How strict were Habsburg imperial rituals compared with the rest of Europe?

[profxyz]

It seems like the Habsburg court has a reputation for being excessively austere compared with Europe, bolstered by the gloomy personal lives of people such as Elizabeth of Bavaria and Franz Ferdinand (whose wife was forbidden to be next to him at Imperial functions). How true was this?

 

[Welshroyalhistory]

It seems like the Habsburg court has a reputation for being excessively austere compared with Europe, bolstered by the gloomy personal lives of people such as Elizabeth of Bavaria and Franz Ferdinand (whose wife was forbidden to be next to him at Imperial functions). How true was this?

It was the Germanic norm but the Viennese court was well known for being the strictest.

HRH Princess Alice of Albany wrote in her autobiography how when she and her husband attended the wedding of the Kaiser Wilhelm II's daughter in 1913, she and her her husband were sat separately.

She was a Royal Highess, while he was a mere Serene Highness.

 

[profxyz]

It was the Germanic norm but the Viennese court was well known for being the strictest.

Was there anything in particular that led to the Germans having such a strict court (I suppose the large number of nobles had something to do with it)? And why wasn't this form adopted in other countries with German royals (such as the UK, which seems like a much more 'open' court - the future Edward VII, for example).

Thanks for answering!

 

[Welshroyalhistory]

Was there anything in particular that led to the Germans having such a strict court (I suppose the large number of nobles had something to do with it)? And why wasn't this form adopted in other countries with German royals (such as the UK, which seems like a much more 'open' court - the future Edward VII, for example).

Thanks for answering!

Well the Hapsburg were petrified of any change and resisted it at all costs. There's quite an interesting scene in "Fall of Eagles" which illustrated how some at the court of Franz Josef were trying to modernise the Hofburg court but the Emperor always resisted. One of his courtiers suggested that the time had come to allow the soldiers on guard at the palace to not have to salute to all of the child Archduke and Archduchesses as they passed as there were literally tons of these kids wandering around the various palaces and it was a distraction for the soldiers. The Emperor thought about it for a while, then declined as he was worried that it would become a slippery slope. If the soldiers stopped showing reverence to the child Hapsburgs, might the adults be next...

I suppose it was tradition combined with the fact that Germany was made up of a number of electorates, principalities, duchies etc who lived in a state of jealousy and worry about status.

 

[Thoresby]

I think the vast number of courts in Germany was the key thing. For Vienna to retain it's claim to preeminence it had to "win" the arms race of ritual and ceremony in a way that the English court for example didn't have to worry about.