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save her children. Karl remained behind, knowing full well that the Entente would not permit him to break exile. His safety was further dependent on the return of Zita. The ex-Kaiserin's passage through France was accompanied by threats from M. Briand, who suggested that a permanent separation of the royals might crush royal plots once and for all. Upon reaching Schloss Hertenstein, Zita wasted no time in gathering her children and removing them to Zürich. From there, Robert was treated in a hospital and then the whole family was removed to Madeira, minus the Habsburg servants who were prevented from joining the exile. The Entente feared a conspiracy culd be hatched even from the isolated rocks of Madeira.

The Entente provided a pension to the royals that was sufficient to cover necessities. The largest house in Funchal had originally been granted to Karl, but as he had not set aside funds for exile (as "Foxy Ferdinand" of Bulgaria had), there was no royal bank accounts to pay for luxury. The governor found a suitable villa at the Capo do Monte, a barren if not uncivilised location often shrouded in seafog for many weeks of winter.

While Zita spent her time caring for her children with the aid of two Portuguese servant women, Karl was caught between depression and a recurring fever. His condition did not improve after weeks of coughing and hemorrhages. Two specialists from Austria were finally permitted to visit the ailing Karl, but by the time they reached the cold, foggy villa, a priest was already administering extreme unction. Karl choked to death in the darkness of 1 April 1922, at the young age of 34.

As an interesting conclusion, Zita long outlived her husband, only passing away in 1986. Her funeral ceremony at the Capucin crypt was the first seen in seventy years. As the coffin was borne to the closed doors of the crypt, a priest knocked three times. The monk who guarded the crypt opened a speaking window in the door. He asked who was there. The priest proclaimed "Zita, the Empress of Austria and the Queen of Hungary!" The monk replied, "I do not know her!" The priest knocked again, and the monk asked "Who is there?" The priest announced "Zita, the Queen of Lombardy, the Duchess of Styria, the Queen of Jerusalem!" The monk responded "I do not know her!" For the third time, the priest knocked, and the monk inquired "Who is there?" The priest softly stated, "Zita, a sinning mortal." With that, the monk bade their entrance, and Zita's body was given rest among the Habsburgs who once were.

As for Karl, his body remained in Madeira. In 1994, his coffin was opened, and it was revealed that his body had not decomposed. He appeared as he had on that painful night in April 1922. It was considered by many a miracle and testament to the holy faith of Karl, who, though surrounded by war and misery, led a Christian life and strove deeply for peace and righteousness.

On the Road to Sainthood

In 1998, the Vatican proclaimed him "Venerable," a distinction below that of a Saint, but a still worthy honour to the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. As of 22 December 2003, the Vatican had recognized a miracle performed in Karl's name, putting the late ruler on the road to sainthood.
The Roman Catholic Church said that it will grant beatification to the emperor. Beatification is one confirmed miracle short of sainthood. The Associated Press reported the last emperor's grandson, Georg Habsburg, as saying that a Brazilian nun praying for the beatification of Karl had resulted in the cure of her deadly disease. Mr. Habsburg said the woman's healing was unable to be explained by three medical experts. As of 3 October 2004, Karl the Venerable shall henceforth be known as the Blessed, as the Church announced the Beatification of Karl von Habsburg.

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"No ruler has experienced a fate so ill as that which befell the Emperor Karl. He accepted his fate with dignity, and the way he bore himself in a crucial test did him honour as man and Habsburg. . . he was thoroughly good, brave, and honest and a true Austrian" Kurt Schuschnigg, My Austria

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Things were being planned for the King without his knowledge. Horthy might have resisted the bullying of Benes and the taunts of Entente diplomats, but he would not be content with the ex-King forever. Premier Bethlen solved the problem by introducing into the Parliament a bill calling for the royals' deportation. Considering all the trouble Karl had caused in the last month, the bill was passed without opposition.

Karl responded: "I hereby declare the resolution of the National Assembly, ordering my deportation, to be the result of foreign pressure; it is therefore unlawful, ineffective, and contrary to the Constitution, forcing me to enter the most emphatic protest against it. Again I invoke the constitutional rights vested in me as Apostolic King, crowned with the crown of St. Stefan." While he was writing this protest, a British flotilla of gunboats had steamed up the Danube to tie up along the quays of Budapest, not far from the Parliament building itself. The statute of limitations on the deportation orders ran out on 1 November 1921. A line of armoured cars appeared at Tihany the day before, and the abbot of the monastery roused his guests from their sleep, and sent them on their uncertain way. They were escorted aboard the ship with characteristic respect, and a group of spectators witnessed their ex-sovereign depart the Apostolic kingdom for the last time. This moment realised, Honved soldiers in the crowd waved their hats and shouted "until we meet again" to the departing vessel.

The royal couple were taken as far as Galatz in Rumania, where on 6 November 1921 the gunboat was traded for an ocean-going vessel as far as the Straits. As prisoner-guests aboard the vessel Cardiff, neither Karl nor Zita were told of their ultimate destination, even as they passed Malta. The fate of their children grew ever more desperate in their minds as they reached the Strait of Gibraltar. No answers were forthcoming, and after two weeks at sea, the Cardiff reached the isle of Funchal in the Madeiras, a lonely subtropical Portuguese outpost in the Atlantic.

As 1922 neared, still no word had come from Switzerland, where the royals' children were awaiting their parents. Then on Christmas Day, of all days, a telegram arrived from Switzerland. Their third child, Robert, was striken with appendicitis, but the Entente officials refused to grant permission for the operation. Zita immediately boarded a ship for France, in order to

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