Crown Prince Garden

This small area by the east wing of the palace long remained a closed family part of Schönbrunn. The Baroque pattern of flowerbeds here was restored in the early two thousands from old plans. In summer, citrus plants from the Federal Gardens are displayed in the sunken part of the garden, and the wing’s low windows look directly onto this secluded area.

Behind the low windows of the east wing are the rooms that gave this garden its name, the Crown Prince Garden. In eighteen sixty-four, they were assigned to six-year-old Rudolf—the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph I and heir to the throne. A crown prince was the future monarch. The garden itself had already existed for more than a century and a half: Rudolf neither commissioned it nor chose its design. The name took hold because he stayed behind these windows during visits to Schönbrunn.

Franz Joseph I wanted to prepare his son above all for military service. While Rudolf was still an infant, he appointed him honorary commander of an infantry regiment; at two, he dressed him in uniform; and at six, he handed him over to General Leopold Gondrecourt. The tutor was to turn a sickly, timid child into a resilient officer. He made Rudolf march for hours in any weather and woke him in the middle of the night with pistol shots. The boy’s condition reached physical and nervous exhaustion.

Rudolf’s mother, Empress Elisabeth, sought the right to decide herself how her children would be raised. In the summer of eighteen sixty-five, she saw what had become of her son and gave Franz Joseph I an ultimatum: either he gave her full control over the children’s upbringing, or she would leave the court. The emperor yielded. Gondrecourt was removed, and the new tutor was Joseph Latour von Thurmburg, who was to restore the child’s trust in adults and select other teachers.

The consequence of this decision was also evident in the rooms at Schönbrunn. Teachers came here even during the court’s summer stay. Rudolf studied for seven hours, six days a week, but the schedule now included natural history, geology, and zoology. In eighteen sixty-six, the curators of the Imperial Mineralogical Cabinet gave him duplicate minerals and rocks for his personal collection. Later, the geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter held one hundred lessons with the heir and supported his interest in scientific research.

Franz Joseph I nevertheless forbade his son from entering university: ordinary student life was considered unsuitable for a future emperor. Rudolf continued studying independently, published ornithological works, and conceived a multivolume description of the peoples and lands of Austria-Hungary. After his death, his widow, Crown Princess Stephanie, gave part of the mineralogical collection to an educational institution; individual specimens are still kept there.

The garden remained a closed family area until the end of the monarchy. The Baroque pattern of flowerbeds visible today was restored in the early two thousands from old plans, and citrus plants from the Federal Gardens are displayed in the sunken part during the summer. Something else remains here from Rudolf: the windows of his rooms on the first floor and the garden’s name, received from the six-year-old heir who was taught behind them.