This is the first fully documented psycho-biography of the last Crown Prince of the Habsburg monarchy. Drawing mostly from first hand reports, Salvendy follows Crown Prince Rudolf from infancy to his suicide at the age of thirty. Exploring his childhood, adolescence, family and social relationships, his military, political, scholarly and journalistic career, his physical and emotional illnesses, along with the reasons leading to his self-destruction, the author sheds considerable new light on the personality of this unfortunate Habsburg.