Zita, Exiled Empress of Hapsburg Dynasty, Is Dead at 96

Zita, the last empress of the vast Hapsburg Empire, whose role in a plan to end World War I and save her monarchy led to exile, died Tuesday.

She was 96, and died at a home for the aged in this village on the Upper Rhine.

Born in Italy as a princess in the house of Bourbon-Parma, Zita was the widow of Karl I, the last king of the Austro-Hungarian Hapsburg dynasty that ruled for 640 years.

Their domain was a multilingual empire of 50 million people stretching from what is now Poland to the Mediterranean. After the Allied victory in World War I, Karl I agreed to “temporarily relinquish” his imperial rights but never officially abdicated.

He was crowned emperor of Austria and king of Hungary after the death in 1916 of his uncle, Franz Joseph, who reigned 68 years.

The downfall of Karl began as he initiated moves in 1916 to negotiate a peace he hoped would save the monarchy. Zita helped arrange secret contacts with the Allies.

The Austrian efforts were revealed in 1918, causing an uproar and rocking the Austrian-German alliance. Zita became known as the “spy of the Bourbons.”

The 1918 exodus from Schoenbrunn Castle was the beginning of a long Odyssey.

Karl I took exile in a Lake Geneva chateau in Switzerland. But after launching from there two abortive comeback attempts, he was banished to Madeira, where he died at the age of 34.

Zita, a mother of eight, wore mourning black from the time Charles died in 1922 until her own death.