Nation mourns "heroic" Kaiser Otto IIIKaiser Otto III von Rothingren-Traugott-Okatori, here pictured in his younger days, will forever be remembered as the young prince that helped return Septembrism and Rothingren rule to HulstriaPhönixsteindorf, Crownland Hulstria - The nation mourns the death of Otto III, Kaiser of Hulstria, restorer of the House of Rothingren-Traugott-Okatori to the Hulstrian Throne and a key figure in the Second September Revolution. His late Imperial and Luthoran Majesty, who had already begun appearing less in public, is reported by Fliederbrunn Palace to have died of the heart problems that had been plaguing him for the past decade. He died at Schloss Phönixstein, surrounded by his family and with his co-monarch, Mikado Morihito, with whom he had developed a strong friendship, by his side.
A hero of the Second September Revolution, Kaiser Otto was born in Skalm in neighbouring Kazulmark to the Rothingrens in exile. The apartheid regime in the name of the Labsburg family had reignited the exiled Imperial House's interest in their former homeland, which they had been forced to leave centuries ago. Forsaking the role in international society being played by his family, Otto III's diaries reveal that he came of age with the desire to return and restore democracy to his ancestral homeland firmly imprinted in his mind. He was horrified at the apartheid perpetrated in the name of the Hulstrian people, whose enlightened past he considered to have been violated. When the restored 15th of September Movement started its insurrection, he sought out the late Hubert, Graf Michels, and asked to become involved. He returned with the assistance of the late Vizegraf Geraniengau zu Hortensiengau, using his estate as a safehouse. Throughout the Revolution, Otto would modestly only refer to himself as "Archduke Otto" until he was properly proclaimed Kaiser by the provisional democratic government of the United Imperial Crownlands. Never at ease with his claim over Gao-Soto, it was Otto III who asked the Imperial Household to find a new claimant, resulting in the establishment of the Kurosawa Clan under the current Emperor Morihito.
Kaiser Otto's co-monarch, Emperor Kurosawa Morihito, who was at his side at the moment of his death, went on the record saying it saddened him greatly.
"I was, to all intents and purposes, a jumped-up doctor," he said.
"The Kaiser taught me something about the great sense of duty and obligation that comes with the Imperial dignity. I am as greatly indebted to him as all this nation is." The interim Governor-General ordered flags around the nation to be flown at half-mast in honour of the Kaiser's memory, commenting that
"His late Imperial and Illustrous Luthoran Majesty earned the affection of this nation fighting alongside its people, and in so doing he became a true Rothingren Phoenix, igniting our country." The Chairwoman of the Septembrist Movement, Doris Kleinemann-Gubler, daughter of Viktor Gubler, commented that
"the most inspiring thing about Otto III is that he had his priorities right. I remember that when, as a little girl, I was first introduced to him, he simply introduced himself 'Otto', a comrade-in-arms of my father. He did what he did for democracy, Septembrism and peace in our land, not for his Crown. And in doing so, he was a defining figure in the history of Hulstria and Gao-Soto."The body of the late Kaiser will lie in state at the National Cathedral in Kien, where citizens of all the Crownlands will be able to pay their last respects to His late Majesty. The Archdiocese of Kien expects large crowds and has announced extra staffing at the Cathedral to handle the event. The evening before his state funeral next week, Septembrists of the
Sankt-Medgar Haas Gesellschaft of Septembrist clergy and theologians have announced an ecumenical vigil service of remembrance at the 15th of September Monument, attended among others by Kleinemann-Gubler, the Aurorian Archbishop of Phönix and the Luthoran Archbishop of Kien. The Archbishop of Kien will be the prime celebrant at the state funeral the next morning, after which the Kaiser will be interred in the Cathedral Crypt with the rest of his family.
The Kaiser is succeeded under the terms of the Writ on the Line of Succession to the Hulstrian Throne by absolute primogeniture, leaving the Crown to his eldest child, Archduke Heinrich (38). The new Kaiser has already been proclaimed as per standing custom. His coronation at the National Cathedral will take place two months after his father's funeral, to give enough time for preparations.