Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Empress Elisabeth of Austria: A Life of Splendor, Tragedy, and Intrigue

Elisabeth (Sisi) Amalie Eugenie was born into the Wittelsbach royal family in Bavaria on December 24, 1837. Her life would be marked by a complex interplay of love, loss, and relentless pursuit of beauty.

The Unrestrained Beginnings

Elisabeth was born into the Ducal royal branch of the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach. Her family’s homes were the Herzog-Max-Palais in Munich during winter and Possenhofen Castle in the summer months. She grew up in an unrestrained environment, often skipping lessons to ride horses. This carefree spirit would later clash with the formal protocols of court life.

A Forced Union

In 1853, Archduchess Sophie arranged a meeting between her son Franz Joseph I and Princess Ludovika’s eldest daughter, Duchess Helene. Elisabeth was invited to join them on a trip to Bad Ischl, where she met Franz Joseph for the first time. While black did not suit 18-year-old Helene’s dark coloring, it made her younger sister’s blonder looks more striking.

Helene was a pious, quiet young woman, and while she and Franz Joseph felt ill at ease in each other’s company, he was instantly infatuated with her younger sister Elisabeth. He defied his mother and informed her that if he could not have Elisabeth, he would not marry at all.

A Marriage of Convenience

The couple were married eight months later, and their betrothal was officially announced five days after Helene gave up on Franz Joseph’s affections. Elisabeth had difficulty adapting to the Hofburg and its protocols, displaying health problems soon after her marriage. She experienced a pregnancy just 10 months after her wedding and gave birth to two daughters, Sophie and Gisela.

The lack of male heirs made Elisabeth increasingly unwanted in the palace, and she was accused of meddling with government affairs despite her mother-in-law’s influence. Her health issues only worsened, leading to a restrictive diet and tight corsets as she sought to maintain her youthful appearance.

A Deep Connection

Elisabeth visited Hungary for the first time with her husband and daughters, finding a welcome respite from Austrian court life and meeting men of character who valued independence. She felt her innermost soul reach out in sympathy to the proud, steadfast people of this land.

Unlike Archduchess Sophie, who despised the Hungarians, Elisabeth felt such an affinity for them that she began to learn Hungarian. In turn, the country reciprocated in its adoration of her. This same trip proved tragic when both of Elisabeth’s daughters became ill. While Gisela recovered quickly, two-year-old Sophie grew steadily weaker before finally succumbing to her illness and dying.

A Legacy of Love

In 1862, she visited Bad Kissingen for a cure and returned to Bavaria, avoiding official obligations and sexual intimacy. Rudolf was now four years old, and Franz Joseph hoped for another son, but Elisabeth opposed military education for him due to his sensitivity.

After using excuses to avoid pregnancy, Elisabeth decided to have a fourth child with Franz Joseph, sparking a political negotiation that led to their coronation as King and Queen of Hungary in June 1867. As part of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, Hungary gave the royal couple a country residence in Gödöllő, where Elisabeth lived primarily.

The Fall from Grace

Elisabeth’s life was shattered by the death of her only son Rudolf in 1889. She withdrew from court duties and traveled widely, building the palace Achilleion on Corfu, where she spent much time. Her physical regimen included fasting, exercise, and tightlacing to maintain a slender figure.

She was tall for her time, standing 1.73m, and emphasized her slender figure through tightlacing and a diet of thin foods. Her mother-in-law disapproved of her extreme slenderness, which led to tension in their relationship. Elisabeth developed a fear of fat women and passed this attitude on to her daughter Marie Valerie.

A Tragic End

In 1898, despite warnings of possible assassination attempts, the 60-year-old Elisabeth traveled incognito to Geneva, Switzerland. At 1:35 p.m. on Saturday 10 September 1898, Luigi Lucheni, a 25-year-old Italian anarchist, stabbed her with a sharpened needle file. After striking her, Elisabeth collapsed.

A coach driver helped her to her feet and alerted the Austrian concierge, who then accompanied her onto the steamship Genève for Montreux. Sztáray called for a doctor, but only a fellow passenger was available, and the boat’s captain advised her to disembark due to the heat. However, Elisabeth revived somewhat and asked if she was in pain, replying ‘No’. She then asked what had happened.

Countess Sztáray noticed a small brown stain above Elisabeth’s left breast. A boat was turned back to Geneva after Elisabeth lost consciousness again. She was carried to her hotel room where doctors found her dead. An autopsy revealed that the assassin had penetrated 3.33 inches into her thorax, fractured her rib, pierced her lung and pericardium, and entered her heart from top to bottom.

Legacy and Memory

The Swiss police had warned of potential danger, but Elisabeth had dismissed her attendants on the day before the assassination, allowing Lucheni to follow her. Lucheni was brought to trial in October and demanded to be tried under different laws, but he was declared sane and sentenced to life imprisonment. He later attempted to kill himself with a sharpened key.

Elisabeth’s death sent shockwaves through the empire. The entire empire was in deep mourning after her funeral on September 17. Newspapers reported on Elisabeth’s passion for riding sports, diet, exercise, and fashion sense. She often shopped at the Budapest fashion house Antal Alter and was said to have had several reputed lovers.

Her first leading role was as Christine in an early 2000s adaptation, inspired by the Winterhalter portrait. Since then, numerous films and TV shows have featured her character, including:

• Lissi und der wilde Kaiser (2007)
• Ludwig II (2012)
• Chanel short film featuring Cara Delevingne and Pharrell Williams (2014)
• Corsage (2022), starring Vicky Krieps as Elisabeth
• Sisi & I (2023), a drama from the perspective of her lady-in-waiting, Irma Sztáray

Television adaptations include:

• Fall of Eagles (1974)
• Miss Marple’s The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1992)
• Kommissar Rex (1994)
• Princess Sissi (1997)
• Sissi, l’impératrice rebelle (2004)
• The Crown Prince (2006)
• Sisi (2009)
• Sissi, La Giovane Imperatrice (2015-2018)
• Sisi (2021), a German miniseries on RTL+
• The Empress (2022), starring Devrim Lingnau as Elisabeth

These portrayals of Elisabeth have been featured in various productions, often drawing from the myth and legend surrounding her life. Constantin Christomanos published his memoirs of Elisabeth shortly after her death in 1899. Mark Twain wrote about her assassination but did not submit it for publication.

Bertita Harding wrote a biography titled Golden Fleece in 1937. Brigitte Hamann revived interest in Elisabeth with her book, The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, in 1988. Stefan Haderer published Under the Spell of a Myth: Empress Sisi in Greece in 2022.

Elisabeth’s legacy lives on through numerous books and media adaptations. She remains an iconic figure, embodying both the glamour and tragedy of her era. Her story continues to captivate audiences worldwide, reminding us of the complexities that lie behind the glittering facade of royalty.