Empress Elizabeth 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 daughter and the second daughter of Duke Maximiliano José in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria, the half-sister of King Louis 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 courtly life.
She became Empress of Austria and later Queen of Hungary (1867) by marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I, in the Augustinerkirche in Vienna, at the age of sixteen on April 24, 1854.
Her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I pushed her into the formal life of the Habsburg court, for which she was unprepared and which she found unpleasant.
From the beginning of the marriage she was at odds with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who took over the upbringing of Elisabeth’s daughters, one of whom, Sophie, died in infancy.
Sisi wanted to escape the strict protocol of the Habsburg court and her overbearing mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who was also her aunt.
She found a 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 ft 8 in (172 cm) and slim (her waist was 40 to 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 doing gymnastics, horse riding, and fencing were used to maintain her youthful figure.
An enthusiastic rider, she rode every day, gaining a reputation as one of the best horsemen of her time. He 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 from 1876-1882, where he kept several stables and participated in fox and deer hunting.
Later in life, she began to walk, often spending up to eight hours walking and choosing her companions according to her physical condition to keep up with 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-flavored ice cream, which is still offered today at Demel (famous pastry and chocolate shop established in 1786 in Vienna, Austria) in her honor.
Beauty regimen
Sisi was obsessed with her hair, which in later years reached the floor. The weight of her hair and the elaborate braided hairstyles created by her personal hairdresser, Fanny Feifalik, gave her constant headaches. Fanny Feifalik became one of her closest confidants and generally 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 to three weeks. Fanny also developed Sisi’s famous hairstyle: braids placed on her head like a tiara.
He slept on a metal bed frame without a pillow, which he believed helped him maintain his upright posture.
Raw beef or crushed strawberries were used as a nighttime face mask, cloths soaked in violet or cider vinegar were worn above the hips to preserve her slim waist, and her neck was wrapped with cloths soaked in Kummerfeld wash water. In the morning he would take a cold shower and a herbal bath at night, while the steam baths helped him reduce his weight along with the intense diets as he approached 50 kg.
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 lover, 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, Rudolf (1889), his sister the Duchess Sofia in Bavaria (1897), Helene (1890) and his mother, Ludovika (1892).
She began wearing long black dresses, a white leather umbrella, and a hidden fan to hide her face.
Trip
Sisi embarked on a life of travel after the death of her son traveling incognito, using pseudonyms such as ‘Countess of Hohenembs’.
On her walking tours, which lasted several hours, most of the time she was accompanied by her Greek tutors or her bridesmaids.
In 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. The endless travels became a means of escape for Sisi from her misery.
Palace on the Greek island of Corfu
Growing up in Munich, Sisi had been exposed to the Philhellenist movement that she loved Greece and Greek culture.
Philhellenism (“the love of Greek culture”) and phhellene (“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 for Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Sisi built a palace on the island of Corfu which he named Achilleion, in honor of the hero Achilles of Homer 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 she was fatally stabbed by an Italian anarchist, Luigi Luccheni in 1898.
Despite warnings of possible assassination attempts, Sisi, 60, traveled incognito to Geneva, Switzerland, where someone from the Hôtel Beau-Rivage revealed that the Empress of Austria was his guest.
At 1.35 pm on Saturday, September 10, 1898, Sisi and Countess Irma Sztáray de Sztára et Nagymihály, her maid of honor, left the hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva on foot to take the Genève steamer to Montreux. As they were walking along the promenade, 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 before for the Valais, so the assassin decided to assassinate 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 catwalk 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 p.m. and everyone present knelt and prayed for the rest of her soul.
Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie (Sisi) had been the Empress of Austria for 44 years.
His murder brought his life to a tragic end.
