Book Review: Charles I, The Last Emperor

The world is lacking in good leadership. The case could be made that this has always been true, that power corrupts, and that to rule over one’s fellow man is unnatural. A recent book about the last Austro-Hungarian emperor, titled “Blessed Charles of Austria: A Holy Emperor and His Legacy,” does not make that case. In fact, it is a hopeful book, showing that it is possible to act upright in the face of human weakness and treachery. In detailing the life of Charles I of Austria, the author explores the traits that, even in a particularly fallen age, can make one worthy of veneration.

Blessed Charles of Austria: A Holy Emperor and His Legacy by Charles A. Coulombe — $27.95

Who was Blessed Charles, or “Blessed Karl” as he is more commonly known in the Catholic world? He was a monarch, yes, and obviously a pious one for him to be well on his way to sainthood. But he was also a family man, and, stranger yet, a humanitarian and a multiculturalist. That is definitely not what you would expect out of a German-speaking ruler in the first half of the 20th century.

One of the great successes of this book is to remind readers, especially American readers, about what went on during World War I. More so now than ever, with Woodrow Wilson having been “canceled,” there is not a simple heuristic to understanding “the war to end all wars.” The various nationalistic feuds and ideologies conflicting on the European continent in the first World War are not as easily simplified as the tagline of the sequel: “Nazis = bad.”

If Americans remember anything from history class about WWI, it is that it was sparked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914. But what happened then, especially in the three years before President Wilson reneged on his campaign boast that he “kept us out of war”? It turns out that Emperor Charles (who only became heir to Austria-Hungary after his uncle Franz Ferdinand’s death) was trying desperately to end the hostilities. He found his counterparts unwilling to listen.

Charles I’s attempts to deescalate the world stage were ultimately so unsuccessful, that politicians in his own lands seized the opportunity to send him and his family into exile. The Habsburgs became personae non gratae in the years to follow, with the Nazi and Communist successor governments leading propaganda efforts to paint the former emperor as a traitor to his people. It is only in recent years, specifically after his beatification by Pope John Paul II in 2004, that the legacy and reputation of “The Peace Emperor” has recovered around the world.

This is to be praised, and it shows the power of goodness and truth. If coordinated totalitarian attacks cannot suppress the memory of a great world leader a hundred years after his death, then perhaps falsehood and deception do not always win out. Reading “Blessed Charles of Austria: A Holy Emperor and His Legacy” is not only a lesson in history but also a lesson in faith. At the book’s conclusion, Coulombe details the status of the potential saint’s candidacy, and takes a look at his cause around the world. In addition to many groups in areas formally under the Habsburg crown, a particular devotion to Blessed Karl has sprung up in the United States. Why is this? It just may be that people yearn for strong moral leadership, and for a government in which public policy matches up with so-called private piety.