Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria

Rudolf Franz Karl Josef was born 21 August 1858, the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth, heir apparent from his first breath to one of Europe's largest empires. He grew up under the weight of that inheritance, third child but first boy, trained for a crown he would never wear. On 30 January 1889, at the Mayerling hunting lodge, he and Baroness Mary Vetsera were found dead — a suicide pact that shattered protocol and sent shockwaves through every royal house on the continent. The scandal made international headlines and left the succession in tatters.