Empress Elisabeth of Austria

For other people named Elisabeth of Austria (disambiguation), see Elisabeth of Austria (disambiguation) (disambiguation).

"Elisabeth of Bavaria" redirects here. For other uses, see Elisabeth of Bavaria (disambiguation).

Elisabeth of Austria
Empress consort of Austria; Queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia
Tenure	24 April 1854 – 10 September 1898 (44 years, 149 days)
Coronation	8 June 1867
Born	(1837-12-24)24 December 1837 Munich
Died	10 September 1898(1898-09-10) (aged 60) Geneva
Spouse	Franz Joseph I of Austria
Issue	Archduchess Sophie Archduchess Gisela Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria Archduchess Marie-Valerie
House	House of Habsburg-Lorraine House of Wittelsbach
Father	Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria
Mother	Princess Ludovika of Bavaria
Religion	Roman Catholic

Elisabeth of Austria (24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898) was Empress of Austria and Queen consort of Hungary as the spouse of Franz Joseph I. As such, she held also the titles Queen consort of Bohemia, Queen consort of Croatia and others. From an early age, she was called “Sisi” by family and friends.

While Elisabeth had limited influence on Austro-Hungarian politics, she has become a historical icon. Elisabeth is considered to have been a non-conformist who abhorred conventional court protocol and at the same time a tragic figure; she has inspired filmmakers and theatrical producers alike.

Duchess in Bavaria

The young Elisabeth (right) and her older sister Helene at Possenhofen Castle.

Elisabeth was born in Munich, Bavaria as Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria. She was the fourth child of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria and her mother was Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. Her family home was Possenhofen Castle.

In 1853 Elisabeth accompanied her mother and her 18-year-old sister, Duchess Helene, on a trip to the resort of Bad Ischl, Upper Austria. Her mother hoped Helene would attract the attention of their maternal first cousin, 23-year-old Francis Joseph, then Emperor of Austria. Instead, Franz Joseph chose the 15-year old Elisabeth, and the couple were married a year later in Vienna at St. Augustine's Church on 24 April 1854.

Queen and Empress

At sixteen years old, Elisabeth had difficulty adapting to the strict etiquette practiced at the Habsburg court. She bore the emperor three children in quick succession: Archduchess Sophie of Austria (1855–1857), Archduchess Gisela of Austria (1856–1932), and the hoped-for crown prince, Rudolf (1858–1889). In 1857, tragedy struck. Elisabeth, against the advice of the doctors, took her two daughters on a vacation in Hungary. Both girls were ill with diarrhea, but while Gisela recovered quickly, her older sister Sophie succumbed to the disease and died; she was two. Her firstborn's death would haunt Elisabeth for the rest of her life and cause a permanent rift between her and her husband, which would gradually grow wider as their marriage slowly collapsed. In 1860, Elisabeth left Vienna after contracting a lung disease, later believed to be psychosomatic. She spent the winter in Madeira and returned to Vienna only after having visited the Ionian Islands. Soon after that she fell ill again and returned to Corfu.

Coronation of Franz Joseph and Elisabeth as King and Queen of Hungary and Croatia

In 1867, national unrest within the Habsburg monarchy caused by the rebellious Hungarians led to the founding of the Austro–Hungarian double monarchy. Elisabeth had always sympathized with the Hungarian cause. Reconciled and reunited with her alienated husband, she joined Franz Joseph in Budapest, where their coronation took place. Following the imperial couple's reconciliation, Elisabeth gave birth to their fourth child, Archduchess Marie Valerie (1868–1924). Afterwards, she took up her former life of restlessly travelling through Europe. Elisabeth was denied any major influence on her older children's upbringing; they were raised by her mother-in-law and aunt Princess Sophie of Bavaria, who often referred to Elisabeth as a "silly young mother".

Elisabeth with diamond stars in her hair, 1865, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Elisabeth embarked on a life of travel, and saw little of her offspring. She visited such locations as Madeira, Hungary, England and Corfu. At Corfu, after her son's death, she commissioned the building of a palace which she named the Achilleion, after Homer's hero Achilles in The Iliad. After her death, the building was purchased by German Emperor Wilhelm II. Later it was acquired by the nation of Greece and converted to a museum.

