I've yet to read the book, so must be careful, but the extent to which FF loved Sophie at the time of their marriage must be clear from the mere fact that he was prepared to renounce the succession for her. I understand also that after the initial bomb in Sarajevo, FF tried to persuade Sophie to leave at once, instead of going to the hospital, but she insisted on staying with him. If true, I find that pretty telling. I don't think they were the world's most romantic pair (it is difficult to see FF as anything but a difficult man), but nevertheless they seem to have had a happy marriage, and their children turned out well.
Ann
I am not actually sure he WAS prepared to renounce the succession for her. This to me sounds like another "stock story" about princes in love - it is certainly told of Nicholas, and I don't believe he'd have had the gumption to do it. Greg and I did discuss this idea of princes using their love affairs to evade unwanted imperial heritages a while ago, and G. was adamant that FF did
not seek to renounce, and intended being Emperor AND marrying Sophie - and there's nothing in the draft I have about renouncing.
To say that people loved each other, though, isn't what I mean about romanticising them. There is a skein of thought, with Franz Ferdinand as with Nicholas, which asserts that because he liked his wives and kids, he must have been an all-round super guy, lost saviour of his country, victim at every turn. If you want an example of this, I refer you to Hertha Pauli's book about him, which alleges that he never touched a woman before Sophie (his doctor, Eisenmenger, who was with him in Cairo and other places, implies rather the reverse), paints him as some pure white milksop all round, and generally has lots of virgin snows and softly drifting scented flowers lighting the days at Konopiste. And her readers follow this up with Amazon reviews stating that "all that was good in Europe died with Franz Ferdinand" etc etc. You and I know that FF was a difficult character, but apparently some people won't see this, as Greg or I - or at least I - might not have wanted to see it of the Romanovs when we started reading about them at twelve years old and before we developed critical faculties.
Luckily, with the Romanovs, there is other material - for example, Alexandra's desire to follow Nicholas to Ekaterinburg is often seen not as romantic desire to share his Fate but as a need to make sure he wouldn't "do anything stupid", because one witness claimed he heard her say so.
Sophie's refusal to leave Sarajevo had the consequence that three children were left orphans, which I am sure she would never have wanted to happen, even if it meant FF dying alone. I speculate that she didn't believe anything else would happen - or that anything would happen to HER or with HER by his side. A recent account (by Max Hastings) is pretty scathing, describing Sophie's "simpering" her way around Ilidze, where she was very happily received. It sounds a cruel way to write of what seems a brave gesture, but who can say there was no element of truth in this implied suggestion that she was affected by this? As another friend of mine said recently - referring to both couples - "they didn't live in the real world." And I don't see this as romantic - it's more tragic than anything.
Maybe I'm harsh, but I get the idea that there are some people who like a nice bit of tragedy - a good cry with a box of chocolates and a sad story on a Sunday afternoon! "aaahh - isn't it lovely; isn't it sad; all the bad things that happened to this family." Else I'm not sure why publishers would always be so keen on the idea of a nice doomed romance.
I have far too much admiration for my friend to be anything other than over-sensitive when it comes to his work - and to be paranoid at any suggestion that what he was writing was going to come across remotely like Hertha Pauli!!!!! One of my favourite chapters in the "Assassination of the Archduke" is the one which discusses FF's anti-Semitism, his conspiracy theories about France, and his belief that women should know their place - because, despite all the romantic, mythologising and inadequate evidence available about FF's personal life, this is still also a Greg King book and it is still realistic! One doesn't HAVE to study a topic from childhood to be able to apply critical thinking to the evidence. My favourite assessment of FF comes from Otto Czernin, his own associate, who described him as "a good hater" - and from Eisenmenger, who admired him, knew him well, often defended his reputation - but didn't really wholly like him, and never saw him as a friend.
