Elisabeth of Bavaria
This article is about Elisabeth "Sis(s)i" von Wittelsbach, the empress consort of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria:For other empresses named Elisabeth/Elizabeth, see Empress ElisabethFor other use of Sissi and Sisi, see Sissi (disambiguation)Other Elisabeths "of Austria" can be found at Elisabeth of AustriaSome other Elisabeths "of Bavaria" can be found at Elisabeth von Wittelsbach |
Empress Elisabeth |
Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, Duchess in Bavaria and Princess of Bavaria (
December 24,
1837 –
September 10,
1898), of the House of
Wittelsbach, was the
Empress consort of
Austria and
Queen consort of
Hungary due to her marriage to Emperor
Franz Joseph. Her father was Maximilian, Duke in
Bavaria, and her mother was
Ludovika, Royal Princess of Bavaria; her family home was Castle
Possenhofen. From an early age, she was called
Sisi (or
Sissi in films and novels) by family and friends. Though she was better known as an archduchess than a princess, she was also called "The Princess Bride".
She was born in
Munich,
Bavaria. On
Christmas Eve 1853, Elisabeth, aged 15, accompanied her mother and her older sister,
Helene, on a trip to the resort of
Bad Ischl,
Upper Austria [
1], where they hoped Helene would attract the attention of their cousin, 23-year-old
Franz Joseph, then Emperor of Austria. Instead, Franz Joseph chose Elisabeth, and the couple were married in
Vienna on the 24th of April
1854. Elisabeth later wrote that she regretted accepting this marriage for the rest of her life.
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Memorial of Elisabeth in Funchal, Madeira. |
Elisabeth had difficulty adapting to the strict etiquette practiced at the
Habsburg court. Nevertheless 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). A decade later,
Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria (
1868–
1924) followed. Elisabeth was denied any major influence on her own children's upbringing, however — they were raised by her mother-in-law
Sophie, and soon after Rudolf's birth the marriage started to deteriorate, undone by Elisabeth's increasingly erratic behavior (her family, the Wittelsbachs, had a history of mental instability).
She embarked on a life of travel, seeing very little of her offspring, visiting places such as
Madeira,
Hungary,
England, and
Corfu, where she commissioned the building of a castle which she called
Achilleion — after her death the building was sold to the German Emperor
Wilhelm II. She also became famed for her influential fashion sense and her beauty, diet, and exercise regimens, which were strictly enforced to maintain her 50 cm waistline and nearly reduced her to near-emaciation; her feverish passion for sports, particularly riding, and a series of reputed lovers, including
George "Bay" Middleton, a dashing
Anglo–
Scot who was probably the father of
Clementine Ogilvy Hozier (Mrs.
Winston Churchill).
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Kaiserin Elisabeth, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter |
National unrest within the Habsburg monarchy caused by the rebellious Hungarians led, in
1867, to the foundation of the
Austro–Hungarian double monarchy, making Elisabeth Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. Elisabeth had always sympathized with the Hungarian cause and, reconciled and reunited with her alienated husband, she joined Franz Joseph in
Budapest, where their
coronation took place. In due course, their fourth child, Archduchess Marie Valerie was born (
1868–
1924). Afterwards, however, she again took up her former life of restlessly travelling through Europe, decades of what basically became a walking trance.
In
1889, Elisabeth's life was shattered by the death of her only son: 31 year-old Crown Prince
Rudolf and his young lover
Baroness Mary Vetsera were found dead, apparently by suicide. The scandal is known by the name
Mayerling, after the name of Rudolf's hunting lodge in
Lower Austria.
On
September 10,
1898, in
Geneva,
Switzerland, Elisabeth, aged 60, was stabbed to death with a needle file by a young
anarchist named
Luigi Lucheni, in an act of
propaganda of the deed. Bleeding to death from a puncture wound to the heart, Elisabeth's last words were "What happened to me?" Reportedly, her
assassin had hoped to kill a prince from the
House of Orléans and, failing to find him, turned on Elisabeth instead as she was walking along the promenade of
Lake Geneva about to board a steamship for
Montreux. As Lucheni afterward said, "I wanted to kill a royalty. It did not matter which one."
The empress was buried in the
Imperial Crypt in Vienna's city centre which for centuries served as the imperial burial place.She loved horses and was and extremely skilled horsewoman, possibly considered one of the best of her time. She would take up riding a month after she gave birth and her mother-in-law (who was also her aunt),
Archduchess Sophie critized her at every fault. She often wore black gowns (at the time considered more elegant), especially after the death of her son. I took three hours each day to have her hair done. If her hairdresser was sick, she would not come out of her chambers. She was a slave to her beauty and had a twenty-inch waist. Her hairdresser knew that the Empress would have a fit if even one strand of hair fell out, so she would hide the hair under the hem of her apron. She was once considered the most beautiful woman in the world. She was five foot seven and a half inches. She was taller than the emperor although portraits made him look taller.
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Monument of Elisabeth of Bavaria (Sisi) in Szeged, Hungary |
While Elisabeth's role and influence on
Austro-Hungarian politics should not be overestimated (she is only marginally mentioned in scholarly books on Austrian history), she has undoubtedly become a 20th century
icon, often compared to
Diana, Princess of Wales. She was considered to be a free yet tragic spirit who abhorred conventional court protocol. She has inspired filmmakers and theatrical producers alike.
In the 1980s,
Brigitte Hamann, a historian renowned for her book on
Hitler's early years in Vienna (see
bibliography), wrote a biography of Elisabeth, again fuelling interest in Franz Joseph's consort.
Tourism has profited enormously from the renewed interest in Elisabeth and vice versa, both in Austria and abroad. Apart from the usual
souvenirs such as T-shirts and coffee mugs, visitors are eager to see the various residences frequented by Elisabeth 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 that she built in 1890, soon after her son's tragic death, and her summer residence in
Gödöllő, Hungary.
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Romy_Schneider_is_Sissi.JPG |
In the German-speaking world, her name will forever be associated with a trilogy of romantic films about her life directed by
Ernst Marischka starring a young and still unknown
Romy Schneider in the title role:
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Sissi (
1955)
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Sissi — die junge Kaiserin (
1956) (
Sissi — The Young Empress)
*
Sissi — Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (
1957) (
Sissi — Fateful Years of an Empress)
The three films, now newly restored, are shown every few years on Austrian and German TV and have done much to create the myth surrounding Elisabeth. It may be assumed that for the average Austrian these films are the only source of knowledge as far as Elisabeth's life is concerned. A condensed version dubbed in
English was published under the title
Forever My Love.
There is also a 1991 movie titled
Sisi/Last Minute.
In
1992, the
musical Elisabeth premièred at the
Theater an der Wien in
Vienna. Written by
Michael Kunze (
libretto,
lyrics) and
Sylvester Levay (
music) it has also been produced successfully in other parts of Europe and in Japan.
* Brigitte Hamann:
The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Knopf: 1986) (ISBN 0394537173) (410pp.).
* Brigitte Hamann:
Sissi, Elisabeth, Empress of Austria (Taschen America: 1997) (ISBN 3822878650) (short, illustrated).
* Barry Denenburg:
The Royal Diaries Elisabeth, The Princess Bride* Matt Pavelich:
Our Savage (Shoemaker & Hoard: 2004) (ISBN 159376023X) (270pp.).
*
Elisabeth website*
Sissi movies at
IMDb:
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