“I have friends,” he said. These friends include natural wine bar owners, painters, and opera puppeteers.
“I get to live a different life”
Of course, there’s the complicated reality that the loss of empire, the most traumatic event that happened to his family, gave him what was dearest: his freedom.
“My grandfather, he was the last crown prince. My father had to grow up as an emperor and my mother as an empress,” Habsburg said. “As a child, he had to go through all his training and learn 10 languages. Being royalty was a tough job. It’s all the events and openings and hospital visits.
“I am very proud of my family and what they have achieved,” he said. “But I can live another life.”
Habsburg was born in Salzburg, Austria, to politician von Habsburg and art collector and curator Francesca von Thyssen-Bornemisza. his parents are divorced. His father, 62, lives in Vienna and Porto, Portugal, and his mother, 64, lives in Madrid. Besides his documentary film producer roommate Gloria, Mr. Habsburg already has one sister. Eleonore Her Habsburg Her Ms D’Ambrosio, 29, is a jewelry designer living in Oxford, England, and her husband Jerome Ms D’Ambrosio is a former Formula E driver.
The Habsburgs — now home to about 600, he said — Please keep in touch. “We have a WhatsApp group,” Habsburg said. “I can travel anywhere in the world. I’ll text the group to tell them when and where I’m going. There’s a house we can stay in.” It’s like,’ he added.