Above: Mary Vetsera and her older sister Hanna.

Source: Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek (Austrian National Library)

13. The Last Night (continued)

Mary spent the night writing farewell notes including three to Helene, her brother Franz ("Feri") and her sister Hanna: (Jilek)

"Dear Mother – Forgive me for what I have done. – I could not resist love. In agreement with Him, I want to be buried next to Him in the Alland cemetery. I am happier in death than in life. Your Mary."

"My dear Feri – Unfortunately, I couldn't see you anymore. Farewell, I will watch over you from the other world because I love you very much. Your faithful sister Mary."

"My dear Hanna – A few hours before my death, I want to say goodbye to you. We will both go happily into the uncertain afterlife. Think of me now and then, be happy, and marry only for love. I couldn't do it, and since I couldn't resist love, I'm going with him. Your Mary."

In a lengthy postscript Mary asked Hanna to distribute her jewellery as she saw fit, and to place a gardenia on her grave every January 13th, "and on the anniversary" (presumably of her death). "Don't cry for me; I'm going over there in good spirits."

Mary wrote two more notes before she died, both somewhat macabre. One of them, now lost but attested to by Count Hoyos, was addressed to Duke Miguel of Braganza whom Helene had targeted as a potential husband for Mary.

In this "cheerful" note she bequeathed her fur boa to Miguel, telling him to hang it over his bed. Rudolf added a postscript: "Cheers, Waterboy!" (Judtmann 152).

Mary's last note was discovered in 1918 among other items in a leather case that had belonged to Rudolf. It was written in purple ink on an onyx ashtray: "Better a revolver than poison. A revolver is more certain" (Judtmann 126).