As a potential successor to the Austrian throne, Franz Joseph was from his very birth at the centre of family and public attention. His younger brother Maximilian cut a dash in the Navy and later as Emperor of Mexico, while the third member of the fraternity, Carl Ludwig, held his own in the public eye through official appearances on behalf of the imperial house. On the subject of the youngest brother, Ludwig Viktor, the sources are mostly silent. The resulting lack of reliable information has left all the more scope for speculation and legends surrounding his person. Ludwig Viktor was never married, though for many years he had a relationship with the dancer Claudia Couqui. His alleged homosexual inclinations earned him the nickname ‘Lutzi Wutzi’ and his involvement in a brawl amongst homosexuals was just one of numerous escapades that became the talk of the town. A persistent rumour has it that the Emperor wished to ban his youngest brother from the family circle and from public life.
Ludwig Viktor was the first Habsburg to choose to set up his residence on the Ring. The year 1869 saw the completion in the Italian Renaissance style of the Palais Ludwig Viktor, designed by the architect Heinrich von Ferstel, who had made a name for himself with the Votivkirche. The archduke’s living and working quarters on the mezzanine are still well preserved, notably the Tower Cabinet with its wooden panelling and painted stucco ceiling. The state rooms were on the first floor; the reception rooms included a gallery, a dining hall, a winter garden and a ballroom.
However, as the archduke increasingly preferred to live at Schloss Klessheim in Salzburg, from 1910 he let his Vienna residence be used by the Society for Military Science and the Casino (Militärwissenschaftlicher und Casinoverein) – even today it is home to the Neustadt Officers’ Society (Neustädter Offiziersverein). The grand hall is used by the Burgtheater as a rehearsal stage and performance space, in addition to which the palais also houses a bar and a number of rooms belonging to the Ministry of Commerce.
Ludwig Viktor was a very popular figure in Salzburg. In addition to his commitment to the art world as Patron both of the Salzburger Kunstverein and of the Künstlerhaus, Franz Joseph appointed him supervisor of the Austrian Red Cross after its foundation in 1896. On his death in 1919, Ludwig Viktor was at his own wish laid to rest at the cemetery of Siezenheim, near Salzburg.
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