In 1961, his father, Otto von Habsburg, renounced all claims to the Austrian throne, as a necessary legal condition to being allowed to return to Austria. Habsburg does not use his ancestral titles, because unlike most European countries, the own use of such titles is not permitted in Hungary and Austria. Habsburg says: I don't refer to titles, I'm not that vain. People use these titles out of respect for history and the role of my family in history.Although the Adelsaufhebungsgesetz abolished all Austrian and Hungarian noble, royal, and imperial titles in 1919, and their usage is still illegal in those countries, media elsewhere occasionally refer to Karl von Habsburg by his ancestral titles of Archduke of Austria, Royal Prince of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia.