Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s 1893 Okanagan tour: UBCO speaker series

PENTICTON – The Okanagan visit by the man whose death triggered the First World War is the subject of a UBC Okanagan event later this week.

UBCO professor emeritus of history Maury Williams will deliver a lecture on Franz Ferdinand and his connection with the Okanagan through a visit he made to the valley in 1893.

The talk, which is part of the UBC’s History and Sociology Speaker Series, takes place Wednesday, April 3 starting at 6:45 p.m. at Okanagan Regional Library at 1380 Ellis St. in Kelowna, according to an UBCO media release.

The Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, arrived in Vancouver in September, 1893, as part of a round the world journey that eventually took him into the Okanagan, where he spent a week hunting southwest of Penticton.

Ferdinand became a key figure in history after his assassination in 1914 helped to spark the First World War.

The talk is organized by UBCO’s history and sociology department in partnership with the Okanagan Regional Library, and will focus on Ferdinand’s analysis and impressions of life in the valley.

Williams will use photos from Ferdinand’s 1893 visit to help tell the story of his journey through the Okanagan.

The event is free and open to the public, but you are encouraged to register at Eventbrite here.

— This story was corrected at 10:47 a.m. Tuesday, April 2, 2019 to change Second World War to First World War in the first sentence.

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