Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

Sophie Chotek became the wife of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1900 after a prolonged dispute over their unequal dynastic rank. The marriage was morganatic, meaning Sophie and their children did not share Franz Ferdinand’s rights of succession or full status within the Habsburg court.

She was later created Duchess of Hohenberg. Sophie was killed with Franz Ferdinand in the Sarajevo assassination that precipitated the July Crisis. Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg was born in Stuttgart and died in Sarajevo.

Alan Bardos’s The Assassins places Sophie beside her husband Archduke Franz Ferdinand during the Sarajevo visit of 28 June 1914. The fictional British agent Johnny Swift moves among the Young Bosnian conspirators while the novel reconstructs the failed bomb attack, the altered motorcade route and the chance circumstances that bring Gavrilo Princip within pistol range of the couple. Sophie’s presence matters historically as well as emotionally: the morganatic wife who was often excluded from full Habsburg ceremonial honours is permitted to accompany Franz Ferdinand on this military visit, and is killed with him in the assassination that triggers the July Crisis.