ORF-E
German
1 x 45 min
Worldwide

He was the last Austrian emperor. Charles I became heir to the throne after the death of his uncle Franz Ferdinand in 1914 and emperor after the death of Franz Joseph I – in the midst of the turmoil of the First World War. He attempted to save the monarchy, but in the end it was he who signed the declaration of renunciation in November 1918, thus paving the way for the founding of the Republic of Austria. However, he refused to abdicate and emigrated with his family to Switzerland. When he attempted the restoration of the monarchy twice without success in 1921, the victorious Allies interned him on the Portuguese island of Madeira, where he died of pneumonia the following year. The new documentary takes a fresh look at Austria’s last emperor, who played an extremely ill-fated role at the end of the centuries-long Habsburg rule. Yet he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004.