Thanks for linking to those nice pictures of Seegerpress. I really admire Otto and his wife (especially Otto) because he is still so lively at his old age, and travels that much, trough all countries. He must have a very interesting life, even in his old days and he survived all difficulties concerning the two Wars and the End of the reign of his family and everything, and is involved in politics and does so many things. It would be interesting to discuss his views etc. There is a very good biography at my university, and if I have more time, I will read it. As I have heard, the biography was written, because Otto himself does not want to write any memoires. He always interested me, even if some of his political views are discussed, he has written a lot of books as well.
I have here an interview with him of the year 2004. It´s from the German magazine Stern, under the headline "people":
I´ll translate the most important points here, I think it shows already a lot on his attitudes.
The oldest son of the late emperor of Austria and king of Hungary was twenty year at the European Parliament
- Excuse this typical question at the beginning..What is correct: Imperial Higness or Dr. Otto von Habsburg?
= Von Habsburg and that´s it.
- Some weeks ago the Pope (still Johannes Paul II.) has canonised your father in the presence of thousand members of the Habsburg family
=They were not thousand. Maybe the Carabinieri were collected with them...they were fourhundred
- But your family has a strong connection to the catholic church.
= O yes, The connection to God was important to me also in the european constitution. Well, we need a higher instance for our principles. And who can this be
apart from Lord?
- As head of a family, who had the power over Europe for more than sixhundred years, how could you bear the bureaucracy at Brussels?
= I fought against it. Theodore Roosevelt once asked emperor Franz Joseph, what a monarchy has to do in a modern world and he replied: "It has to save the
people from the government!" In this sense I was needed.
- What does your usual day look like?
= Very much to do. You have to consider, if one was busied through so many years and visted more than onehundred meetings in the year, you have got great
correspondences. And I thank God that it is like that!
- Do you still travel that much?
= O yes, in the middle of September I was in Kosovo, then I was at Zurich, Rome, Vienna, Tirol, Madeira, Croatia, London and then again at Vienna. Tomorrow
we travel to Westfalia and Lower Saxony, later to Budapest, Paris, Strassburg, Spain, and in between three times in Hungary. And then it´s Christmas!
- Your official title has one Emperor- nine king- twenty- Arch- Great- and simple Duke- nine count- and many more titles. Don´t you get nostalgic feelings?
= No, I was always looking forward.
- And when you see the Sisi trash around the Wiener Hofburg?
= Well, the people like it and many think, that´s nice, I will not critisize it!
- Does the aristocracy still carry culture today?
= In some cases. The monarchy can provide Continuity. But there are examples, where this is not the case. You only have to look in certain journals.
- Even if you are -from the origin- the number one of the European Aristocracy you are never to find in gossip papers.
= I was always busy with other things: And you won´t believe it: I have never been on a dancing ball. Never. I prefer o sleep in the night. And if you don´t visit night clubs
you don´t meet gossip reporters.
- Does it have advantages not to be a monarch?
= O yes, you don´t have to call every politician, who is a donkey "excellence", and I have a life, which does not bore me. I can imagine myself, that other royals often
have much boredom. The british royals work from early until late. But for me it would not be very funny to do this kind of work.
- Do you have a close connection to yours majesty secret service?
= I love James Bond- movies: They are all phantastic! I have got to know the authour, Fleming, in England during the War. From this time on, this is my passion.-
- Do you still follow your ritual act on the 31 st of May?
= But yes! Surely! I smoke only on the World´s non Smoking day. Only last year I had forgotten it and did it on the 1st of July!
I think this shows quite a lot about him, even if these are only "general" questions. He has some interesting sense of humour and is a very realistic person, without expressing "I am something more or better than others", he is a really serious, but interesting figure, not like many others royals from today, who only make scandals!
What do others think?
