By Vienna Strub
It’s rare for random historical figures to have so much of an impact that they’re still a topic of conversation almost 130 years later, but that is exactly what Empress Elisabeth of Austria did. She maintains a tight grip on European popular culture, which keeps her image pristine and unforgettable. Adored by many in countries such as Austria, Germany and Hungary, she led an extraordinary life that feels more like it was created by a modern day author than experienced by an actual person. In this article I’ll be detailing her life and how it led to her eventual near celebrity status.
Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie was born on the 24th of December, 1837 to parents Duke Maximillian and Duchess Ludovika of Bavaria. Elisabeth, nicknamed ‘Sisi’, was born in Munich as the 3rd child out of an eventual 10. Her aunt, Princess Sophie of Austria needed a wife for her son, the newly coronated Emperor Franz Joseph I. Sisi’s oldest sister Helene was to become the Empress of Austria by means of an arranged marriage. Needless to say, Ludovika was thrilled. The mother and two sisters made their way to Bad Ischl, Austria so that the young emperor could propose. The women and their entourage arrived late due to having stopped for a migraine. Dressed in black from mourning an aunt's death not having had time to change, Helene and Franz Joseph met. Elisabeth was only 15 at the time of their journey, but the emperor was immediately infatuated with her. Despite having come there to marry her sister, the emperor said that he would marry Elisabeth or he would not marry at all. No more than 5 days later were they engaged.
16 year old Sisi was incredibly unprepared to be Empress of Austria. After the couple was married on the 24th of April, 1852 in the Augustinerkirche located in Vienna, Elisabeth struggled to adjust to her new life in the beautiful Schonbrunn palace. She struggled with the rigid etiquette due to having had a very unconfined childhood. She began to show signs of illness, such as frequent coughing and became very anxious when having to descend a steep staircase. Soon after the wedding, Elisabeth became pregnant with her first child and just 10 months later, she gave birth to a daughter in 1855. Her aunt Sophie would soon thereafter quickly take the child and baptize her with the same name. The empress was never allowed to see her daughter. Just one year later, when her second daughter Gisela was born, yet again the child was taken from her. These events marked the beginning of the princess’s reign of terror over the young Sisi which would continue until Sophie’s death in 1872.
Despite Elisabeth’s dislike for palace life, she showed some interest in the politics of her husband. This interest was sparked by an 1857 visit to Hungary which would be the first of many. She toured the country accompanied by the emperor and her two daughters, where she felt an instant connection to both its people and their culture. The subjects welcomed her with open arms, and according to her, it was “the first time she had met men of culture in Franz Joseph’s realm.” Enamored by the country, she began to learn Hunagrian which the people reciprocated with adoration for the empress. Although the trip was a welcome escape for Sisi, her happiness was soon cut short as both daughters became gravely ill. Sophie’s condition grew steadily worse before she eventually died from what is assumed to be typhus. Even though Gisela survived, the empress neglected her and fell into a deep depression. Grief would follow her through the rest of her life, and the relationship with her living daughter never recovered. In December of the same year, Sisi would become pregnant for the third time.
After the birth of her only son Rudolf in 1858, Elisabeth became more influential in the court as she had now produced an heir to the throne. A 101-gun salute announced his birth to the people of Vienna. Being in the public eye required a lot of grooming, as she was a role model for the people of Austria. The empress had an extensive beauty routine as well as a physical regime that involved fasting and tight-lacing french leather corsets. Her long brown hair would take hours to twist into styles, and she often would fret over the hairs pulled out in the combing process so much so that she would count the individual strands. The cloak-like waves that surrounded her body were shampooed with a mixture of eggs and cognac once every two weeks. She also took a cold shower each morning and an olive oil bath each night. She slept on a metal bed frame without pillows, as she believed that it preserved her posture and weighed herself obsessively. Although enjoying activities such as horseback riding, she was consumed with both maintaining her beauty and her trim figure. Rudolf rarely saw his mother, as his birth also helped Elisabeth politically. She was known to be very liberal and often sided with the Hungarian people, and would often mediate politics between them and the emperor.
