Does anyone know if we will watch the live broadcast of the funeral on July 16th via Internet ??
Austrian national tv station ORF will air the Requiem LIVE on saturday july 16th so there is hope to get a good link here on the web.
Bavarian tv will air the Requiem at the Theatinerkirche,Munich on monday morning the 11th.
The French Republic has posthumously bestowed the late Archduke Otto with the
Chevalier de Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur,the highest possible Order of the Republique Francaise.The Order was handed out to the eldest son and heir of the deceased,the Archduke Karl,at the foot of the coffin of Archduke Otto,Pöcking Bavaria yesterday by the Grand Maître of the Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur,French Forces General Jean Louis Georgelin.
The Order is bestowed to honour the work of Archduke Otto for a united Europe and for enhancing French - German relations.
What a generous,wonderfull and moving gesture to acknowledge the work of Archduke Otto.
More details for the funeral arrangements have been announced.
The funeral of HI & RH will be a
State Funeral with TE President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Werner Fayman as well as the Governor of Nieder-Österreich and HSH Prince Hans-Adam of Liechtenstein in attendance as well as 1000 invited guests at the Requiem in the Stephans Dom,Vienna,july 16th.
Today,saturday the first of five Requiems is to be celebrated at Pöcking,hometown of the deceased.
Monday july 11th at 10.00AM,The Requiem at the Theatinerkirche,the Taking-Leave ceremony at the Odeons Square followed by a reception hosted by the Bavarian Prime Minister at the Residenz,the Royal Palace opposite the Theatinerkirche & Odeons Square.
Tuesday and wednesday the remains of TI & RH will lie in repose at the Wahlfartskirche Mariazell,Austria where a Requiem will be celebrated on wednesday.
Wednesday at 20.00PM,arrival of the remains of TI & RH at the Kapuziner Church,Neuen Markt,Vienna where they will lay in State.The church will be open 24 hours daily in order for the thousands expected to pay their last respect.
A video wall on the Neuen Markt will show the inside of the Kapuziner Church during the Lying in State untill friday evening.
In the night from friday july 15th to saturday july 16th the remains of HI & RH Archduke Otto will be moved to the Stephans Dom.At 07.30AM saturday there will be a morning Mass after which the church will be closed in order to make all the final arrangements including the crème coloured flower arrangments and to place the Wreaths of the Children and Grandchildren.
( The remains of HI & RH Archduchess Regina will remain in the Kapuziner church till the interment saturday evening.Archduchess Regina already had a Requiem when she passed away,with the Requiem in Mariazell being the exception on wednesday).
Invited guests,1000, will be admitted in the Stephans Dom from 13.00PM.
The President of Austria as well as the Chancellor of Austria will be in attendance while the Austrian Forces stand Guard during the ceremonies in Vienna.
His Eminence the Cardinal Christoph Schönborn will celebrate the Requiem assisted by 60 priests and Bishops,while the Dom musicians perform Michael Haydn's Requiem.
After the Requiem the remains of Archduke Otto will be moved by open car,( no carriage as was the wish of the late Archduke as he was a modern man and thought a carriage not fitting in this day and age),from the Stephans Dom to the Kapuzinergruft via the Graben,the Kohlmarkt to the Hofburg and from there via the Ring to the Neuen Markt and the Kapuzinergruft.
There will be four (4)..video walls where the thousands who are expected can watch the Requiem,2 walls at the Stephans Square,1 at the Helden Square and one on the Neuen Markt.The funeral procession is expected to be the longest in Austrian history according to the organisers with an approximate lenght of 1.2 kilometer.
At 19.00PM,the "Knocking on the Door" ceremony at the Kapuzinergruft where the Master of Ceremonies will knock on the door and when the monk inside asks who is there will answer with mentioning the full Titles and Honours of the deceased after which the monk will reply;"We do not know them",then the Master of Ceremonies will knock again but with only mentiong the titles of Archduke and Archduchess and again the monk will reply the same; "We do not know them".The third time the Master of Ceremonies knocks on the door and when the monk asks again who is there,the Master of Ceremonies will reply:'Otto and Regina,two poor sinners" after which the monk will grant admittance and open the doors to the Crypt.A tradition for hundreds of years for the Imperial Family.
The interment in the Gruftkapelle next to Empress Zita and Archduke Carl Ludwig is a private affair for Habsburg Family members only.

