Empress Elisabeth of Austria
Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, nicknamed Sisi, was born on December 24, 1837 in the Bavarian royal house of Wittelsbach in Munich.
She was the third child and second daughter of Duke Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria, half-sister of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
The future Empress grew up between Munich and Possenhofen Castle on Lake Starnberg, Bavaria, and enjoyed a carefree childhood, far from the formality of court life.
She became Empress of Austria and later Queen of Hungary (1867) by marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I, at the Augustinerkirche in Vienna, at the age of sixteen on April 24, 1854.
Her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I thrust her into the formal life of the Habsburg court, for which she was unprepared and found unpleasant.
From the beginning of the marriage, he was at odds with his mother-in-law, Archduchess Sofia, who took over the upbringing of Elisabeth’s daughters, one of whom, Sofia, died in infancy.
Sisi wanted to escape the strict protocol of the Habsburg court and her domineering mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophia, who was also her aunt.
She found welcome respite in Hungary and became an ideal mediator between the Magyars and the Emperor.
The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 created the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary.
Fashion Icon
She was 5 feet 8 inches (172 cm) tall and slim (her waist varied between 40 and 50 cm in circumference).
His diet included the diet of orange, milk, and eggs, and he often avoided meat, preferring veal juices cooked as a light soup. Fasting and daily exercise in gymnastics, horseback riding, and fencing served to maintain her youthful figure.
A lover of horses, she rode every day and earned a reputation as one of the best jockeys of her day. She trained regularly at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, the Hungarian royal residence in Gödöllö, as well as numerous horseback excursions to the British Isles between 1876 and 1882, where she maintained several stables and participated in fox and deer hunts.
Later in life, she began hiking, often spending up to eight hours walking and choosing her partners according to their fitness to follow her.
Sisi also spent time reading and writing at night and had a special interest in history, philosophy, and literature. He admired the German lyric poet and radical political thinker, Heinrich Heine.
Despite her strict regimen, the Empress occasionally indulged in hearty Bavarian dishes and her favorite violet-flavoured ice cream, which is still offered today at Demel (a famous pastry and chocolatier established in 1786 in Vienna, Austria) in her honor.
beauty regimen
Sisi was obsessed with her hair, which in later years hung to the floor. The weight of her hair and the elaborate braided hairstyles created by her personal hairstylist, Fanny Feifalik, gave him constant headaches. Fanny Feifalik became one of her closest confidantes and often accompanied her on her travels.
Combing it took several hours each morning and washing it took at least three hours with a combination of eggs and brandy once every two or three weeks. Fanny also developed Sisi’s famous hairstyle: braids placed on her head like a tiara.
He slept on a metal bed frame with no pillow which he believed helped keep his posture upright.
Raw beef or crushed strawberries were used as an overnight face mask, cloths soaked in violet or cider vinegar were worn above her hips to preserve her slender waist, and cloths soaked in Kummerfeld-hued wash water were wrapped around her neck. He took a cold shower in the morning and a herbal bath at night, while the steam baths helped reduce his weight along with the crash diets as he approached 50kg.
Mayerling incident
In 1889, Sisi’s life was shattered by the death of her only son, Rudolf, who was found dead along with his young mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera, in what was suspected to be a murder-suicide in the hunting lodge. of his son in Lower Austria.
Sisi never fully recovered from the tragedy. He had lost his father, Max Joseph (in 1888), his only son, Rodolfo (1889), his sister, Duchess Sophia of Bavaria (1897), Helene (1890) and his mother, Ludovika (1892).
She started wearing long black dresses, a white parasol made of leather, and a fan to hide her face.
Trip
Sisi embarked on a life of travel after the death of her son traveling undercover, using pseudonyms such as ‘Countess of Hohenembs’.
On her walking tours, which lasted several hours, she was mainly accompanied by her Greek-speaking tutors or her ladies-in-waiting.
On his imperial steamer, Miramar, Sisi traveled the Mediterranean visiting his favorite places: Cape Martin on the French Riviera, San Remo on the Ligurian Riviera, Lake Geneva in Switzerland; Bad Ischl in Austria and Corfu in Greece. The Empress also visited countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Malta, Turkey and Egypt. Her endless travels became an escape route for Sisi from her misery.
Palace on the Greek island of Corfu
Growing up in Munich, Sisi had been exposed to the philhellenistic movement that loved Greece and Greek culture.
Philhellenism (“the love of Greek culture”) and philhellene (“the admirer of the Greeks and all things Greek”), was a prominent intellectual movement in the early 19th century. It contributed to the sentiments that led Europeans like Lord Byron or Charles Nicolas Fabvier to advocate Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Sisi built a palace on the island of Corfu which he named Achilleion, after Homer’s hero Achilles in The Iliad. He also had several Greek teachers who taught him about the ancient history of the country.
Murder
It was during a visit to Switzerland that an Italian anarchist, Luigi Luccheni, stabbed her to death in 1898.
Despite warnings of possible assassination attempts, Sisi, 60, traveled undercover to Geneva, Switzerland, where someone from the Hôtel Beau-Rivage revealed that the Empress of Austria was her guest.
At 1:35 p.m. on Saturday, September 10, 1898, Sisi and Countess Irma Sztáray de Sztára et Nagymihály, her lady-in-waiting, left their hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva on foot to take the steamer Genève to Montreux. As they walked along the seafront, a 25-year-old Italian anarchist, Luigi Lucheni, approached them and stabbed Sisi with a sharp needle file that he had inserted into a wooden handle.
Lucheni originally planned to kill the Duke of Orleans. He had left Geneva earlier for Valais, so the killer decided to kill Sisi.
After Lucheni struck her, the empress collapsed. A bus driver helped her to her feet and alerted the Austrian concierge at the Beau-Rivage.
The two women walked 100 yards (91 m) to the gangplank and boarded, at which point the Empress lost consciousness and collapsed.
Alarmed that Sisi had not regained consciousness, she informed the captain of her identity, and the ship returned to Geneva, where six sailors took Sisi to the Hotel Beau-Rivage.
Sisi was pronounced dead at 2:10 pm and everyone present knelt down and prayed for the repose of her soul.
Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie (Sisi) had been Empress of Austria for 44 years.
His murder brought his life to a tragic end.