AUSTRIA HERR DOKTOR HE IS SHORT, BALDING AND MIDDLE-AGED . HE HAS 
A WIFE AND SIX CHILDREN AND LIVES IN A SPRAWLING SUBURBAN 
HOUSE OUTSIDE MUNICH . HE IS A LECTURER AND JOURNALIST WHO 
WROTE HIS DOCTORAL THESIS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE ON AGRICULTURE IN THE 
TYROL . BUT WHEN THE WAY WAS LEGALLY CLEARED FOR HIS 
RETURN TO HIS HOMELAND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 44 YEARS, 
AUSTRIA'S LONG-ESTABLISHED COALITION GOVERNMENT TREMBLED LAST WEEK . FOR THE MUSTACHED 
HERR DOKTOR IS FRANZ JOSEPH OTTO RUPRECHT MARIA ANTON KARL MAXIMILIAN 
HEINRICH SIXTUS XAVER FELIX RENATUS LUDWIG GAETAN PIUS IGNAZ, ARCHDUKE OTTO 
VON HABSBURG, PRETENDER TO THE AUSTRIAN THRONE . SOCIALIST LEADERS CALLED 
OTTO'S PROJECTED RETURN A " PROVOCATION " THAT THREATENED AUSTRIA'S PRECARIOUS 
NEUTRAL POSITION AS A BUFFER BETWEEN EAST AND WEST . ELECTRICAL 
WORKERS WENT ON A WILDCAT STRIKE, PLUNGING ONE VIENNA DISTRICT INTO 
DARKNESS . LEFT-WING PAPERS ROARED AGAINST " FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC REACTIONARIES, 
" AND SOCIALIST POLITICAL BOSSES THREATENED TO PULL OUT OF THEIR 
COALITION WITH THE CONSERVATIVE PEOPLE'S PARTY . INDUSTRIOUS ANTS . OTTO 
WAS FIVE WHEN AUSTRIA REBELLED AGAINST THE HABSBURG MONARCHY AND OVERTHREW 
HIS FATHER, EMPEROR KARL, IN THE AFTERMATH OF WORLD WAR I 
. THE NEW REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT EXILED THE ROYAL FAMILY AND PASSED 
A " HABSBURG LAW, " WHICH BANNED THEIR RETURN TO AUSTRIAN 
SOIL UNTIL THEY RENOUNCED ALL CLAIMS TO THE THRONE AND FORMALLY 
EMBRACED THE DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION . KARL REGALLY REFUSED, AND AFTER HIS 
DEATH IN 1922 THE ROYAL FAMILY SETTLED IN SPAIN, WHERE THE 
EMPRESS ZITA SET UP A MODEST COURT . ZITA INSISTED THAT 
OTTO BE ACCORDED THE FULL PRIVILEGES OF HIS RANK, ROSE AND 
CURTSIED WHEN HE ENTERED A ROOM, AND CALLED HIM " YOUR 
IMPERIAL HIGHNESS . " A THOUGHTFUL, SCHOLARLY YOUTH, OTTO STUDIED AT 
BELGIUM'S LOUVAIN UNIVERSITY, BY HIS SERIOUS DEMEANOR STOOD OFF PHALANXES OF 
ELIGIBLE EUROPEAN PRINCESSES . WHEN ONE YOUNG, ATTRACTIVE HUNGARIAN COUNTESS CAME 
TO PAY HOMAGE, OTTO STROLLED SILENTLY WITH HER FOR SOME MINUTES 
IN HIS GARDEN UNTIL HE SUDDENLY ASKED : " HAVE YOU 
EVER THOUGHT HOW INDUSTRIOUS ANTS ARE ? " FINALLY IN 1951, 
AT 38, HE MARRIED GERMANY'S PRINCESS REGINA OF SAXEMEININGEN . SETTLING 
OUTSIDE MUNICH IN THE VILLAGE OF POCKING, OTTO TRAVELED OFTEN TO 
SPAIN, WHERE HE WAS HONORARY PRESIDENT OF THE FRANCO-BACKED EUROPEAN DOCUMENTATION 
AND INFORMATION CENTER, AN ORGANIZATION FOUNDED IN 1952 TO BRING POLITICALLY 
ISOLATED SPAIN INTO CLOSER RELATIONS WITH THE REST OF EUROPE . 
