On 21 November 1916, the octogenarian Emperor Franz Joseph died. His reign had lasted sixty-eight years. On 30 November, the funeral procession carried his remains to St Stephen’s Cathedral, and then to the nearby Habsburg family vault, the Capuchin crypt. A sense of bereavement pervaded even those who did not support the monarchy. The future social-democratic Chancellor of Austria (from 1970) Bruno Kreisky, who was five years old in 1916, recalled feeling bereft and desolate. No one remembered any other ruler. Before his demise, the Emperor supposedly confided to his valet that he feared his funeral toll would also signal the end of the Empire. Indeed, the new Emperor and King of Hungary Charles I (‘and the last’, many sneered) had slim chances of saving the monarchy, even if he proved to be a genius.