File No. 863.001F85/27
Ambassador Penfield to the Secretary of State
Vienna, December 3, 1916.
Sir: * * * On November 28 the new Emperor Karl I of Austria and King Karl IV of Hungary and the Empress-Queen Zita received the Ambassadorial Body—now reduced to five members—at the Hofburg * * *
On November 30 I was again received at the Hofburg by the Emperor and Empress, this time in my capacity of Special Ambassador.* * *
At three o’clock that afternoon the obsequies over the mortal remains of the sovereign, who had ruled longer than any monarch since Louis XIV, were held in the cathedral church of St. Stephen’s.* * * At the close the Emperor, Empress and a hundred or more royalties followed the hearse on foot to the Capuchin Church, whose crypt contains the coffins of scores of Hapsburgs. In the march from the cathedral to the church the special representatives were given places immediately behind the Imperial Family. President Wilson’s representative walked with the representative of the Pope.* * *
December 30 is the date fixed for crowning King Karl IV and Queen Zita at Budapest.* * * The new Crown Prince, born on November 20, 1912, is named Franz Joseph Otto.
I have [etc.]