Otto von Habsburg
Otto von Habsburg[1][2] (given names: Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius, Hungarian: Ferenc József Ottó Robert Mária Anton Károly Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignác; 20 November 1912 – 4 July 2011),[3][4] was the last Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[5] His father, Charles, was the Emperor of Austria and the King of Hungary. The murder of his great uncle, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was the event that led to the start of World War I.[5] His family fled Austria in 1919 after the war.[6]
During World War II he opposed the Nazis and Nazi Germany's takeover over Austria. Adolf Hitler ordered him to be put to death, but Habsburg left France and spent the war in the USA.[5] Habsburg gave up his claim to the throne in 1961, and was allowed to return to Austria five years later.[6] He was a member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria and became a member of the European Parliament and pushed to get the former communist countries of Eastern Europe allowed into the European Union.[6]
He was buried in the Imperial Tomb in Vienna, but his heart was buried at an abbey near Budapest, Hungary, as part of a tradition that goes back to medieval times.[6]
During his lifetime he was also known as Achduke Otto of Austria.
