Eduard Habsburg is Hungary’s ambassador to the Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta. His family reigned in Austria, Hungary, Germany, Spain (and quite a few other places). The author is also known as Archduke Eduard of Austria, a diplomat and social media figure.

“For 250 years, the Hungarian branch of the family from which I stem has demonstrated a selfless and profound devotion to homeland and language; the palatines mediated between the Hungarians’ fervent love of freedom and the Vienna-based emperors, whose mindset was, at times, overly rigid structurally. The descendants of Archduke Joseph Anton lived in Hungary, spoke Hungarian and saw themselves as Hungarian. One of them, Archduke Stephen, conveyed the Hungarian demands to his cousin, the Emperor, in Vienna in 1848. So for centuries, things have been a little more complicated than they may first appear.”