Mayerling

Mayerling was about fifteen miles outside Vienna, prettily situated in the woods. The Crown Prince Rudolf (heir to the Hapsburg throne) built himself a hunting lodge there and used it as a hideaway for his love affair with the teenage Marie Vetsera. The prince wanted to divorce his wife and marry Marie, but his father, the emperor, refused permission. And so, in 1889, the lovers enacted a suicide pact that made for one of the great demonstrations of love fighting duty.