Lest we forget …
The driver of the Gräf & Stift Double Phaeton turned onto Franz Josef Street and quickly realised his mistake.
Reversing into a side street to perform a rapid U-turn, the 4-cylinder 32 horse-power engine stalled.
Across the street, the episode was watched by an incredulous Gavrilo Princip, one of seven Bosnian-Serb assassins belonging to an organisation known as the Black Hand.
Their plan?
… to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand who had arrived in Sarajevo by train that morning to inspect his army with his wife, The Duchess Sophie.
Unluckily for the royal couple, the car which had picked them up earlier in the day had stopped right in front of Princip who was on his way home, thinking the plot had failed.
Seizing his moment, Princip quickly drew his pistol and shot the Archduke and his wife.
The time was 11am on the 28th of June 1914 and 30 minutes later both were dead.
And thus began the events which precipitated one of the deadliest wars in human history.
A conflict which saw 20 million civilian and military personnel lose their lives and a further 21 million wounded.
On Friday we mark the end of those terrible hostilities on the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918.
The registration of the Archduke’s car was AIII 118.
Was it a chilling prediction or a one in a goodness knows how many million coincidence?
Time to remember and wear our poppies with pride.
Stay safe.
Alec