles in the Balkans, and at the Budapest Conventions of 1877 carved up the region so that Austria took control of Bosnia-Herzegovina. But it was not formally annexed until 1908, a move that upset Serbia, Italy and Russia. Relations between Austria and Serbia were at breaking point, and the final straw was the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serb national. Franz Joseph declared war on Serbia and Russia sided with the Serbs. Germany, France and Britain soon joined in, and World War One was underway.
Franz Joseph’s personal life was messy. He fell in love with Elizabeth (Sisi) but his dominant mother, Sophie, was trying to marry him off to Sisi’s elder sister, Helene. Franz got his way, but Sisi did not return his love. Their first daughter died in infancy and their only son Rudolf killed himself. Sisi was assassinated in Geneva in 1898. They had two other daughters, Gisela and Marie Valerie but they were not permitted to inherit the crown. Franz Joseph’s heir was his nephew Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but their relationship was wrecked when the Emperor refused to give his blessing to the Archduke’s marriage to Countess Sophie Chotek on the grounds that she was not royal enough. Eventually Franz Ferdinand married her morganatically, meaning that their children would not be eligible to succeed to the throne. Both Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were killed when they were shot in Sarajevo in 1914.
Emperor Franz Joseph died in the Schönbrunn Palace, where he was born, on 21 November 1916 at the age of 86. He had reigned for 67 years and 355 days.
The photo shows him with the KDG regimental Standard, which having been retired and replaced by a new standard, was presented to the Emperor by Colonel Lawrence and Captains Briggs and Bell-Smyth in Vienna in April 1896. He in turn presented them with Orders of the Iron Cross.
