Exile
After a difficult few months at Eckartsau, the Imperial Family received aid from an unexpected source. Prince Sixtus had met with King George V of the United Kingdom and appealed to him to help the Habsburgs. George was reportedly moved by the request (it being mere months since his cousin Nicholas II of Russia had been executed by revolutionaries) and promised "We will immediately do what is necessary."
Several British Army officers were sent to help Charles, most notably Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt (a grandson of Lord Belper). On 19 March 1919, orders were received from the War Office to "get the Emperor out of Austria without delay". With some difficulty, Strutt managed to arrange a train to Switzerland, and enabling the Emperor to leave the country with dignity and without him having to abdicate. Charles, Zita, their children and their household departed on 24 March.
Read more about this topic: Zita Of Bourbon-Parma
Famous quotes containing the word exile:
“Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say “death”;
For exile hath more terror in his look,
Much more than death. Do not say “banishment!””
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The exile is a singular, whereas refugees tend to be thought of in the mass. Armenian refugees, Jewish refugees, refugees from Franco Spain. But a political leader or artistic figure is an exile. Thomas Mann yesterday, Theodorakis today. Exile is the noble and dignified term, while a refugee is more hapless.... What is implied in these nuances of social standing is the respect we pay to choice. The exile appears to have made a decision, while the refugee is the very image of helplessness.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“The bond between a man and his profession is similar to that which ties him to his country; it is just as complex, often ambivalent, and in general it is understood completely only when it is broken: by exile or emigration in the case of one’s country, by retirement in the case of a trade or profession.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)