The Prince’s Playground

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria Hungary ruled from 1848 until his death in 1916. Archduke Ludwig Salvatore Hapsburg-Bourbon was the Emperor’s second cousin, the sixth in line for the throne. He loved nature and wildlife. Knowing the odds against his ascending to the throne, he decided it was safe for him just to travel the world. He was given two ships from the Austro-Hungarian Navy as his personal toys. He traveled all over the world in them and wrote several notable travel logs for his wealthy friends to use during their travels. When one of his ships sank, his daddy just gave him another one.

As a young man he fell in love with the Princess Mathilde, daughter of the Duke of Teschen. She had already been promised, however, to Prince Umberto of Savoy in an arranged marriage. She was a smoker, and knew her father disapproved of her habit. One evening she was getting dressed in an elaborate gown to go to the theater. Her father caught her smoking, and she tried to hide her cigarette behind her dress. It caught fire and, as her family watched, she burned to death. Ludwig never married.

Of all the places he visited, his favorite retreat was his mountainside villa here on the island of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands just east of Spain. It is a sprawling estate that covers several mountain ridges in an area known as San Morroig (pronounced “San Morroij” in Catalan),

He loved the olive trees here. There is a story that once he happened upon a farmer who was chopping down one of the trees. The Archduke was horrified and immediately offered to buy the entire farm just to keep the farmer from chopping down the tree. Word spread and people kept an eye on the prince’s location. When he came near their farms they would run out with axes and begin chopping on an olive tree. Invariably the prince would offer to buy their farms, they would sell, and the princes estate grew to fantastic proportions.

We have been in some elaborately ornate palaces throughout Europe. San Morroig is not one of those. Although it is a large house with big rooms and high ceilings, it is not ostentatiously ornate. With fabulous views of the ocean and coastline, it is furnished like a comfortable country house. I think I like this place. I could see Glenda and me having breakfast outside under the rosary trees on the terrace. I can certainly see why cousin Ludwig liked it here.

The entire estate is now owned by American actor Michael Douglas.Read more