He had a patriarchal understanding of family and was the undisputed head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, brooking no opposition to his ‘supreme will’, which in extreme cases could lead to exclusion from the family and the loss of title and privileges. He strove to preserve a measure of distance between himself and the people around him, both as monarch and in the family. With the passing of the years he became taciturn and withdrawn, letting few of his emotions show. Franz Joseph was wholly imbued with the concept of his divine mission as emperor.Īs a young man Franz Joseph was described as charming, courteous and good-looking. His mental isolation was reinforced by court ceremonial, which elevated his imperial majesty to an almost religious level. His personality developed in unique and difficult circumstances: from his earliest youth it was impressed up on him that he had been chosen as emperor, an office that was to be served with humility. Even today, Franz Joseph is regarded as the very epitome of the emperor in the successor states of the Monarchy. Towards the end of his life he became a semi-mythical figure, a symbol of the Monarchy who was beyond criticism. Franz Joseph looms large in the historical consciousness of posterity.
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