My current obsession is the Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary, aka Sissi. Here she is...
She was born Elizabeth of Wittelsbach ("Sissi") (1837 - 1898) to Duke Maximilian and Duchess Ludovika of Bavaria. In 1853 her cousin Emporer Franz Joseph was to marry her sister Helene (Nene). However, Franz Joseph fell in love with Sissi immediately and decided to marry her instead, much to the disappointment of his mother. She was just 15 when he proposed to her. Although she loved him back, her only regret was "If only he weren't the Emperor". It was a very difficult start for the young Empress, who was not favoured by the Viennese aristocracy. She was naturally shy, and kept to herself as much as possible. She, too, was not comfortable living in the places, always guarded, and always in the company of her ladies in waiting. From the beginning, she did not get along with her mother-in-law, the Archduchess Sophie, who controlled every aspect of her life, having been controlling her son's all her life. Sissi is known to have hated her bitterly. Sissi was used to being able to run around freely at her home. Possenhofen, in Bavaria, and for a young woman who adored exercise and horseback riding, the new palacial confinment was extremely frustrating and depressing. At the birth of her first child, a girl, she was not allowed to name her (she was name Sophia after the Archduchess), and the Archduchess took complete control over little Sophie's upbringing. Sissi was not even allowed to see her baby when she wished. This was the case with her other children as well, causing deep depression and illness. She is known to have traveled extemsively around Europe, mainly as a cure to her depression and illness. She later took an interest in political issues (which was looked down upon-- it was not her duty). She was particularly fascinated by Hungary; its language, history, culture and people. In 1867 she was crowned Queen of Hungary. Her very liberal ideas, her call for a republic structure and her effort for the poor and troublesome made her very popular with the Austrian people. Sissi is also known for her beauty, and her own obsession with it. Her obsession with excerise was imfamous, and so it was clear she had inherited her father's wildness.
Her family was plagued by tragedy after tragedy. The tragic deaths of her immediate relatives affected her profoundly; Her first child, Sophie, died after 18 months. Her only son, the Crown Prince Rudolph, was found dead in 1889 in his hunting lodge at Mayerling beside his dead mistress. It is believed that he first shot her in the head in a suicide pact, then himself six hours later. The whole incident was hushed up. Few, however, believed the official version claiming he died from a sudden stroke. After this Sissi herself became obsessed with death herself. Her sister Maria the Queen of Naples was exiled form her kingdom. Her brother in law Maximilian Emperor of Mexico was shot by a firing squad there, after which his widow Charlotte went insane and spent the next 30 years locked up in a castle. One of her dear sisters was burned alive in her castle while doing charity work. Apart from her son's suicide, the other most traumatic death was that of her cousin, the mad "Swan King" Ludwig II of Bavaria. He was found dead next to his psychiatrist, also dead, on the Lake Berg. his death, like the death of Rudolph, is still a mystery. On the 10 September 1898 which she was boarding a boat on the Lake Geneva in front of the Hotel Beau-Rivage, she was stabbed by a young Italian anarchist. She fainted soon after and was carried back to her suite at Hotel beau-Rivage. She died about 20 minutes later without ever regaining conciousness. The Emperor Franz Joseph never remarried. Luccheni, the anarchist, was sentenced to hard labour. He was found hanged in his cell in 1910.
To see pictures of my trip to the site of her death in Geneva on 30 Dec 2003, click here.
If you are interested in the beautiful places she lived in as Empress, they are Schönbrunn, Hofburg (which is now the Presidential Palace), and Laxenburg.
The story of the Empress was made into a hit film in 1957, "Sissi". The lovely Romy Schneider starred as Sissi
If you haven't seen it, you must ("Because you must"-- Blast From the Past")
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