I hasten to add that the comments section of this blog broke the news of the existence of royal blood on Franz Ferdinand's uniform at Vienna's Military History Museum a full nine months before Gridskipper.

That's not to mention the amazing coincidence that the Austrian Archduke's name is stringly similar to that of a Scottish band that become famous ninety years later -- again, you saw it hear first. Or at least you saw it hear before you saw it there. If you were looking.

People, you have done me proud!

For some reason I never knew the real story (with the grim details) of how the Archduke was killed -- until today. I don't know much about him, but given his poignant (and pathetic, in the old fashioned sense) last words to his dying wife, Franz doesn't strike me as an altogether bad man. For a would-be emperor, I mean. (Scroll down to "Mortal Wounds." It's too sad for me to type.)

One final note: I saw from the referring URLs that if you Google "Archduke Franz Ferdinard," this blog comes up #4. It took me ages to figure out how that was possible.