Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria
He was born (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia and, from 1896 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne.Born in Graz on 18 December 1863, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig, a younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph, and his second wife, Maria Annunziata of Naples and Sicily (called Ciolla; 1843–1871), a daughter of King Ferdinand II of von Naples and Sicily from the House of Bourbon and Archduchess Maria Theresia.
Maria Annunziata was a granddaughter of Field Marshal Archduke Karl and thus half Habsburg on her mother’s side. Franz Ferdinand’s sickly, epileptic mother died at a young age of lung disease. Franz Ferdinand’s father was extremely conservative and a devout Catholic, and his son was accordingly given a strict Catholic upbringing. The archduke pursued the military career typical for male members of the dynasty in the nineteenth century.