She became known not only for her beauty. Newspapers published articles on her fashion sense, diet and exercise regimens, passion for riding sports, and a series of reputed lovers, although there is no verifiable evidence of her having an affair. She paid extreme attention to her appearance and spent much time preserving her beauty. She often shopped at Budapest fashion house Antal Alter (now Alter és Kiss), which had become very popular with the fashion-crazed crowd.

Elisabeth followed a strict and draconian diet and exercise regimen to maintain her 20-inch (50 cm) waistline, wasting away to near emaciation at times. This was years before such symptoms could be classified as a classic case of Anorexia nervosa.

One of her alleged lovers was George "Bay" Middleton, a dashing Anglo-Scot. He had been named as the probable lover of Lady Henrietta Blanche Hozier and father of Clementine Ogilvy Hozier (the wife of Winston Churchill). To a degree, Elisabeth tolerated her husband Franz Joseph's affair with actress Katharina Schratt.

Elisabeth 1864
by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

The Empress wrote poetry (such as the "Nordseelieder" and "Winterlieder", both inspirations from her favorite German poet, Heinrich Heine). Shaping a fantasy in poetry, she referred to herself as Titania, Shakespeare's Fairy Queen. Most of her poetry relates to her journeys, classical Greek and romantic themes, and ironic commentary on the Habsburg dynasty. In these years, Elisabeth intensively studied both ancient and modern Greek, immersing herself in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Numerous Greek lecturers, such as Marinaky, Christomanos, and Barker, had to accompany the Empress on hour-long walks while reading Greek to her.

In 1889, Elisabeth's life was shattered by the death of her only son. Thirty-year-old Crown Prince Rudolf and his young lover Baroness Mary Vetsera were found dead; an investigation suggested it was murder-suicide by Rudolf. The scandal was known as the Mayerling Incident, after Rudolf's hunting lodge in Lower Austria, where they were found.

Rudolf's sensational death increased public interest in Elisabeth, and the Empress continued to be an icon, a sensation in her own right, wherever she went. She wore a long black gown that could be buttoned up at the bottom, a white parasol made of leather and a brown fan to hide her face from the curious. Only a few snapshots of Elisabeth in her last years were taken, by photographers lucky enough to catch her unawares.

Elisabeth spent little time in Austria's capital Vienna with her husband. Their correspondence increased during their last years, however, and their relationship became a warm friendship. On her imperial steamer Miramar Empress Elisabeth travelled through the Mediterranean. Her favourite places were Cap Martin on the French Riviera, where tourism had started only in the second half of the 19th century; Lake Geneva in Switzerland; Bad Ischl in Austria, where the imperial couple would spend the summer; and Corfu. The Empress also visited countries to which no other northern royal went at the time: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Malta, Greece, Turkey and Egypt. The endless travels became an escape for the Empress from herself and her misery.

Assassination

An artist's rendition of Lucheni's stabbing of Elisabeth of Bavaria.

Luigi Lucheni

On 10 September 1898, in Geneva, Switzerland, Elisabeth, aged 60, was stabbed in the heart with a sharpened file by a young mentally ill anarchist named Luigi Lucheni, in an act of "propaganda of the deed". When attacked, she had been walking along the promenade of Lake Geneva about to board the steamship Genève for Montreux with her lady-of-courtesy, Countess Sztaray. She boarded the ship, unaware of the severity of her condition. Bleeding to death from a puncture wound to the heart, Elisabeth said, "What happened to me?" The strong pressure from her corset had contained the bleeding until the garment was removed.

Reportedly, her assassin had hoped to kill a prince from the House of Orléans and, failing to find him, turned on Elisabeth instead. Lucheni afterwards said, "I wanted to kill a royal. It did not matter which one."

The empress was buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna's city centre. For centuries it has served as the Imperial burial place. After learning of his wife's death, the Emperor reportedly whispered to himself, "She will never know how much I loved her."

Legacy

Empress Elisabeth's sarcophagus tomb next to that of her husband Franz Joseph in Vienna.

Monument to Empress Elisabeth in Vienna's Volksgarten, constructed in 1907

In 1988, historian Brigitte Hamann wrote The Reluctant Empress, a biography of Elisabeth, reviving interest in Franz Joseph's consort (see bibliography). Unlike previous portrayals of Elisabeth as a one-dimensional fairy tale princess, Hamann portrayed her as a bitter, unhappy woman full of self-loathing and various emotional and mental disorders. She was seen to have searched for happiness, but died a broken woman who never found it. Hamann's portrayal explored new facets of the legend of Sisi, as well as contemplating the role of women in high-level politics and dynasties.

Tourists have visited places made famous by Elisabeth, both in Austria and abroad. Visitors are eager to see the various residences Elisabeth frequented at different points in her life. These include her apartments in the Hofburg and the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna; the imperial villa in Ischl, the Achilleion in Corfu, Greece which she built in 1890, soon after her son's death; and her summer residence in Gödöllő, Hungary.

File:2008 Austria 20 euro Empress Elisabeth Western Railway reverse.jpg

Empress Elisabeth Western Railway commemorative coin

Elisabeth loved Hungary more than Austria and surrounded herself with Hungarian ladies-in-waiting; she was particularly close to Marie Festetics and Ida Ferenczy. She insisted that her attendants speak Hungarian, which she spoke fluently. One of her closest friends was Count Andrássy, who later became Emperor Franz-Joseph's Foreign Minister. Elisabeth's attachment to Hungary benefitted the Empire because it encouraged the support of the Hungarian people, but at the same time, she alienated the Viennese and the Czechs of Bohemia. Several sites in Hungary are named after her: two of Budapest's districts, Erzsébetváros and Pesterzsébet; and Elisabeth Bridge.

Empress Elisabeth and the Empress Elisabeth Railway (West railway) named after her were recently selected as a main motif for a high value collectors' coin: the Empress Elisabeth Western Railway commemorative coin.

In 1998, Gerald Blanchard stole the Sisi Star, a diamond-and-pearl piece of jewellery that belonged to Elisabeth of Bavaria from the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria.

In popular culture

Stage

Arms of Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Fritz Kreisler composed a comic operetta Sissi, which premiered in Vienna in 1932. The libretto was written by Ernst and Hubert Marischka, with orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett. In 1936, Columbia Pictures released The King Steps Out, a film version directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring the opera diva Grace Moore and Franchot Tone.

In 1943 Jean Cocteau wrote a play about an imagined meeting between Elisabeth and her assassin, L'Aigle à deux têtes; it was premiered in 1946 and filmed by Cocteau in 1948. Antonini's 1981 film The Mystery of Oberwald is based directly on the play.

In 1992, the musical Elisabeth premièred at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Austria. Written by Michael Kunze (libretto, lyrics) and Sylvester Levay (music), this is likely the darkest portrayal of the Empress' life, portraying Elisabeth bringing a physical manifestation of death with her when she joined the imperial court, thus destroying the Habsburg dynasty. The leading role in the premiere was played by Dutch musical singer Pia Douwes.

Ballet

Kenneth MacMillan in his ballet, Mayerling (1978), portrayed Elisabeth in a pas de deux with her son Prince Rudolf, the central character in the ballet.

In 1993 French ballerina Sylvie Guillem appeared in a piece titled Sissi, l'impératice anarchiste, choreographed by Maurice Béjart to Strauss's Emperor Waltz.

