János Csernoch received the red biretta from Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (who was to be assassinated in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914). He was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen in 1915. On 30 December 1916, as Primate of Hungary he crowned King Charles IV of Hungary, who was at the same time Charles I of Austria. He participated in the conclave of 1914, which elected Pope Benedict XV, and in that of 1922, which elected Pope Pius XI. He died in office in 1927. János Csernoch János Csernoch ("Slovak": Ján Černoch) S.T.D. (18 June 1852
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria employed a staff of sixteen. His authority was reinforced in 1907 when he secured the retirement of the Emperor's confidant Friedrich von Beck-Rzikowsky as Chief of the General Staff. Beck's successor, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, was personally selected by Franz Ferdinard. Franz in 1913, as heir-presumptive to the elderly emperor, had been appointed inspector general of all the armed forces of Austria-Hungary ("Generalinspektor der gesamten bewaffneten Macht"), a position superior to that previously held by Archduke Albrecht and including presumed command in wartime. In 1894 Franz Ferdinand met Countess Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, wife of Archduke Friedrich,