Otto von Habsburg, the son of the last Habsburg ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, will be the guest of honour at the annual 2007 Coronation Festival in Bratislava, at the end of August.
A resident of Germany, Otto von Habsburg was born in 1912 and is the son of Charles von Habsburg, who ruled in Vienna from 1916 to 1918.
According to the event's co-ordinator Miroslav Vetrík, von Habsburg will meet the public informally on August 31. His attendance has been confirmed by a letter from Juraj Alner, the general secretary of civil organisation Paneuropean Union in Slovakia.
Alner said in the letter that Otto von Habsburg supports the festival as a means of improving European cultural identity as it has been built through its roots in Christianity. Otto von Habsburg's daughter Valburga von Douglas, currently a Swedish MP, is also expected to attend the event.
The Coronation Festival - which includes a re-enactment of the coronation and procession in the Austro-Hungarian style, has been held in Bratislava each year since 2003. The festival will run from August 31 to September 2.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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