Sarajevo 1914 - Funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie

The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie 1914

Sarajevo

The funeral procession took place in Sarajevo the day after the assassination.
Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were embalmed in Sarajevo and were laid in state in Sarajevo’s town hall. The funeral cortege then left from the town hall to the train station in Sarajevo during the late afternoon of the 29th June 1914.

Vienna

No funeral procession took place in Vienna.

On the morning of the 3rd July the bodies were laid in state for a few hours and in the afternoon a short private funeral was held.

Emperor Franz Joseph did not attend the funeral.

Artstetten

The mortal remains of Ferdinand and Sophie were taken by train and boat to the small Austrian village of Pöchlarn and then on to the Castle of Artstetten and laid to rest on the 4th July 1914.

The Castle of Artstetten

The Castle of Artstetten in Lower Austria

The tomb of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg.

Emperor Franz II/I purchased the Castle of Artstetten in 1823 and after his death the estate passed to the Emperor’s fourth wife Caroline Auguste.

Emperor Franz Joseph’s brother, Archduke Carl Ludwig inherited the estate and had the building completely restored.

His brother, Emperor Maximilian purchased the estate in 1866 shortly before he was executed in Mexico and never used it.

The estate was again owned by Carl Ludwig and his eldest son Franz Ferdinand received the estate in 1889.

Franz Ferdinand married Countess Sophie Chotek.

Franz Ferdinand knew that Sophie’s lower status meant that they could not be buried together in the Imperial Crypt and had a family crypt built underneath the chapel of the castle.