Major Otto

Franz Joseph Otto Ruprecht Maria Anton Karl Maximilian Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignaz--put them all together they make Archduke Otto of Habsburg, pretender to the thrones of Austria and Hungary--last week attained his 18th birthday and his legal majority.

The day which thousands of Hungarian Legitimists have been awaiting for eight years dawned quietly and set peaceably. Despite last-minute rumors of a projected dash through Switzerland and Austria to seize the throne of Hungary, of imminent riot and turmoil, somebody had evidently decreed that last week was not time for a putsch.

Chief excitement was in the little Belgian Chateau of Steenockerzeel, near Louvain, where Archduke Otto and his indomitable mother, his seven brothers and sisters have been living for over a year. Night before "the birthday every window in the chateau was ablaze with lights for a birthday dinner. Otto himself, a pleasant youth in a scarlet & white Hungarian noble's costume, sat at the head of a table that contained members of the proudest, moldiest families in Europe. Ex-Empress Zita, in dead black, her only jewelry a large gold cross, sat at his right. With old Habsburg formality guests went in to dinner "according to the Spanish Court rules of precedence." With new Habsburg economy, they fared frugally on fish, meat, fruit, coffee. Next day aristocrats returned to the castle where they found Otto standing by his mother. He was dressed in a cutaway coat, wore white kid gloves this time. One by one they kissed his right hand, swore fealty to the new Head of the House of Habsburg. In the castle chapel Monsignor Seydel, former court chaplain in Vienna, pro nounced a benediction, sang a Te Deum.

"Some day," said he, "I hope I shall be able to sing a Te Deum in the great cathedral of St. Stephen.

In Budapest, Otto's birthday created only the mildest flurry. By order of the Regent, Admiral Nicholas Horthy de Nagybanya, no flags were displayed on government buildings, but even on the private homes of loyalists there was a dearth of bunting.

There was a birthday mass at St. Stephen's, dutifully attended by 2,000 Legitimists who later cheered "Otto I, King of Hungary," but neither government officials nor Habsburg archdukes were present.

That evening ancient Count Albert Apponyi addressed a banquet in the Hotel Gellert, spoke quaveringly on the life and virtues of Archduke Otto.

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