Titles were afterwards conferred upon her.

She was made a countess and then a duchess.

Some say she had been an actress; not unlikely, for actresses possessed an especial appeal to Austrian royalty.

The cruel Hapsburgs rendered dull witted and inefficient by generations of inbreeding, were fascinated by the bright and handsome women of the stage.

At any rate, Sophie Chotek belonged to that virile, practical race Bohemians, (also called Czechs) that gave to the world John Huss, who lighted the fires of religious and civil liberty in Central Europe, giving advent later to the work of Martin Luther.
Bohemians had always been liberty-loving.