Screen

In the German-speaking world, Elisabeth's name is often associated with a trilogy of romantic films about her life directed by Ernst Marischka and starring a teenage Romy Schneider:

• Sissi (1955)
• Sissi — die junge Kaiserin (1956) (Sissi — The Young Empress)
• Sissi — Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957) (Sissi — Fateful Years of an Empress)

The three films, newly restored, are shown every Christmas on Austrian, German and French TV. They have done much to create the myth surrounding Elisabeth. A condensed version dubbed in English was released in 1962 under the title Forever My Love. In 2007, the three German films were released with English subtitles as The Sissi Collection. Schneider loathed the role, claiming, "Sissi sticks to me like porridge ([Grießbrei] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help))." Later she appeared as a much more realistic and fascinating Elisabeth in Luchino Visconti's Ludwig, a 1972 film about Elisabeth's cousin, Ludwig II of Bavaria. A portrait of her in this film was the only one from her roles which Schneider displayed in her home.

Ava Gardner played the Empress in the 1968 film Mayerling. (Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve played her son and his lover.)

Elisabeth was the subject of a 1991 German film called Sisi/Last Minute (original Sisi und der Kaiserkuß, (Sisi and the emperor's kiss). The film starred French actress Vanessa Wagner as Sisi (the original spelling of her name was used), Nils Tavernier as Emperor Franz Joseph and Sonja Kirchberger as Nene.

• In the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, the character Christine is wearing a gown inspired by that in a portrait of Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary by Franz Xavier Winterhalter.

In 2007, German comedian and director Michael Herbig released a computer-animated parody film based on Elisabeth under the title Lissi und der wilde Kaiser (lit.: "Lissi and the Wild Emperor"). It is based on his Sissi parody sketches featured in his TV show Bullyparade.

Television

In 1974, Elisabeth was portrayed in the British television series Fall of Eagles. Diane Keen played the young Elisabeth, and Rachel Gurney portrayed Elisabeth at the time of Prince Rudolf's death.

The main mystery in the 1992 TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side centers around the shooting of a fictitious film about Elisabeth. The actress playing the Empress was portrayed by Claire Bloom.

Likewise, In one of the episodes of the Austrian TV series Kommissar Rex, (1994) about a police dog who solves his police-inspector owner's cases, the myth of Sissi figures heavily with the main plot. This episode, the thirteenth of Season 5 of the show (and the last from that season), is, appropriately, titled "Sissi."

Elisabeth's heavily fictionalised younger years are portrayed in a 1997 children's series, Princess Sissi.

Arielle Dombasle portrayed Elisabeth in the 2004 television film Sissi, l'impératrice rebelle, detailing the last five days of her life.

Sandra Ceccarelli portrayed an older Elisabeth in the 2006 TV dramatization of the Mayerling Incident, The Crown Prince. Her son and his lover were played by Max von Thun and Vittoria Puccini.

In December 2009 a two-part mini-series premiered on European television, produced by a German, Austrian and Italian partnership, starring Cristiana Capotondi as Elisabeth and David Rott as Emperor Franz Joseph. The film also falls victim to the romantic mythology surrounding the unhappy marriage of Elisabeth and Franz Joseph, but the political problems of that time are illustrated much better in this one than in the Romy Schneider Sissi trilogy.

Written works

Elisabeth appears as a significant character in Gary Jennings' 1987 novel Spangle. The novel concerns (in part) a circus traveling through Europe at the close of the 1800s. It portrays the historical Elisabeth's interests in circuses and daredevil riding.

Her story inspired the 2003 children's book The Royal Diaries: Elisabeth, The Princess Bride.

She also appears in the romantic fiction novel "Stars in my Heart", written by Barbara Cartland.

Monument of Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary (Sisi) in Szeged, Hungary.

Music

Dutch singer Petra Berger's album Eternal Woman includes "If I Had a Wish", a song about Elisabeth.

In 2010, the Scottish folk band Washington Irving released a song titled "Sisi" on their debut EP "Little Wanderer, Head Thee Home" which describes some of the major incidents in Elisabeth's life from the perspective of a jealous lover.

