Mayerling, Part 1 of 4

(At the remote Mayerling hunting lodge, on January 30, 1889, two young people’s lives were extinguished. Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his young lover, Countess Mary Vetsera, died in circumstances which have never been properly explained.) The Tragedy of Mayerling In January, eighteen eighty-nine, disaster struck the Austrian court, and since that day, we've wondered how the handsome prince (one Rudolf) and his teenage concubine came both to die. A mystery which taxes the best of Europe's brains is long past solving. A story of illicit love, involving the need to smash down bedroom doors with axes will always fascinate. The girl was found in bed, quite dead. Prince Rudolf at her side was sitting in a chair. It seems he died of gunshot wounds. Blood - clotted, matted, browned - extended its congealing cataract down to the floor. Perhaps a suicide pact?