Duties await
Franz Ferdinand was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and had left Sarajevo to inspect his army.
After two days of celebrations earlier, the Duke and Duchess had one more day’s duties to perform. He sent off a telegram congratulating his eldest son on his exam results, before the couple arrived in Sarajevo by train at 9.28 a.m.
The Duke was in the full blue and gold uniform of a cavalry general. The Duchess was in a white silk dress with red and white fabric roses. Although aware of warnings that the trip could be dangerous, neither of them knew that seven terrorists — members of the Young Bosnians, a revolutionary student group — were waiting for them.
As their open-topped car passed down the grand Appel Quay, the first terrorist was too frightened to deploy his bomb. The second, Nedeljko ?abrinovi?, was not, but his aim was poor, and the bomb bounced off the royal vehicle and exploded under another, injuring two soldiers and a number of bystanders.
“The fellow is clearly insane,” the Duke muttered, and indicated that the trip should continue. After an event at city hall, the couple decided to visit those wounded by the earlier bomb. The driver became confused about the route, and turned down Franz Josef street. On realising his error, he stopped outside Moritz Schiller’s café so the car could be manually pushed backwards.
One of the conspirators, the 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, was then on his way home, believing the day’s plans to have failed. By a fateful coincidence, he was on Franz Josef street outside Schiller’s café when the royal car stopped directly in front of him.
Seizing his moment, he pulled out his handgun and fired twice. The first round passed through the car door and hit Sophie in the abdomen. The second struck Franz Ferdinand in the jugular vein. “Sophie, Sophie,” Franz Ferdinand implored, “don’t die. Stay alive for our children.” They were both taken to the Konak Palace and were dead shortly after 11.00 a.m. It was their 14th wedding anniversary.
“I am a Yugoslav nationalist, aiming for the unification of all Yugoslavs, and I do not care what form of state, but it must be free from Austria.”
Gavrilo Princip, at his trial
Princip was too young to face the death penalty for the double murder. He admitted assassinating Franz Ferdinand, but said he had not meant to kill Sophie. He was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment, and died of tuberculosis in April 1918, the year the war he started finally ended after an estimated 17 million soldiers and civilians had died and 20 million had been wounded.
