The rain had not stopped for three days when the last Habsburg emperor stepped onto a British destroyer, leaving behind an empire that had ruled Europe for six centuries.

The Night Austria's Last Emperor Sailed Into Exile

When a Habsburg Fled on a British Destroyer as Hungary Burned Behind Him

The last Habsburg emperor fled Hungary on a British warship, ending 600 years of dynasty rule.

The rain had not stopped for three days when Karl I of Austria—the last Habsburg emperor—stepped onto the rain-slicked deck of HMS Glowworm in the predawn darkness of October 26, 1921. Behind him, the Hungarian countryside he had tried twice to reclaim was dissolving into chaos. Ahead lay exile, poverty, and death within six months.

Karl had gambled everything on his second restoration attempt. Just weeks earlier, he had flown secretly into Hungary, convinced that the Magyar people would rally to their rightful king. Instead, he found a regent who refused to yield power, an army that wavered, and former allies who vanished like morning fog. At the Battle of Budaörs on October 23rd, royalist forces exchanged fire with government troops—a pathetic skirmish that killed perhaps forty men and ended a dynasty's final dream.

Now, with Czechoslovak and Yugoslav armies massing on Hungary's borders threatening intervention, the Little Entente had delivered an ultimatum: Karl must leave or face war. The British, ever pragmatic, offered a solution—HMS Glowworm would carry the deposed monarch down the Danube to the Black Sea, then onward to permanent exile.

Commander Gerald Davenport watched…

💡 Karl I was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004, making him the only modern European monarch officially on the path to Catholic sainthood.