Elisabeth of Bavaria

:This article is about Elisabeth "Sis(s)i" von Wittelsbach, the empress consort of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria:

Her life

She was born in Munich, Bavaria. In the summer of 1853, Elisabeth, aged 15, accompanied her mother and her older sister, Helene, on a trip to the resort of Bad Ischl, Upper Austria http://www.aeiou.at/aeiou.encyclop.b/b041313.htm;internal&action=_setlanguage.action?LANGUAGE=en, 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 in the spring of 1854.

Related Topics:
Munich - Bavaria - 1853 - Helene - Bad Ischl - Upper Austria - Franz Joseph - Vienna - 1854

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Rightly called "the Diana of her day," 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 Franz Josef's infidelities and Elisabeth's increasingly erratic behavior (her family, the Wittelsbachs, had a history of mental instability).

Related Topics:
Diana - Habsburg - Archduchess Sophie of Austria - 1855 - 1857 - Archduchess Gisela of Austria - 1856 - 1932 - Rudolf - 1858 - 1889 - Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria - 1868 - 1924 - Sophie

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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 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).

Related Topics:
Madeira - Hungary - England - Corfu - Achilleion - Wilhelm II - George "Bay" Middleton - Anglo - Scot - Clementine Ogilvy Hozier - Winston Churchill

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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.

Related Topics:
1867 - Austro–Hungarian - Budapest - Coronation - 1868 - 1924

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In 1889, Elisabeth's life was shattered by the death of her only son: 31 year-old Crown Prince Rudolf had obviously first shot his young lover, Baroness Mary Vetsera, and then himself. The scandal is known by the name Mayerling, after the name Rudolf's hunting lodge in Lower Austria.

Related Topics:
1889 - Rudolf - Baroness Mary Vetsera - Mayerling - Lower Austria

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On September 10, 1898, in Geneva, Switzerland, Elisabeth, aged 60, was stabbed to death with a file in a pointless act. Reportedly, her assassin, a young man called Luigi Lucheni, 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." Bleeding to death from a puncture wound to the heart, Elisabeth's last words were "What happened to me?"

Related Topics:
September 10 - 1898 - Geneva - Switzerland - Assassin - Luigi Lucheni - House of Orléans - Lake Geneva - Montreux

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The empress was buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna's city centre which for centuries served as the imperial burial place.

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