HISTORY: Meyerling murder-suicide incident, not "suicide pact"

The Meyerling incident happened in Austria in the late 1800s within the "royal" circles.

The 30-year-old Austrian Crown Prince, Rudolf, the only son of emperor Franz, was married with a child but also had a mistress named Mary who was the daughter of one of the courtiers. 

Initially the emperor and his wife ignored their son's extra-marital affair.  But after a while when too many rumors began spreading, they opposed the relationship and adamantly told the crown prince to end it.  He was terribly upset.

Then .. some day in the winter of January 1889, crown prince Rudolf went to spend a few days in his hunting lodge at a place called Mayerling with his mistress, Mary.  He was also accompanied by his valet and a hunting companion.  The next morning when they didn't hear from the couple for a long time, the valet and the hunting companion had to break open the bedroom door to find the couple shot dead.

First a false rumor spread that he died of blockage of an artery in the heart.  But that sounded too unreal.  No one believed it.   And the question remained, how did his mistress die too?  

After a much closer and careful examination, the truth was disclosed only within the close circles.  Rudolf had first shot his mistress while she was asleep and then shot himself a little later.  The cause was his sadness for not being allowed to wed Mary.  But the official version disclosed to the public was a "suicide pact" although every shred of evidence was against it.    Though Mary was enjoying romancing with the prince as a frivolous teenage girl, yet she never expressed to anyone of her desire to kill herself for her lover's sake.   Neither was any evidence found that the prince shot her with her consent on the understanding that he would also shoot himself later.  Everyone who knew Mary were of the opinion that it was very unlikely, if not impossible, she would have agreed to that. 

Prince Rudolf was a jealous and possessive lover.  When he realized that his parents would never allow him to divorce his wife and marry his mistress, he couldn't bear the thought of his mistress going on her life without him and marrying someone else.  Committing suicide was not enough. He had to kill her too - a murder of passion.  

When Rudolf and Mary died, they were 30 and 17, respectively.  The love affair was supposed to have lasted for three years.  Thus, when the affair began, Mary was 14 and Rudolf 27.  Apart from being guilty of a murder of passion, according to the present European and North American laws, the crown prince of Austia was also a "pedophile."