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After his father, Franz Karl, Franz Joseph became emperor of what was then the Austrian Empire. His brother, Maximillian, and Franz Joseph's son, Rudolph, both died before they reached the Austrian throne so his nephew, Franz Jospeh became the next in line for the throne.
He met Countess Sophie Chotek in 1895 at a ball in Prague. As she was not from a family that reigned in Europe she was not eligible to marry Franz so for more than two years they kept their relationship a secret.
As Franz refused to marry anyone else and several people in power - Pope Leo XIII, Emperor Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia - had made pleas to Franz Joseph to allow the marraige to go ahead on the grounds that the argument was going to ruin the monarchy, Franz Joseph eventually agreed that Franz Ferdinand could marry Sophie Chotek. However, there were "terms and conditions" to the marriage. These were that the wedding would be morganatic and any children the two had would have no rights to the throne of Austria.
On July the 1st 1900 the pair wed at Reichstadt (known as Zákupy today) but none of Franz Ferdinand's family attended the ceremony other than Franz's stepmother and her two daughters.
With Sophie, Franz had four children. They were:
Princess Sophie von Hohenberg
Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg
Prince Ernst von Hohenberg
and a stillborn son who was killed with his mother in the assassination.
