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Just what it says in the title. What if Crown Prince Rudolf didn't make a murder/suicide pact and continued to live? How would Rudolf's survivinal change the course of the Austro-Hungarian Empire? His political views were supposedly liberal but would that be enough to save the Empire? I read in Twilight of the Habsburgs by Alan Palmer that he supported centralization within the Austrian half of the Duel Monarchy, with the creation of unified Liberal and Conservative parties, I assume similar to those in the UK. Would this help or hinder the Empire? Would it be possible to implement? Would WWI still happen? What about the succession? He had one daughter, Archduchess Elisabeth Marie, had supposedly infected his wife, Princesse Stephenie of Belgium, with a venial disease and was considering divorce/annulment of the marriage at the time of his death. So would we see Princess Stephenie being set aside for the matter of Succession? if so who would the Crown Prince marry? If not, would he see this supposedly liberal man change the succession laws to allow his daughter to become Crown Princess and eventually Empress-Queen, emulating their famous ancestor Maria Theresa?
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