The Wedding of Emperor Karl and Empress Zita of Austria

Archduke Carl of Austria and Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma on their wedding in 1911. On the far left is a happy Emperor Franz Josef. Image from Wikimedia Commons 

  On October 21, 1911, Archduke Karl Franz Josef, the future Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, married Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma. Their wedding was celebrated at Schwarzau Castle in Lower-Austria, with Emperor Franz Josef, King Frederick-August III of Saxony, and a host of European royalty present. 

The New York Times wrote:

"The marriage is said to be a genuine love match. The Archduke is twenty-four, five years older than his bride. Court gossip had found him half a dozen brides before and at one time it was generally believed that he would marry the Princess Victoria, only daughter of the German Emperor. Another likely bride was thought to be the Archduchess Elizabeth,eldest daughter of the Archduchess Marie Valerie, the Emperor's favorite daughter."

The bride, described as "handsome" and "brunette", walked the aisle wearing a white satin gown, heavily embroidered with Bourbon lilies. The court train measured five yards in length. For the bridal veil, Princess Zita wore the rare, old Braganza lace, which was a family heirloom. 

Lavish wedding presents were given to the bride. The emperor gave her a five-tiered diamond coronet, which could be taken off and worn as a separate ornament. It was studded by fine brilliants and reportedly cost $20,000. The pope's special envoy gave the bride a gold frame decorated with the papal arms and those of the new couple. The emperor also gave the couple the Hetzendorf Palace outside Vienna as their official residence. 

Carl was born on August 17, 1887, in the Castle of Persenbeug, in Lower Austria. He was the oldest son of Archduke Otto Franz of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony. Otto was the second son of Archduke Karl Ludwig, the younger brother of the emperor. A series of deaths placed Carl as the first in line to the thrones of Austria and Hungary at the time of Emperor Franz Josef’s death in 1916.  In 1889, Crown Prince Rudolf, the emperor’s only son, committed suicide; in 1896, Carl Ludwig died, followed by Otto in 1906 and, finally, by the assassination of Carl’s uncle, Franz Ferdinand in 1914.

Zita, meanwhile, was the 17th of the 24 children of Robert, the last reigning Duke of Parma. Carl and Zita, would, however, lost their throne at the end of World War I