Prince Rudolf's relationship with his emotionally damaged housekeeper Klara turns sexual when they are left together for a weekend, and she shows up for work with a black eye:

“Good heavens! Who... who was it? Your husband, isn't it?”

“I begged Mr. Loschek not to tell you... forgive me, Your Highness, I'm so ashamed.”

“Ashamed? You have to leave that house! Immediately!”

“I can't... I had to lie to be able to stay here these days. I told him that my presence was required, and that I would be paid more. Do you understand? He... he only let me come with the promise of money. I can't take it anymore. I just want to stay away from him.”

“Klara, you don't deserve all this.”

“What can I do, Your Highness? What can I do?”

“Do not be afraid, Klara. You will no doubt have heard the rumors about me, but I swear to you that I do not suffer from any illness that you should fear. I have been cured for some time now, but I have not told anyone. I do not want my wife to have any claims on me, and above all I do not wish to risk giving another heir to my father's empire.”

The first draft of the script was more explicit: Prince Rudolf claims that he no longer suffers from gonorrhea, which he previously contracted from a prostitute and passed to his wife. Was that a curable disease in the nineteenth century? Or is he just feeding Klara a line?

By the way, providing the Empire an heir is a Crown Prince’s primary job. When Rudolf died without a son, the Imperial succession passed to his uncle Karl Ludwig, then upon Karl's death to Karl's son Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination in 1913 provoked Emperor Franz Joseph to invade Serbia, beginning the Great War.

If Rudolf had produced an heir for the Empire, Franz Ferdinand would not have been so politically important a figure and either would not have provoked a war or would not have been a target for assassination in the first place. So Rudolf's failure to continue a legitimate male line indirectly caused World War I.

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