Although Rainer suffered from a mild form of epilepsy, this did not visibly interfere with his military career.1
Rainer served as Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia from 1818 to 1848. The position made Rainer and his wife the head of the Austrian court at Milan; they also had a villa at Lake Como. The Italians resented him for collecting his revenues with so little benefit to them in return. This, and the lack of understanding between Rainer and Feldmarschall Graf Radetzky, were blamed for the disasters of the Italian Revolution of 1848.2
The Revolution of 1848 forced Rainer and Elisabeth from the court at Milan; when the insurrection was quelled, Radetzky was named Rainer's successor as Viceroy. Although his children, except Adelheid, are buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, he and his wife are buried elsewhere.
Through his daughter Adelheid, Rainer is an ancestor of the entire royal family of Italy which reigned from 1861 to 1946.
^ George R. Marek, The Eagles Die. Franz Joseph, Elisabeth, and Their Austria, pp. 41-42. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. This mild form of epilepsy was also suffered by Archduke Karl and his son, Archduke Albrecht, both of whom were able military commanders.
^ Joan Haslip, The Crown of Mexico, pp. 22, 89, 109. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.
^ Robert A. Kann, A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526-1918, pp. 328, 331. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974.
^ Alan Palmer, Twilight of the Habsburgs. The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph, pp. 122-123. New York: Grove Press, 1994.
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