H.E. Ambassador Heinz Hafner was with the Hungarian Knights of Malta in the Palatine crypt in Buda Castle, where they commemorated the first president of the Hungarian Association, Archduke Joseph August Habsburg-Lothringen, with a Holy Mass. The Palatine crypt in Buda Castle is the burial place, to this day, of members of the Hungarian Palatine branch of the House of Habsburg-Lothringen. Before Mass, Archduke Michael Habsburg-Lothringen (member of the Hungarian Association of the Order of Malta) recalled the poignant story of the tomb founded by his ancestor, the Palatine Archduke Jospeh. The burial place was left intact during the siege of Buda Castle during the Second World War, but was twice broken into during the communist regime.

Kristóf Szabadhegÿ, current president of the Hungarian Association of the Knights of Malta founded in 1928, laid a wreath at the sarcophagus of Archduke Joseph August.  Dr. Tamás Tóth, Secretary of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Conventual Chaplain ad honorem, celebrated Holy Mass in the adjoining chapel.

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, himself a member of the Order, was present at the event. Also in attendance were Archduke Georg Habsburg-Lothringen, and the head of the House of Habsburg-Lothrinen’s Palatine line, Archduke Joseph-Charles with his wife Archduchess Margaret, as well as Archduke Michael with Archduchess Christiana, and Archduke Eduard.