During an informal visit to the province of Styria, representing the Habsburg Palace, Archduke John, the brother of Austrian Emperor Francis I, fell in love with Anna Prockel, the equally ordinary daughter of the postmaster. John and his arranged Wattenberg royal bride both rejected the proposed dynasty alliance proposed by Minister Metternich and instead supported their private love. The emperor refused to get married, but John let Anna move in, almost living as a couple without sharing a bed. Seven years later, an almost tragic event shook the ship.