Rudolf pursued other connections, in particular with the 17-year-old Baroness Marie Vetsera from around April 1888. Stéphanie became a widow at the age of 24 when, on 30 January 1889, her husband was found dead in strange circumstances with his mistress Baroness Vetsera, both shot dead, at the . The apparent suicide of the Crown Prince deeply affected Stéphanie and constituted, in the words of Irmgard Schiel, "the greatest catastrophe that can affect a woman in her married life". To Stéphanie, Rudolf had left an undated letter: "Dear Stéphanie, you are delivered from my fatal presence; be happy in your destiny. Be good to the poor little one who is the only thing left of me. [...] I calmly enter death which alone can save my good reputation. Kissing you with all my heart, your Rudolf who loves you". Since then, there has been a lot of speculation about the exact circumstances of the drama.