

Seemingly in a state of near-permanent restlessness, Sisi spent much of her time away from Vienna to the disappointment of the court, her husband, and many of her more conservative subjects: a free spirit constantly fleeing convention, responsibility, and tradition. She was known for being 'shy and introverted by nature', meaning she struggled to adapt to the life that came with her new titles. The obsession with fitness and body shape is one of many issues that make Sisi’s personality complicated.Įarly in Elisabeth’s marriage, for example, the confines of court and the control mania of her mother-in-law drove her to sickness and she suffered bouts of melancholy throughout her life (not helped by the early deaths of her first child, Sophie, and her only son, Crown Prince Rudolf). Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria (Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie 24 December 1837 10 September 1898), nicknamed Sisi (also spelled Sissi), was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I on 24 April 1854 until her assassination in 1898. (Image credit: Netflix) Elisabeth 'Sisi' was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph, between April 1854 September 1898.

The 15-year-old Elisabeth, or Sisi, was a stunning beauty, radiating a youthful spirit. She also wrote poetry (with less success). Come 1867, Emperor Franz Joseph I brokered a deal to incorporate the Kingdom of Hungary into his and Sisis empire. Emperor Franz Josephs gaze wandered to the young, unaffected girl. This image of the empress was so popular that Emperor Franz Joseph. Her horse-riding skills ranked her as possibly the best female equestrian in Europe, for example. Elisabeth has gone down in history as an empress of eternal youthfulness and beauty. The Empress’s accomplishments almost matched her beauty. History Magazine Life for this Bavarian princess was no fairy tale Married at 16 to the emperor of Austria, Elisabethnicknamed Sisiwas a reluctant empress, struggling with royal life and. W 7983 excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence) (Empress Elisabeth fox hunting, 1882 Vinzenz Katzler (artist), Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. Cupid, though, twanged his bow rather inconsiderately, and the young Emperor found himself head over heels in love with Elisabeth. That meeting sought to cement an arranged marriage between the monarch and Elisabeth’s older sister. She enjoyed a relatively untroubled free-spirited upbringing until fate intervened in 1853 at a meeting with the Austrian emperor, Franz Joseph. She escaped the bindings of reality to become an iconic figure of beauty and legend.Įlisabeth was born on December 24th, 1837, in Munich, into an offshoot of the Bavarian royal family. You might consider Sisi (as she is commonly known) the most famous female in Habsburg history. We have the biographical details, but Elisabeth’s personality remains rather enigmatic. Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (Rudolf Franz Karl Josef 21 August 1858 30 January 1889) was the only son and third child of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Duchess Elisabeth of Bavaria (Sissi). The innocent question in the heading proves quite difficult to answer.
#Emperor franz and elisabeth license#
Reproduced with permission under the terms of Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 4.0. (Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Kaiserin Elisabeth, undated.
