Johann Orth and Milli Stubel

Till death us do part?

Turning your back on all titles and honours as a high-up member of the ruling Hapsburg family in the 19th century takes a strong and resolute personality. A life outside of imperial rules and regulations is the reward. And being exiled for renouncing his titles does not seem to bother Johann Nepomuk Salvator. Mind you the generous pension he receives from Emperor Franz Joseph must ease the blow. Since money-wise, the House of Hapsburg never turns its back on its own kind, even archdukes who have fallen from grace.

So who is the woman worth opting out of the imperial family for? Ludmilla Hildegard Stubel, or Milli for short, is born in Vienna on September 11th, 1852 and taken on as a ballet pupil at the Kärntnertor Theatre. She later belongs to the corps de ballet at the Harmonietheater and the Vienna Court Opera.

It is not known when her liaison with Archduke Johann Nepomuk Salvator begins. In any case they are married in 1899, probably in London, Salvator having renounced all Hapsburg titles and honours for his love. Subsequently Milli accompanies her husband to Hamburg where they board the Saint Margaret bound for South America. There the trail ends – both couple and ship are lost without a trace.