(Kopie 1)
Study
Study
Emperor Franz Joseph took his responsibility as the emperor of a multi-national empire very seriously and saw his role not in the pomp of official receptions but rather as the 'foremost official of the state'. He thus spent most of each day in his study scrutinizing all the official documents that required his signature. His working day began before 5 am and did not end until late in the evening after attendance at official dinners, receptions or balls.
However, Franz Joseph was also a family man and liked to be surrounded by pictures and mementoes of his children and grandchildren as well as small gifts he had received from them. Facing his writing-desk is his favourite portrait of his "Angel Sisi". It was in this room, on 30th January 1889, that Franz Joseph received the news of the tragic death of his only son, Rudolf, who at the age of thirty had shot himself and his mistress, the seventeen-year-old Baroness Mary Vetsera, at his hunting lodge at Mayerling.