Elisabeth often felt lonely during her time in the court. She wrote Heinrich Heine inspired poetry under the name Titania, a reference to Shakespeare's famous work A Midsummer Night's Dream. One of her few confidants was the Hungarian Count Gyula Andrássy, who was also rumoured to be her lover. She attempted to bring the count and the emperor together, but never succeeded in advocating for a partnership between the two. The emperor despised these attempts and protested them strongly. During this time, Elisabeth was still not allowed to control her son's upbringing, much to her dismay. The excuse made was that she was an unfit mother due to her frequent fits of coughing, anemia, suspected tuberculosis as well as other various illnesses. Sophie raised him with a military education similar to his fathers but Rudolf strongly disliked this as he, like his mother, was not suited to court life. Meanwhile, a lung doctor advised that Sisi spend some time away in Madeira, thus giving her a chance to escape. Soon after her return, the coughing reappeared and so the doctor ordered yet another getaway, this time on the greek island of Corfu. In 1862, she had not seen Vienna for a year. When examined by her physician, he noted her swollen feet and diagnosed her with edema, as she could hardly walk without the support of others. Off she went again, this time at a spa in Germany where she recovered quickly, but spent even more time away with her family in Bavaria to avoid gossip. These fast-healing illnesses were seemingly proof that her ailments were believed to either be psychosomatic or stress-related. Elisabeth also had strange eating habits that may have also contributed to her conditions. While his mother was absent for two years, Rudolf grew up relatively alone. Generally, another son is needed to safeguard the succession, but her doctor decided that a pregnancy was not safe at that time. Secretly, Elisabeth was relieved because she thought that pregnancies destroyed her beauty which she saw as a gift from the gods. She continued to refuse any kind of intimacy and was assertive in her defiance to both her aunt and her husband.
The Austro-Hungarian compromise was made in June of 1867, creating a dual monarchy of both Austria and Hungary. Count Andrássy was made to be the prime minister of the country and Elisabeth and Franz Joseph I became king and queen. Eventually, she decided that she wanted another child and gave birth to her final daughter Marie Valerie in 1868. She was born and baptized in Budapest, and raised the house that was gifted to the royal couple by Hungary as a coronation gift. Without the pressure of her aunt Sophie who died shortly after her child's birth, Sisi was determined to raise this child on her own. All her repressed maternal instincts came forward and she would nearly smother her young daughter.
Elisabeth travelled frequently and anonymously, rarely seeing her children. This is presumed to be why that in 1889, the scandal dubbed ‘The Mayerling Incident’ shattered her with grief. The incident was the muder-suicide of her son Rudolf and his lover, which was assumed to be his doing. The pair was found in Rudolf’s hunting lodge in lower Austria. Just one year later, she would also lose Count Gyula Andrássy, over which she would lament that she had now lost her one and only friend. After their deaths, Sisi only wore long black dresses for the rest of her life.
Due to the empress travelling under pseudonyms, she significantly lowered her chance of assasination. It was still not enough though, as at 60 years old while travelling through Geneva, Switzerland, she was stabbed by Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni. He used a sharpened needle file to cause a fatal wound just below her left breast. Lucheni had originally come to Geneva to assassinate the Duke of Orléans but he missed his departure and decided to set his sights on someone else. Sisi bled out and was pronounced dead on the 10th of September, 1898. Following her death, Luigi was tried as a political criminal and was sentenced with up to 100 years in prison. He commited suicide in his cell in 1910, where his head was preserved in formaldehyde and transferred to Vienna in 1986. It was on display for many years before being buried. As for the empress, she was entombed in the royal crypt in a beautiful claw footed coffin.
People seem to be fascinated with the empress to this day and Elisabeth continues to influence popular culture long after her death. With the rise in popularity of historical musicals such as the 2015 sensation Hamilton and Les Miserables, it might be worth noting that a show about the beautiful Sisi made its debut in 1992. It starred Pia Douwes as Elisabeth and Uwe Kröger as Der Tod (the german word for death). The musical details her life beautifully and is very well known all around Europe. It was still touring the continent as recently as 2019 with multiple casts. Besides the musical, many films, books and paintings feature Sisi as their main inspiration. This proves to Austria and the rest of the world that her impact was apparent. I hope that through reading this piece that you’re able to understand how interesting of a life she led. I highly encourage you to watch the musical (with english subtitles, of course) and continue to do your own research on anything that I might have missed.