 Several British Army officers were sent to help Charles , most notably Lieutenant @-@ Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt , who was a grandson of Lord Belper and a former student at the University of Innsbruck . On 19 March 1919 , orders were received from the War Office to " get the Emperor out of Austria without delay " . With some difficulty , Strutt managed to arrange a train to Switzerland , enabling the Emperor to leave the country with dignity without having to abdicate . Charles , Zita , their children and their household left Eckartsau on 24 March escorted by a detachment of British soldiers from the Honourable Artillery Company under the command of Strutt . 
