Jindřich Holub | archiv Spolku pro obnovu Českého království
“With Charles, the tradition of the House of Habsburg passed away. There is no longer anyone who could say to the inhabitants of the former empire: I am your ruler, and I will not relinquish this claim. All that remains is a tombstone by the roadside, which passer-by greet without pausing on their journey.”
These words conclude an article in Narodní listy from 2 April 1922, which tersely reports on the death of the last Czech king, Charles III. Almost no monarchist in Czechia agrees with these words today. On the contrary, many firmly believe that the person who is entitled to say “I have a claim to the Czech throne” is still alive. Therefore, Czech monarchists cannot agree with the statement of Dr Kramář delivered in his opening speech at the first session of the National Assembly on 14 November 1918: “All the ties that bound us to the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty have been broken. (Well done! The members rise, loud applause is heard.) The treaties of 1526 and the Pragmatic Sanction are over. (Well done, applause) The Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty has lost all rights to the Bohemian throne (That’s right! Well done! Applause.)”. (Extract from the verbatim minutes of the first session of the unelected National Assembly).
However, there are still threads that connect us with the Czech royal family. On 1 April 2022, one hundred years since the death of Charles III passed. At that time, a large group of Czech monarchists took part in an international pilgrimage to the island of Madeira, where King and Emperor Charles of Habsburg died in exile at the young age of 34. It is there where he rests in his tomb in the church of Nossa Senhora do Monte above the city of Funchal. The aim of the pilgrimage was not only to take part in the very event. The pilgrims from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia left clear proof of their lasting loyalty to their last king in the form of a bronze funeral crown of St. Wenceslas and a commemorative plaque on his grave. Here’s the full story of their mission, which can be referred to as: The Czech Folk Coronation.
The idea to dedicate the crown was conceived less than a year before the anniversary itself. Those who have visited the imperial tomb in the Capuchin church in Vienna will have noticed that some of the coffins of the Habsburg monarchs bear symbolic bronze crowns of the countries in which the Habsburg monarchs reigned. However, the Bohemian crown was still missing on the grave of Charles of Habsburg in Madeira. For a hundred years no representative of the Czech state had the courage or the will to reach at least a symbolic reconciliation with our last king. Therefore, members of the Society for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Bohemia, along with other sympathisers, decided to discharge that debt. Following the example of the Capuchin tomb in Vienna, a decision was made to have
a bronze funeral crown made and placed permanently on Charles’ grave on the centenary of his death. The crown was manufactured by the Prague-based Futlab, who used modern technology to cast a crown we were very satisfied with.
The crown travels from Bohemia to Madeira. Preparations began for the pilgrimage, which was organised by the Emperor Karl League of Prayers in cooperation with the Habsburg-Lorraine House. After arriving on Madeira, the programme of the pilgrimage began with an evening concert in the local cathedral, after which the details of the deposition of the crown were negotiated with the local bishop, parish priest and members of the Habsburg family. The negotiations went far better than we had initially expected. The head of the family himself, Archduke Charles of Habsburg (b. 1961), grandson of King Charles, described our entire mission in short: “a beautiful idea”.
But that’s not the end of the story. In the next issue you will find out how the crown was blessed, where it travelled within Czechia and how it finally made its way to Madeira.
