Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830-1916) and Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) (1837-1898)

[Julia]

Elisabeth
Empress of Austria & Queen of Hungary

In 1998 the world will remember one of history's most fascinating women. One hundred years ago, on September 10, 1898, Austria's Empress Elisabeth died from wounds inflicted during an assassination attempt. Exhibitions throughout Austria will commemorate the country's beloved Empress. They will document the intriguing life story of a woman who was an "empress against her will", who was at once fairy-tale princess and liberated woman, a dieting fanatic and expert equestrian, a poet and inveterate traveler.

The empress, affectionately known to millions as "Sisi", was as intelligent as she was extravagant, and was decades ahead of her time. Although the imperial surroundings of Schönbrunn Palace and the glittering Vienna Hofburg were her home, the consort of the Austrian emperor established a special relationship with all classes of her subjects. Little wonder then that following her tragic death Princess Diana was often likened in obituaries to Sisi: Both were women of extraordinary beauty and represented their countries with dignity and elegance. Both succeeded in winning a special place in people's hearts even amidst the ceremony and protocol of ancient dynasties. Both were dedicated to social causes. And both died tragically before their time.

Elisabeth was born on Christmas 1837 in Munich, Bavaria, as the daughter of Duke Maximilian and Maria Ludowika, daughter of the Bavarian king. She grew up in Possenhofen castle (foto right) far from the ceremony of court, and developed like her brothers and sisters into an unconventional, freedom loving, and extremely sensitive person. The romatic legend of how Sisi and Franz Joseph met has been immortalized in the wonderfully romatic and melodramatic Austrian "Sissi" Films starring Romy Schneider as young Sisi. The musical "Elisabeth", which has attracted tourists from all over the world to Vienna for more than five years, is much more realistic.
In the summer of 1853 at the scenic Salzkammergut town Bad Ischl she met Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, who was actually supposed to marry her sister, Helene.

Imperial Villa in Bad Ischl, build as "E" for Elisabeth.

However, the Emperor defied his mother's marriage plans and fell in love with Helen's sister Elisabeth, then only 15 years old, who had accompanied the party rather accidentally. Already one day after their first encounter Francis Joseph and Elisabeth celebrated their engagement.
The engagement to Sisi was a sensation. Everyone wanted to know who she was. She quickly became a rising star. The Papparazzi of the day, the court painters and engravers were quickly producing pictures of this beautiful young duchess "Sisi". They married on 24th April 1854 in the Vienna Augustine Church. The festivites lasted for over a week.

In 1855, Sisi gave birth to a daughter, Sophie, and in the following year to another girl, Gisela. Finally, in 1858 the long-awaited crown prince, Rudolph, arrived.
With her charm and natural grace Elisabeth soon became a fairy-tale princess in the eyes of the public. In her private life, however, insoluble problems began to make their appearance. From the first day she arrived in Vienna the young empress felt constrained and unhappy by the strict life at court, personified by her mother-in-law, Sophie. During the early years of her marriage, Elisabeth took refuge in isolation and illness. Sisi could not adapt to the strict court etiquette, and soon immersed herself in rigourous exercise and horse riding. Later she spent a lot of time in Madeira and Corfu trying to escape. The official public explanation was "severe illness". Her children were forced from her and had to remain in the hands of her mother-in-law and the court. (right: Postcard "Departure of the Empress")

After the birth of the crown prince, however, with whose education she was not entrusted, she broke into open rebellion. In 1859, Elisabeth left her husband and small children to live in seclusion on Madeira, Corfu, and in Venice. The Empress had exchanged a carefree country life with the strict etiquette of the Imperial Court and could hardly adapt to it. Francis Joseph loved his wife dearly, but he ruled over an empire of 50 million people and had little time to be with "Sisi" who felt lonely. "I wish he were no emperor", she confided her former governess.

After a lengthy interval due to marital problems, a fourth child, Marie Valerie, was born to the imperial couple. Marie Valerie was dubbed the "Hungarian child" because she was brought up and educated in the Hungarian language. The youngest offspring was a symbolic gift from the Queen-Empress to the Hungarian people who she loved so much. The new baby arrived exactly ten months after the coronation of her husband as King of Hungary, which Elisabeth had been so energetic in promoting.

Although Sisi usually stayed out of politics, she made a great exception as far as Hungary was concerned. Elisabeth's interest in politics developed as she grew matured. She was liberal and forward-minded. The empress placed herself decisively on the Hungarian side in the nationality conflict thereby making an important contribution to the historic compromise of 1867. Hungary's gaining an equal footing with Austria also strengthened the liberal element in the monarchy as a whole. Elisabeth attained an unparalleled position of respect and affection in Hungary, one which has lasted until the present day. It was due to her influnce that the reconciliation with the rebellious peoples of Hungary was established. Elisabeth learned to speak Hungarian fluently and spent more time in Budapest then in Vienna, much to the anger and displeasure of her mother in law and her cohorts in the Viennese Court.

