Baroness Mary Vetsera, (March 19, 1871-January 30, 1889) was Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria's mistress. She was the daughter of Baron Albin Vetsera, a diplomat in foreign service at the Austrian court, and his wife Baroness Helene Vetsera (née Helene Baltazzi).

Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte, Princess of Belgium, Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duchess in Saxony, (21 May, 1864 - 23 August, 1945) was the wife of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. She was the daughter of King Léopold II of Belgium and his wife, Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria, and was born at Laeken. Her grandfather had been Belgian's first king and her aunt was Empress of Mexico.

Brigitte Hamann Ph.D. (July 26, 1940 in Essen, Germany) is a Viennese author and historian. Born Brigitte Deitert, she studied history in Münster and Vienna and for a time worked as a journalist in her native Essen. In 1965 she married historian and University professor Günther Hamann (1924-1994). The couple had three children.

Elisabeth Maria Henriette Stephanie Gisela, Archduchess of Austria was the only child of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and Princess Stéphanie, daughter of King Léopold II of the Belgians. Elisabeth was born at Laxenburg on 2 September 1883. Elisabeth was known within the family as Erzsi, an affectionate Magyar diminutive. She was the favorite grandchild of her paternal grandfather, Emperor Franz Joseph. In 1889, her father and Baroness Mary Vetsera, …

Marie Valerie, Archduchess of Austria (April 22, 1868 - September 6, 1924) was the fourth and last child of Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria-Hungary and Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria ("Sissi"). Her given name was Marie Valerie Mathilde. Princess Marie Valerie was born at Ofen (Buda) in Hungary. The Empress Elisabeth was especially attached to Marie Valerie, …

Count Samuel Teleki de Szék was a Hungarian explorer who led the first expedition to Northern Kenya. He was the first European to see, and name, Lake Rudolf (Lake Turkana).

Princess Stephanie of Windisch-Graetz (in German: "Stephanie Eleonore Maria Elisabeth Kamilla Philomena Veronika zu Windisch-Grätz"), was born at Ploschkowitz. She was the daughter of Prince Otto Weriand of Windisch-Grätz (1873-1952) and Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria, who was the only child of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (1858–1889). Elisabeth and Otto also had three sons: * Prince Franz Joseph zu Windisch-Graetz, …

Elvira Madigan was Danish tightrope walker and trick rider, whose illicit affair and dramatic death at the hands of her lover were the subject of a famous Swedish film from 1967. She was born Hedvig Antoinette Isabella Eleonore Jensen in Flensburg in northern Germany. Her mother was a Norwegian circus performer and her father a Danish stablemaster. Her mother later lived with the American circus manager John Madigan.

Etti Plesch, (February 3, 1914 - April 29, 2003), Austrian countess, Hungarian countess, huntress, racehorse owner and socialite. Plesch lost two of her six husbands to the same woman, Louise de Vilmorin, and owned two winners of the Epsom Derby, in 1961 and 1980. Born Maria Anna Paula Ferdinandine von Wurmbrand-Stuppach in Vienna, Austria, of Austro-Greek heritage, "Etti," as she was known, …

Lieutenant Ludwig Ritter von Höhnel was an Austrian naval officer and explorer. Von Höhnel was the second-in-command of Count Sámuel Teleki Von Szek's expedition to Northern Kenya in 1887-1888. He and Count Teleki were the first Europeans to see Lake Turkana, which they named Lake Rudolf after the expedition's patron Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and Lake Stefanie (named after Prince Rudolf's wife, Princess Stéphanie of Belgium).

Sir Rudolf Carl von Slatin (June 7, 1857 - October 4, 1932), Anglo-Austrian soldier and administrator in the Sudan, was born Ober St Veit near Vienna. At the age of seventeen he made his first journey to the Sudan, reaching Khartum by the Nile route in October 1875 in company with Theodor von Heuglin. Thence he went through Kordofan to Dar Nuba, exploring the mountains of that region.

Countess Marie Louise Larisch von Moennich (also known as "Countess Marie Louise Larisch-Wallersee") (24 February 1858 - 4 July 1940), niece and confidante of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, was born Marie Louise Elizabeth Mendel in Augsburg, Bavaria, the illegitimate daughter of Ludwig Wilhelm, Duke in Bavaria (1831-1920) and actress Henriette Mendel (1833-1891). Her father renounced, on 9 March 1859, his rights as firstborn son, …

Heinrich Ritter von Zeissberg (July 8, 1839 - May 27, 1899), Austrian historian, was born in Vienna, and in 1865 became professor of history at the university of Lemberg. In 1871 he removed to Innsbruck; in 1873 he was appointed professor at the university of Vienna, and here he was historical tutor to the crown prince Rudolph. In 1891 he was made director of the Vienna institute for historical research, and in 1896 director of the imperial court library at Vienna.