2 Deaths Near Austrian Resort : Kaiser’s Kin Kills Self After Wife’s Overdose

Prince Ludwig Rudolf of Hanover, the 32-year-old great-grandson of Germany’s last emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, took his own life today after his wife apparently died of a drug overdose, police said.

Isabelle of Hanover, 26, was found dead by her husband in the so-called Queen’s Villa at Gmunden, a lakeside resort in Upper Austria.

A spokesman for Upper Austria security police who asked not to be identified said the Austrian-born woman died of lung and brain edema. He said her death was most likely caused by a drug overdose, but the type of drug was not identified.

The prince was found shot to death in a wooded area about 20 miles from Gmunden on Lake Traunsee, the police spokesman said. His hunting rifle was beside him, police said.

The couple were married in October, 1987. They are survived by an 8-month-old son.

In West Germany, the secretariat of the dead nobleman’s brother, the Prince of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick and Luneburg, said in a statement that Isabelle died of a circulatory failure caused by taking “too strong medication.”

“In shock due to the sudden death of his wife, my brother, His Royal Highness Prince Ludwig Rudolf of Hanover, thereafter took his life,” the statement said.

The villa where Isabelle of Hanover died is a favorite meeting place of European aristocracy.

At 2:45 a.m. today, Ludwig Rudolf informed the Red Cross in Gmunden of his wife’s death, the police spokesman said. When a Red Cross physician arrived, the prince had vanished, the spokesman said. His dead wife was found in her bedroom.

Police said that after making the telephone call, the prince took his hunting rifle and drove away. His body was found at 6:30 a.m. with a bullet wound in the head. Police ruled out involvement by another person.