Franz Josef died on 21 November 1916, two years before the Great War ran its course. He had ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire for almost seven decades, and the face on this official mourning-banded photo-portrait bears stoically the many tragedies in his long life: the execution of his brother in Mexico, the suicide of his son in Meyerling, the murder of his wife in Geneva, and the assassination of his nephew at Sarajevo and the horrible war which followed.