In the 1860's Elisabeth was considered the world's most beautiful monarch. In the 1870's she became the most famous, and probably also the world's best, female equestrian. She trained as hard as a professional sportswoman for years to achieve this goal. After the Hungarian compromise had been reached, Elisabeth had little choice but to withdraw from politics. Later when gout made riding impossible she tried to make a name for herself as a poet in the mold of Heinrich Heine, who she revered.

All of these efforts were meant to prove herself as an individual and not as an empress. They were at the same time an expression of Elisabeth's contempt for the monarchy, which she considered a "ruin". Sisi remained consciously individualistic and dedicated herself exclusively to her self-expression and physical beauty. Elisabeth was also a highly educated woman, who not only learned Hungarian and modern Greek perfectly, but who even in later years immersed herself in the world of the ancient Greeks. It was for this reason that she built a palace on the Greek island of Corfu and named it "Achilleion" (foto) after her favorite hero of the ancient world, Achilles.

Personal blows left heavy marks on the life of Austria's empress. She lost her daughter, Sophie, in 1857, and her favorite cousin, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, in a tragic fashion. Her brother-in-law, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico was shot by revolutionaries. She never was able to get over her most terrible tragedy, the suicide of her son, Rudolph, in 1889. Her son dead, her favorite daughter happily married, her husband the Emperor was in a mutually satisfying relationship with a lady named Katharina Schratt, the Empress found herself alone and set out travelling in Italy and Greece.

Now invariably dressed in black, Sisi spent the last years of her life far from the pomp and ceremony of the Viennese court traveling widely, especially in Greece. Her decades-long hunger diets coupled with a need for movement and exercise which compelled her to undertake lengthy and strenuous hikes, caused malnutrition and depressions and led finally to suicidal fantasies. The sixty-year old empress was stabbed with a file by a twenty-four year old anarchist, Luigi Lucheni, shortly after noon on September 10, 1898 on the promenade of Lake Geneva as she boarded a steamship for Montreux. After the incident the Empress still walked for a few minutes. Because she was so strictly corsetted, she was unaware how seriously she had been wounded. Her last words were "What happened to me?"
For the assassin Elisabeth represented the monarchic order which he despised, but she was in fact simply a survivor, who tired of life looked forward to her own death.

Sisi (nickname for Elisabeth) was already a legend in her lifetime. And especially in Budapest (Hungary) many buildings or institutions are named after her, and Elisabeth is still the most often given girlname in Hungary. Even a century after her death, Sisi's hold on the popular imagination remains undiminished. This can be seen in the popularity of Sisi films and the musical "Elisabeth", which has run for years in Vienna. The sites where the empress lived continue to draw tourists from the world over. Among these are her apartments in Schönbrunn Palace, the Hofburg, and the Hermes Villa in Vienna, her tomb in the imperial burial vault of the capital's Capuchin Church, and the imperial villa in Bad Ischl, as well as many other places throughout Austria.

[Julia]

Sisi...

Elissa Landi

Elissa Landi was an actress in 1923 - 1943 and a writer 1944 - 1948 writing 6 novels and books on poetry. She was born Elizabeth-Marie Kuhnelt in Venice, Italy December 6, 1904 and lived only 43 years until 1948 when she died of cancer in New York. She had one daughter, Carolyn Maude Thomas. Elissa Landi is believed by some people to have been the secret granddaughter of Sissi (Empress Elizabeth), the beautiful consort of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. (Imdb)

http://www.elissa.org/images/landi-stand2.jpg
http://www.elissa.org/images/landi-standing.jpg
http://www.elissa.org/images/landi-still.jpg
http://www.elissa.org/images/landi-prone.jpg

[gogm]

There are a host of good sites about Elisabeth. Some are:

http://www.kaiserin-elisabeth.net/english/...bilderseite.htm ,

and

http://www.kaiserin-elisabeth.net/sw/e/ , and

Claudia's (she also runs a site about marie Antoinette):

http://www.geocities.com/claudine1755/sissi/home.htm.

Google will turn up others.

[Jackswife]

A wonderful article about one of my personal favorite royals. A lot of parallels to the life of Princess Diana, too. Thanks very much.

[Empress Aleksandra]

What happened to that barbarian Luigi Lucheni? Was he punished?

[Jackswife]

Suicide.

[Sean.~]

Originally posted by Empress Aleksandra@Feb 20th, 2004 - 5:09 pm
What happened to that barbarian Luigi Lucheni? Was he punished?

He had some mental isssues. It's too bad he lived in an age where he couldn't get some help.

[Empress Merel]

Even though everybody wanted to see her (The magic that surrounded her and her not being a public-image), she wasn't loved back then at all.

The myth just started surrrounding her when Romy played Sissi.