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For sale: Last Austrian emperor’s bedroom

Imperial dreams are dark, lavish and now available online. The bedroom of Austria's last emperor Charles I is up for sale on a second-hand furniture website for the regal sum of €125,000 ($130,000).

Published: 14 March 2017 20:13 CET

For sale: Last Austrian emperor's bedroom

Happier times. Seven years before giving away his bedroom, Charles I married Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma in Schwarzau Palace.

“Bedroom seeks new home. Terrific antique, absolute rarity from Charles the last emperor of Austria,” reads the private ad posted on the popular Willhaben.at website by a woman who inherited the pieces.

The items include a 2.2-metre (7.2-foot) long bed, two night tables and two cupboards, all made of dark heavy wood and featuring marquetry of Austrian castles.

The bedroom suite was part of Villa Wartholz, one of the residences used by Charles I and his wife, Zita of Bourbon-Parma.

The couple were the last monarchs of the Habsburg empire, which collapsed at the end of World War I.

Charles, the grandson of emperor Franz Joseph, offered his bedroom furniture as payment to his personal physician before fleeing into exile in 1918, according to the vendor.

The Imperial Furniture Collection (IFC) in Vienna, a key authority on Habsburg antiques, confirmed the bedroom's authenticity.

“We were offered the purchase but the price is way too high,” IFC expert Ilsebill Balta told AFP, adding that the pieces needed restoring.

French magazine must pay 190,000 euros over Kate Middleton topless pics

AFP

The court also ordered Closer magazine's editor Laurence Pieau and publisher Ernesto Mauri to each pay 45,000 euros ($53,000) in fines, the maximum possible.

The couple had sought 1.5 million euros in damages and interest.

Closer magazine's lawyer Paul-Albert Iweins said he was “pleased” with the ruling on the damages to pay, but said the fine was “exaggerated for a simple private matter.”

For his part, the royal couple's lawyer Jean Veil declined to comment, adding that Kensington Palace would make a statement.

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AFP

The grainy snaps of Kate Middleton sunbathing in a bikini bottom were taken while she was on holiday in September 2012 in the south of France with her husband, the second in line to the British throne.

The couple were snapped with a long lens relaxing by a pool at a chateau belonging to Viscount Linley, a nephew of Queen Elizabeth.

The pictures triggered a furious reaction from the royal family in Britain, where several newspapers rejected an offer to buy the pictures.

Closer, a glossy gossip magazine, was the first to splash them on its cover, and they were later reproduced in several other European publications, including Chi in Italy and Ireland's Daily Star.

The royals — who announced Monday they are expecting a third child — filed a criminal complaint for invasion of privacy and obtained an injunction preventing further use of the images.

In a letter read out in court, William said the case reminded him of the paparazzi hounding of his mother, princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in Paris 20 years ago.

Two Paris-based agency photographers, were each given fines of 10,000 euros, with 5,000 euros suspended.

'Positive image'

The prosecution had called for “very heavy” fines for the editor of the French Closer and Mondadori France, which is part of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's media empire.

The royals had joined the case as civil plaintiffs.

During the trial, Closer's lawyers argued that the pictures were in the public interest and conveyed a “positive image” of the royals.

The court also ordered the magazine to hand over the files with the images to the royal couple.

They learned of their impending publication while on an Asia-Pacific tour to mark the diamond jubilee of William's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II.

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