Death of a Grand Duke!

From the pages of the Pappenheim Zeitung

The bell is tolling as the slow procession wends it's way though the streets of Traunsberg led by the hearse bearing the body of Grand-Duke Otto of Pommaine and escorted by the household troops of the Grand-Duchy. Citizens of the Duchy lined the streets to pay their last respects to their ruler, who despite his warmongering early years had managed to find a middle course through the struggles of the middle of the century by supporting equal support to most other protagonists in their dynastic struggles. Following the hearse was a carriage containing the grand-Duke's second wife Maria and his younger son Konrad. There was much speculation about why his surviving sun and heir-apparent Karl was not present. Some felt it was a sign of the continued estrangement between father and son that seemed to have started when the eldest son Johan was killed during the last conflict involving the Prussians and Austrians. Others, less charitably, have suggested that his wife, the Emperoror's niece, Lieselotte was more interested in Viennese society.

All will be revealed tomorrow when the Grand-Duke's will is read and it seems that various powers with an interest in the region will be attending to see what final surprise the Grand-Duke will spring, if any.