Zita
Zita
(zē`tə, Ger. tsē`tä), 1892–1989, last empress of Austria and queen of Hungary. The daughter of Duke Robert of Parma, she was married (1911) to Archduke Charles Francis, who in 1916 became emperor as Charles ICharles I,1887–1922, last emperor of Austria and, as Charles IV, king of Hungary (1916–18); son of Archduke Otto and grandnephew and successor of Emperor Francis Joseph. He married Zita of Bourbon-Parma.
..... Click the link for more information. . She exercised great influence over her husband and was blamed for Charles's letters to her brother, Sixtus of Bourbon-ParmaSixtus of Bourbon-Parma, Prince,
1886–1934, son of Robert, last duke of Parma. While serving as an officer in the Belgian army, he was the intermediary for his brother-in-law, Emperor Charles I of Austria-Hungary, in Charles's secret attempt to negotiate peace with the
..... Click the link for more information. , during World War I that corroborated French claims to Alsace-Lorraine. She was also blamed for Charles's attempts to regain his throne after the war. After her husband's death (1922), Zita brought up her large family in Belgium. She never renounced her ambition to see Archduke Otto, her son (see Hapsburg, Otto vonHapsburg, Otto von,
1912–2011, Austrian archduke and former pretender to the Austro-Hungarian throne, son of Emperor Charles I and Empress Zita. After World War II began, he went to the United States and made an unsuccessful attempt to form an Austrian legion to fight
..... Click the link for more information. ), crowned king of Hungary and possibly emperor of Austria. From 1940 to 1949 Zita lived in the United States and in Canada; she later lived in Switzerland.