The strangest state visit of all time
In 1909 the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph visited Switzerland. It could have been an official state visit with the mighty Emperor, but it turned out just a “courtesy call”. The Emperor didn’t set foot on Swiss soil, and was gone again after just a quarter of an hour. A strange episode in Swiss foreign affairs.
Michael van Orsouw
Michael van Orsouw has a PhD in history and is a performance poet and author. He regularly publishes historical books.
Website: geschichte-texte.ch
It could therefore have been expected that the Federal Council would make every effort to give the long-established and powerful ruler of the neighbouring Habsburg monarchy a reception worthy of his status. The initiative for the visit came from Austria. The Emperor was visiting Vorarlberg at the end of August 1909, and had planned a side trip to Switzerland.
But the Swiss Federal Council vacillated on how to respond. In order for the Emperor’s visit to have the status of an official state visit, all Federal Councillors would have had to be present; otherwise it was considered only a “courtesy call”. But Federal President Adolf Deucher (1831-1912) chose to go on a spa holiday rather than receive the Emperor, even though he had himself grown up on Lake Constance. The Vice President of the Federal Council, Robert Comtesse (1847-1922), had to step into the breach and lead the three-man Federal Council delegation, accompanied by high-ranking military officers Ulrich Wille (later General) and Theophil Sprecher von Bernegg (later Chief of the General Staff).
The entire port of Rorschach was festively decorated with garlands and flowers; the local organisers wanted to splash out and impress their exalted guest. The dominant colours were black and yellow, and red and white – matching the Habsburg flags. The lighthouse was also decorated with flags and flowers, and the organisers had even built a second wooden “lighthouse”. At the landing stage stood a triumphal arch with emblems of the Austrian imperial family and the Swiss Confederation, and the pediment of the Kornhaus was embellished with a large shield featuring the Austrian double-headed eagle. The Rorschacher Bürgermusik band gave a rousing rendition of the Austrian national anthem.
The Emperor presented himself at a distance, but perfectly arrayed as befitted his status, in his Field Marshal’s uniform with a white coat, red trousers with broad gold stripes, a helmet with a plume and the ribbon of the Order of the Golden Fleece. But Franz Joseph remained on the ship, so that although he did visit Switzerland that day, he did not officially set foot on Swiss soil!
The Federal Councillors were followed by the military brass, two St Gallen state councillors and the Mayor of Rorschach, and finally six little girls from Rorschach all dressed in white, who presented the Emperor with a bouquet of red and white roses and recited a poem.
Or was there something else behind it? Were there fears for the monarch’s life – after all, his wife had been assassinated in Geneva in 1898? We don’t know. But the Emperor’s flying visit, with a record-breaking duration of less than 20 minutes, is certainly one of the oddities of Swiss foreign affairs.
The costs for hotel accommodation, travel expenses, floral decorations, wooden structures, carpets, painting work, printed materials, photographer etc. totalled 10,805 francs and 23 centimes, as the collected records in the Federal Archives show. Still, despite the state visit being rather awkward and unproductive, even the Times of London reported on the meeting.
