 By 1929 , several of the children were approaching the age to attend university and the family sought to move somewhere of a more congenial educational climate than Spain . That September , they moved to the Belgian village of Steenokkerzeel near Brussels , where they were closer to several members of their family . Zita continued her political lobbying on behalf of the Habsburg family , even sounding out links with Mussolini 's Italy . There was even a possibility of a Habsburg restoration under the Austrian Chancellors Engelbert Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg , with Crown Prince Otto visiting Austria numerous times . These overtures were abruptly ended by the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938 . As exiles , the Habsburg family took the lead in resisting the Nazis in Austria , but this foundered because of opposition between monarchists and socialists . 
