WARREN R. AUSTIN
VERMONT
United States Senate
WASHINGTON, D. C.
March 12, 1940
My dear Mother:
The night before last, Mildred was hostess for Robert Woods Bliss,
at a dinner in honor of his Imperial Highness, Archduke Otto, (who
is the Emperor in exile of Austria), and his brother, the Archduke
Felix.
Of course, the European protocol was followed and Mildred sat at
the right of his Imperial Highness, instead of vice versa.
It happened that Senator Gerry and I had the responsibility of
entertaining his Imperial Highness after dinner. Of course, others
joined in from time to time, but we had to stay with him.
He is an attractive young man about thirty-one years old, who speaks
rather difficult English, and has an extraordinary amount of knowledge
of European politics. Having lived in exile nearly all of his life, he
has wandered about Europe, spending much time in Spain and in Belgium.
He did the talking, and we listened. He talked until 12:45 before
somebody woke us up to the fact that everybody else wanted to go home.
There was quite an issue on the side (unbeknown to us) between Jimmy Dunn,
who is the Chief of the Protocol in the State Department, and Robert
Woods Bliss, the host, as to whose duty it was to start home. Mildred
insisted - and Jimmy Dunn backed her up - that it was her business to
fix the time of departure. But the host said: "You must not do it; only
his Imperial Highness can do it."
So they sat and sat while his Imperial Highness talked and talked -
not to them - but to Senator Gerry and me.
Boiled down to its smallest dimensions, I would say that he is, of course,
bitterly hostile to Germany and Russia; that he does not expect a peace;
that he looks forward to terrible destruction and disruption of Europe.
Though he does not mention it, I think it is perceptible that he hopes
for such a division of Europe that he may be returned to the throne of
the Hapsburgs.
I am told that his brother, the Archduke Felix, was surprisingly witty
for a man with such a retrorse chin.


Mother, ..... 2
Last night, at the dinner at the Belgian Embassy, I sat beside
Madame Fotitch, wife of the Minister from Yugoslavia. She was
from Bothnia when she married, and knew personally the story of
the Hapsburgs. It was a curious coincidence that I should have
this light thrown on this Danubian confusion. She did not have
much respect for the family, and did not express much hope for
the young Archduke's aspirations.
This must be kept strictly confidential, of course.
Your devoted son,
Warren
Mrs. C. G. Austin,
St. Albans,
Vermont.