Issue

Children	Birth	Death	Notes
Sophie Friederike Dorothea Maria Josepha	5 March 1855	29 May 1857	Died in childhood.
Gisela Louise Marie	12 July 1856	27 July 1932	Married, 1873 her second cousin, Prince Leopold of Bavaria; had issue.
Rudolf Francis Charles Joseph	21 August 1858	30 January 1889	Died in the Mayerling Incident Married, 1881, Princess Stephanie of Belgium; had issue.
Marie Valerie Mathilde Amalie	22 April 1868	6 September 1924	Married, 1890 her second cousin, Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria-Tuscany; had issue.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 24 December 1837 – 24 April 1854 Her Royal Highness Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria
• 24 April 1854 – 10 September 1898 Her Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty The Empress of Austria, Apostolic Queen of Hungary

See also

• House of Wittelsbach
• Habsburg Dynasty
• Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867
• Mayerling Incident
• Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria
• Francis Joseph I
• Ludwig II
• Gyula Andrássy
• Luigi Lucheni
• Romy Schneider
• Princess Diana
• Elisabeth
• Sissi
• Ludwig

References

Sisi's desk at the Achilleion

• Nicole Avril: L'impératrice, Paris, 1993
• Konstantin Christomanos: Diaries (Tagebuchblätter, several editions in Modern Greek, German, French)
• Barry Denenburg: The Royal Diaries: Elisabeth, The Princess Bride
• Brigitte Hamann: The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Knopf: 1986) (ISBN 0-394-53717-3) (410pp.).
• Brigitte Hamann: Sissi, Elisabeth, Empress of Austria (Taschen America: 1997) (ISBN 3-8228-7865-0) (short, illustrated).
• Ann Nibbs: The Elusive Empress (Youwriteon.com: 2008) (ISBN 978-1849231305) (372pp).
• Matt Pavelich: Our Savage (Shoemaker & Hoard: 2004) (ISBN 1-59376-023-X) (270pp.).
• Matteo Tuveri: Elizabeth of Austria: A Beauvoirian perspective, Simone de Beauvoir Studies, Volume 24, 2007–2008, Published by the Simone de Beauvoir Society (CA - U.S.A.)
• Matteo Tuveri: Sissi: Myth and history, Journal Eco delle Dolomiti, Pinzolo (TN), Italy.
• Matteo Tuveri: Sissi becomes Lissy, L'Unione Sarda, 6 gennaio 2009, p. 40, Cagliari
• Matteo Tuveri: Specchi ad angoli obliqui. Diario poetico di Elisabetta d’Austria, Aracne Editrice, Rome, 2006 (ISBN 88-548-0741-9)
• Matteo Tuveri: Tabularium. Considerazioni su Elisabetta d'Austria, Aracne, Rome, 2007 (ISBN 978-88-548-1148-5)

External links

Media related to Empress Elisabeth of Austria at Wikimedia Commons

• Elisabeth gallery
• Web site of the Italian biographer Matteo Tuveri: www.matteotuveri.it
• Sissi Museum of Vienna
• Empress Elisabeth at Tripod
• Template:IMDB character
• Sissi: myth and history - by Matteo Tuveri

Ancestry

Family of Empress Elisabeth of Austria

16. John, Count Palatine of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen 8. Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria 17. Wildgravine and Rhinegravine Sophie Charlotte of Dhaun 4. Duke Pius August in Bavaria 18. Count Palatine Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken (= 12) 9. Countess Palatine Maria Anna of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld 19. Countess Palatine Maria Franziska of Sulzbach (= 13) 2. Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria 20. Charles, Duke of Arenberg 10. Louis-Marie, Duke of Arenberg 21. Louise Margarete de la Marck-Schleiden, Countess of Vardes 5. Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg 22. Louis Joseph de Mailly, Marquis of Nesle 11. Marie Adélaïde Julie de Mailly 23. Adélaïde Julie d'Hautefort 1. Elisabeth of Bavaria 24. Christian III, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken 12. Count Palatine Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken (= 18) 25. Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken 6. Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria 26. Joseph Karl Emanuel August, Count Palatine of Sulzbach 13. Countess Palatine Maria Franziska of Sulzbach (= 19) 27. Countess Palatine Elizabeth Augusta Sophie of Neuburg 3. Princess Ludovika of Bavaria 28. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden 14. Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden 29. Landgravine Karoline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt 7. Caroline of Baden 30. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt 15. Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt 31. Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken