On 7 January 1914 she was baptised by Friedrich Gustav Piffl, Archbishop of Vienna; her baptismal names were: Adelheid Maria Josepha Sixta Antonia Roberta Ottonia Zita Charlotte Luise Immakulata Pia Theresia Beatrix Franziska Isabella Henriette Maximiliana Genoveva Ignatia Marcus d'Aviano.

During World War I Adelheid would often accompany her brother, Crown Prince Otto, and father on trips to inspect the Austrian troops.

On 9 March 1922, Adelheid was with her brother Otto and father when he went into town to buy toys for Carl Ludwig’s birthday.

On the way back, they were enveloped by chill mists; due to this, her father caught a cold that later developed into pneumonia, from which he died on 1 April.

In December 1933 she became the first member of her family to set foot in Vienna since the establishment of the republic, when she arrived by train from Budapest.