Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Former Archduke Ferdinand Karl dead at 46

March 12, 1915




March 12, 1915

 Ferdinand Burg, the former Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria, died today in Munich,  according to a New York Times dispatch sent from Munich via Amsterdam and London.  Burg was 46 years old.  The cause of death was tuberculosis.

He was a nephew of Emperor Franz Josef, and the brother of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination at Sarajevo last June "had much to do with the outbreak of the European war."

Ferdinand adopted the surname Burg in 1911, and renounced "all his privileges as a member of the imperial family," after he married Berta Czuber, the daughter of a professor of engineering.  It took several years before the Emperor would allow the archduke to "renounce his rank" to marry a commoner.  Eventually, he "gave his consent" to the marriage, and granted Ferdinand an annuity of $8000.

The couple was married in secret in 1909.

He was the third son of the late Archduke Karl Ludwig and his wife, Princess Maria Annunziata of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies.

Burg is survived by his wife, Berta.  The couple had no children.

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