Editing Zita of Bourbon-Parma (section)

==Empress and queen==
[[File:Karlfamily.jpg|thumb|King [[Charles I of Austria|Charles IV of Hungary]], with Queen Zita and Crown Prince [[Otto von Habsburg|Otto]]. Photograph on the occasion of their coronation. [[Budapest]], 1916.]]
Charles and Zita were crowned in [[Budapest]] on 30 December 1916. Following the [[Coronation of the Hungarian monarch|coronation]] there was a banquet, but after that the festivities ended, as the emperor and empress thought it wrong to have prolonged celebrations during a time of war.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|55}} At the beginning of the reign, Charles was more often than not away from Vienna, so he had a telephone line installed from [[Baden, Austria|Baden]] (where Charles's military headquarters were located) to the [[Hofburg]]. He called Zita several times a day whenever they were separated.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|60}} Zita had some influence on her husband and would discreetly attend audiences with the Prime Minister or military briefings,<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|50}} and she had a special interest in social policy. However, military matters were the sole domain of Charles. Energetic and strong-willed, Zita accompanied her husband to the provinces and to the front, as well as occupying herself with charitable works and hospital visits to the war-wounded.<ref name="Beeche"/>{{Rp|21}}

===Sixtus affair===
{{main|Sixtus Affair}}
By the spring of 1917, the War was dragging on towards its fourth year, and Zita's brother [[Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma]], a serving officer in the Belgian Army, was a main mover behind a plan for Austria-Hungary to make a separate peace with France. Charles initiated contact with Sixtus through contacts in neutral Switzerland, and Zita wrote a letter inviting him to Vienna. Zita's mother, Maria Antonia, delivered the letter in person.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|66}}

Sixtus arrived with conditions for talks which had been agreed with the French – the restoration to France of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] (annexed by Germany after the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1870); restoration of the independence of Belgium; independence for the kingdom of Serbia; and the handover of [[Constantinople]] to Russia.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|61}} Charles agreed, in principle, to the first three points and wrote a letter to Sixtus dated 25 March 1917 which sent "the secret and unofficial message" to the President of France that "I will use all means and all my personal influence".<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|72}} This attempt at dynastic diplomacy eventually foundered. Germany refused to negotiate over Alsace-Lorraine,<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|73}} and, seeing a Russian collapse on the horizon, was loath to give up the war.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|78}} Sixtus continued his efforts, even meeting [[David Lloyd George]] in London about Italy's territorial demands on Austria in the [[1915 Treaty of London]],<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|76}} but the Prime Minister could not persuade his generals that Britain should make peace with Austria.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|78}} Zita managed a personal achievement during this time by stopping the German plans to send airplanes to bomb the home of the [[Albert I of Belgium|King]] and [[Elisabeth of Bavaria (1876–1965)|Queen]] of Belgium on their [[name day]]s.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|74}}

In April 1918, after the German-Russian [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], Austrian Foreign Minister [[Count Ottokar Czernin]] made a speech attacking incoming French Prime Minister [[Georges Clemenceau]] as being the main obstacle to a peace favouring the [[Central Powers]].<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|92–93}} Clemenceau was incensed and, after seeing Emperor Charles's letter of 24 March 1917, had it published.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|95}} For a while, the life of Sixtus appeared to be in danger, and there were even fears that Germany might occupy Austria. Czernin persuaded Charles to send a 'Word of Honour' to Austria's allies saying that Sixtus had not been authorised to show the letter to the French Government, that Belgium had not been mentioned, and that Clemenceau had lied about the mentioning of Alsace.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|99}} Czernin had actually been in contact with the German Embassy throughout the whole crisis and attempted to persuade the Emperor to step down because of the Affair. After failing to do so, Czernin resigned as Foreign Minister.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|102}}

===End of Empire===
By this time, the war was closing in on the embattled Emperor. A Union of Czech Deputies had already sworn an oath to a new Czechoslovak state independent of the [[Habsburg Empire]] on 13 April 1918, the prestige of the [[German Army]] had taken a severe blow at the [[Battle of Amiens (1918)|Battle of Amiens]], and, on 25 September 1918, Zita's brother-in-law [[King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria]] broke away from his allies in the [[Central Powers]] and sued for peace independently. Zita was with Charles when he received the telegram announcing [[Bulgaria]]'s collapse. She remembered it "made it even more urgent to start peace talks with the [[Western Powers]] while there was still something to talk about."<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|111}} On 16 October, the Emperor issued a "People's Manifesto" proposing the empire be restructured on federal lines with each nationality gaining its own state. Instead, each nation broke away and the empire effectively dissolved.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|113–115}}

Leaving behind their children at [[Gödöllő]], Charles and Zita travelled to the Schönbrunn Palace. By this time ministers had been appointed by the new state of "German-Austria", and by 11 November, together with the Emperor's spokesmen, they prepared a manifesto for Charles to sign.<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|121–130}} Zita, at first glance, mistook it for an abdication and made her famous statement:
{{cquote|A sovereign can never abdicate. He can be deposed... All right. That is force. But abdicate – never, never, never! I would rather fall here at your side. Then there would be Otto. And even if all of us here were killed, there would still be other Habsburgs!<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|130}}}}

Charles gave his permission for the document to be published, and he, his family and the remnants of his Court departed for the Royal shooting lodge at [[Eckartsau]], close to the borders with [[Hungary]] and [[Slovakia]].<ref name="Brook-Shepherd"/>{{Rp|132}} The [[Republic of German-Austria]] was proclaimed the next day.