HIS MEMBERSHIP IN THIS SOCIETY AND HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH FRANCO CONVINCED 
AUSTRIAN SOCIALISTS THAT HIS ULTIMATE AIM WAS THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF AN 
AUTOCRATIC MONARCHY IN AUSTRIA . " THE IDEA MATTERS . " 
IN HIS WRITING AND LECTURES, OTTO SOUNDED FAR FROM AUTOCRATIC, SOUGHT 
TO DEFINE " MONARCHY'S PLACE IN THE ATOMIC AGE . " 
SAID HE : " THE NEW FORM OF MONARCHY MIGHT WELL 
BE ELECTIVE FROM THE JUDICIARY, PERHAPS . ITS PRIMARY DUTY WOULD 
BE THE MAINTENANCE OF THE RULE OF LAW . IT IS 
THE IDEA THAT MATTERS, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO ONCE WERE KINGS 
. " BUT OTTO HAD LITTLE SYMPATHY WITH THE LEVELING INFLUENCES 
OF SOCIALISM . " WE HAVE ARRIVED AT A BUREAUCRACY OF 
WELFARE AND INSURANCE AGAINST EVERYTHING, WHICH MAY WELL TURN REASON INTO 
NONSENSE, " HE WROTE . " THERE IS A DANGER OF 
A NEW CASTE ARISING OUT OF A CLASSLESS SOCIETY THOSE IN 
POWER . " TWO YEARS AGO, OTTO SUDDENLY ANNOUNCED HIS WILLINGNESS 
TO ABIDE BY THE PROVISIONS OF THE HABSBURG LAW AND SOUGHT 
TO RE-ENTER AUSTRIA . BUT AUSTRIA'S COALITION GOVERNMENT, BALANCED BETWEEN THE 
81 PARLIAMENTARY SEATS HELD BY THE CONSERVATIVE PEOPLE'S PARTY AND THE 
76 SEATS HELD BY THE SOCIALISTS, REFUSED TO ACT ON THE 
PETITION IN THE FACE OF VEHEMENT SOCIALIST PROTESTS THAT OTTO'S POLITICAL 
IDEAS WERE " FANTASTIC " AND THAT HIS DECLARATION OF LOYALTY 
WAS INADEQUATE . OTTO'S ATTORNEY TOOK THE CASE TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE 
COURT, WHICH FORTNIGHT AGO UPHELD THE LEGALITY OF HIS DECLARATION OVER 
THE GOVERNMENT'S REJECTION . PUSHBUTTON . THE PEOPLE'S PARTY, WHILE FAR 
FROM EAGER TO SEE OTTO BACK HOME, WAS WILLING TO ABIDE 
BY THE COURT RULING . NOT SO THE SOCIALISTS . " 
THIS COURT HAS REPLACED THE PARLIAMENTARY ORGAN, " SAID SOCIALIST FOREIGN 
MINISTER BRUNO KREISKY . SOCIALIST LEADERS HINTED A NATIONWIDE RAIL AND 
ELECTRICAL STRIKE IF OTTO TRIED TO CROSS THE BORDER INTO AUSTRIA 
. " ALL WE HAVE TO DO, " SAID KREISKY, " 
IS PUSH A BUTTON . " IN PARLIAMENT, THE SOCIALISTS JOINED 
WITH THE EIGHT-MAN DELEGATION OF THE SPLINTER RIGHT-WING LIBERAL PARTY AND 
FORCED A RESOLUTION DEMANDING THAT THE GOVERNMENT PREPARE A BILL THAT 
COULD RETURN ULTIMATE JUDGMENT ON ALL HABSBURG LAW CASES TO PARLIAMENT 
. THE LIBERALS LENT THEIR SUPPORT TO THE SOCIALISTS, HOWEVER, ONLY 
ON THE CONDITION THAT THE BILL NOT BE RETROACTIVE AND THAT 
OTTO WOULD NOT BE BARRED FROM RETURNING HOME. THE CRISIS IMPERILED 
THE 18-YEAR COALITION BETWEEN THE PEOPLE'S PARTY AND THE SOCIALISTS, WHO 
KEPT THREATENING TO FREEZE OUT THEIR OLD PARTNERS BY FORMING A 
NEW COALITION WITH THE LIBERALS . EVEN IF THE OLD COALITION 
SURVIVES, THE BETTING WAS THAT ENOUGH TROUBLE HAD BEEN STIRRED UP 
TO REQUIRE NEW NATIONAL ELECTIONS SOON . WHILE MOST AUSTRIANS RETAIN 
MELLOW FEELINGS TOWARD THE HABSBURGS, THEY WOULD JUST AS SOON NOT 
BE BOTHERED BY OTTO'S PROBLEM . " WHY SHOULD WE GO 
BACK TO WHERE WE FINISHED 40 YEARS AGO ? " ASKED 
HELMUT QUALTINGER, FAMED VIENNA CABARET SATIRIST . " I THINK THAT 
AS A MATTER OF TASTE, OTTO WOULD NOT WANT TO COME 
BACK NOT IF HE LOVES HIS COUNTRY . / ALSO UNSETTLED 
IS THE QUESTION OF THE HABSBURG FORTUNE IN AUSTRIA, WHICH AMOUNTS 
TO SOME $30 MILLION, MOSTLY IN ESTATES . THE LANDS ARE 
NOW HELD IN TRUSTEESHIP BY THE AUSTRIAN REPUBLIC . 