Franz Ferdinand's relationship with youngest brother Ferdinand Karl had deteriorated during the former's pursuit of Sophie's acceptance. Later they would sour even further. Whereas the other brother Otto was notoriously extravagant and hedonist, Ferdinand Karl was the most sensitive of the three brothers, attracted – like his father Karl Ludwig – to artistic and scientific matters. Of slight build and modest, almost retiring character, after three years of military education, during which he displayed a keen technical interest rather than an affinity with horses, he was transferred to Genie-Regiment No. 2 in 1889. It was highly unconventional for a member of the Habsburg family to not choose any of the more prestigious infantry or cavalry regiments, although upon reaching his majority he would serve with the Tyroler Kaiserjäger Regiments Nos. 1 and 4, and then as Oberstleutnant command Regiment No. 3. At the urging of the influential and forceful Archduke Ferdinand, Duke of Teschen, Ferdinand Karl 'maintained dynastic discipline' and stayed away from his brother Franz Ferdind's wedding ceremony with the 'unworthy' Gräfin Sophie Chotek in Reichstadt – the 'act of treachery' which earned him the enmity of his older brother. However, almost at the same time events with a crushing irony began to unfold. Ferdinand Karl often attended the Wiener Technikerball at the Technisches Universität in Vienna as he was patron of the annual ball. There he met and fell in love with Bertha Czuber, daughter of Professor Emanuel Czuber. Like his oldest brother, Ferdinand Karl kept this love affair secret for the best part of two years, until by 1903 rumours forced him to declare himself and ask the Emperor for his permission to marry the beloved Miss Bertha Czuber ... from a good but untitled family. He offered to retire from the army, perhaps becoming Intendant at the Hoftheater, or even stay away from Vienna altogether – perhaps not being aware of the irony of his situation, it shows how far his imagination differed from reality. However, Emperor Franz Josef – understandably not showing favouritism – could do no less than he had to do with Franz Ferdinand, and refused to sanction the union. In something of a fit of pique, Franz Ferdinand started a vengeful campaign against his younger brother, demanded the severest possible consequences. It appeared to work, for on 18th October, 1904, Generalmajor Archduke Ferdinand Karl was officially released from further military duties – "on health grounds" – and more or less banished from Vienna. Permission to marry was, of course, still refused. Somewhat distraught, Ferdinand Karl and Bertha Czuber retreated to Ferdinand Karl's own estates of Schloß Rosenstein and Rottenstein near Merano and retired from public life. In 1909 they moved to Switzerland and married secretly in 1911. When this became known the full weight – and wrath – of Habsburg Family Law was thrown at him. In August 1911 Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl was excluded from the dynasty, he lost all his titles, ranks and privileges, all his honours, orders and decorations were dispossessed, and the couple were officially banished from Vienna. Only the elderly Emperor, ever surrounded by tragedy and misfortune, mitigated the harsh 'punishment' by authorizing a small annual allowance from the Habsburg Family Fund. Ferdinand Karl now assumed the name Berg, a pseudonym often used by his father Karl Ludwig whilst travelling. The couple remained childless. After the assassination at Sarajevo in June 1914 Ferdinand Karl Berg was granted special dispensation to travel to Austria to attend his brother's funeral at Schloß Artstetten ... but his stepmother and stepsisters saw only a suffering, broken old man. Not long afterwards, on 12th March, 1915, Ferdinand Karl Berg, the former Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, died in München at the age of 47. His wife Bertha survived him by 64 years. Ferdinand Karl 'Berg' was buried at the cemetery at Untermais near Merano – another tragic victim of the cursed Habsburgs ...

Franz Ferdinand's other brother, Otto, had also died relatively young at the age of 41 in 1905, probably due to his excesses in life. And Franz Ferdinand's sister, Archduchess Margaretha Sophie, was also denied a full life. At the age of 16 she became Äbtissin of the Foundation of Noble Ladies on 23rd May, 1886, but renounced her position – which was not bound by perpetual vows – to marry Duke Albrecht von Württemberg on 24th January, 1893. After bearing two sons and three daughters Margaretha Sophie died on 24th July, 1902. Franz Ferdinand's stepsister Archduchess Maria Annunciata took Margaretha Sophie's place in the Foundation; she died on 8th April, 1961. His youngest stepsister, Archduchess Elisabeth, married Alfred Prinz von Liechtenstein on 20th April, 1903, with whom she had eight children. She died on 13th March, 1960. It would appear that only the two stepsisters – perhaps not being 'full members' of the Habsburg bloodline – were able to find happiness in Life ...

Despite the harsh morganatic oath signed in 1900, the matter of succession was not yet quite settled. Unbound by Habsburg Family Law, the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary did not recognize a morganatic contract where children and heirs were concerned. Technically, Franz Ferdinand's eldest son, Maximilian, could be his successor – not the son of Karl, himself son of Franz Ferdinand's brother Otto, and whom had been nominated as Thronfolger upon Franz Ferdinand's eventual death. The integrity of the Empire was in jeopardy should Hungarian nationals raise Archduke Maximilian d'Este to the throne while Archduke Karl was ascending the throne of Austria. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany approached Franz Ferdinand and his wife with the notion that Maximilian should become Großherzog of Lothringen in Germany, Lothringen/Lorraine then being part of Germany, annexed from France following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. This would reactivate a dead title in the Habsburg-Lothringen list of claims, and at the the same time solve the problem of ascension regarding Hungary. The couple heartily approved the plan. However, following the assassination of the couple at Sarajevo any coronation of Archduke Maximilian as the new Großherzog of Lotharingia became a moot point. One of Franz Ferdinand's sisters attempted to revive the possibility of Maximilian's ascension to this title by visiting Kaiser Wilhelm as late as 1917. But by then, fully-involved in war on several fronts, Wilhelm was no longer interested in entertaining such suggestions; Lothringen/Lorraine was destined for full incorporation into Prussia with Wilhelm himself taking the title of Großherzog. The Armistice of 1918 prevented that, and at the following year the Treaty of Versailles returned Lothringen/Lorraine to France along with Elzass/Alsace.

Aware of the misfortunes affecting other members of the Habsburg family, Franz Ferdinand had no illusions about the danger to his own life – he may even have had premonitions of his eventual death, for he always brushed aside troublesome caution and eshewed restrictive security measures with the laconic phrase, "... auf all das pfeif' ich. Mann ist überall in Gottes Hand." His maxim seemed to be: 'If it's going to happen, it will happen.' Fatalism aside, with this in mind he made all necessary preparations 'in the eventuality that ...' Orphaned following the tragic events of 28th June, 1914, in Sarajevo, Sophie, Maximilian and Ernst's appointed Trustee was their father's close friend and shooting partner Jaroslav Graf Thurn. Other than being orphaned they wanted for nothing. Until late 1918, when they were exiled from Czecho-Slovakia, losing all their possessions there. The children took refuge in Vienna and Schloß Artstetten. But in 1938 misfortune once again touched the family. Following the Anschluß with the Third Reich they were arrested and deported to Dachau concentration-camp where they spent the next seven years of their lives ...