Hubert Matthias Pointinger

The Salt Princess: the Secret Mistress of Emperor Franz Josef I. Hubert Matthias Pointinger

Publisher Marketing: Many little girls dream of becoming a princess some day. Theresia Pointinger, the "Salt Princess," Reserl to her friends, made the dream come true. The daughter of an estate owner near Austria's Lake Mondsee, she cast her spell over one of the most powerful men of her age: Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Skilfully, she arranged to become his lover, leaving nothing to chance. In the ten years they were together, she started a family with the emperor and had four children with him. The first-born son, Anton, was even given the privilege of being raised at the imperial court by the side of his father. In 1873, the emperor was prevented from visiting Theresia because of the World Exhibition in Vienna. Almost on a whim, she married Willi Buchwald, a comital hunter. But even this marriage did not stop Theresia from continuing her love affair with Franz Joseph when he returned from Vienna. The book tells this unique and fascinating story against the scenic backdrop of Austria's Salzkammergut region. It also describes the lives of the emperor's four children, some of which took a tragic course. The author, Hubert Pointinger, was born in 1961 and is married. He works as an airline pilot and lives in the Salzkammergut region. He is a direct male descendent of the emperor. This second edition is based on the first edition, published under the same title in May 2007 by Austrian publishers Ueberreuter. Contains 77 illustrations.