The empire was reconfigured as two sovereign states, Austria and Hungary, with separate regimes and governments but united under a single crown. It wasn’t exactly a Schönbrunn or Versailles-size palace, but this was still one of Sisi’s favourite places. All rights reserved. After all that country fresh air, we’ll have worked up quite an appetite, so we’ll head to their authentic, intimate restaurant where we’ll be served delicious, home-made style Hungarian dishes while a great gypsy band serenades us with traditional, folk songs. Despite her inward misery, Sisi appeared outwardly beautiful, owing to her obsession with her appearance. Hours were spent maintaining her looks—three hours a day of hairdressing, and an hour to cinch her famed 19.5-inch waist. On April 25, 1854, a shy and melancholy bride married into a major European royal house. Inside the unhappy reign of Sisi, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. If Franz Josef felt daunted by having to return to the practical realities of power, any fairy-tale notions Sisi may have had quickly evaporated too. The young couple had little time to enjoy their union. She turned to many interests and pastimes to fill the hours. A porcelain painting of Franz Josef and Elisabeth (Sisi) during their engagement. In 1889, her beloved son, Crown Prince Rudolf, was found dead with his 17-year-old mistress, Mary Vetsera, at the Mayerling hunting lodge, sending Sisi into a steep decline. After she became empress, Sisi became fascinated with Hungarian culture and politics, and she mastered the Hungarian language. “Truly like an angel of mercy she went from bed to bed,” lady-in-waiting Marie Festetics wrote of one such visit, as recorded in The Reluctant Empress. Shy and introverted, Sisi showed no interest in romance. Although their love story wasn’t the fairy-tale love story young girls dream of, Franz Joseph still declared Sisi to be the true love of his life to his dying day. Color Lithograph, 1867. She further alienated the Viennese aristocracy by filling her personal staff with Hungarian nationals. He looked to be a promising catch, and Ludovika set her sights on him. “I want always to be on the move,” she wrote, according to Hamann. From her eccentric father, Duke Maximilian Joseph, she inherited a belief in progressive democratic ideals and pacifism, uncommon for royalty at the time. Once on board, the 60-year-old empress fainted from blood loss and died that same night. “It is the Empress who attracts them all,” Sophie wrote. And so, Sisi wandered. Phone: {Phone:10}, IN HUNGARIAN: GÖDÖLLŐ ROYAL CASTLE & LÁZÁR EQUESTRIAN PARK. “Whenever there’s something to see they come running, for the monkey dancing at the hurdy-gurdy just as much for me.”. Her search brought her both great joy and sorrow, until it ended, with an assassinâs knife, in 1898. As a demonstration of their goodwill, the Hungarian people gave the couple a gift of the baroque castle of Godollo on the outskirts of Buda. Shy and unsure, Sisi crumbled under the strict court etiquette, which left her isolated and friendless. The formidable archduchess, by then nearly 50, had also grown up in Bavaria, but fought tooth and nail to impose her will on the Austrian court. Her murderer, an Italian anarchist called Luigi Luccheni said in his confession that he personally had nothing against the empress, only that he wished to kill a royal. The two-year-old died. Recent biographers have also drawn attention to her active mind and love of literature and poetry, especially for the works of poet Heinrich Heine. Struggling to fit into court life, she clashed with Archduchess Sophie, her aunt and mother-in-law. Although their love story wasn’t the fairy-tale love story young girls dream of, Franz Joseph still declared Sisi to be the true love of his life to his dying day. It was initially thought Vetsera poisoned Rudolf before killing herself, though it was later determined that Rudolf shot both of them in a murder-suicide pact, a conclusion that only deepened Sisi’s sadness. The future emperor refused to bend to his mother, Sophia’s will, and insisted he would marry Sisi or no one. On June 8, 1867, Franz Josef and Elisabeth were crowned as constitutional monarchs of Hungary. Sisi reveled in her role as comforter of the empire’s “common” people, and often arrived at hospitals and charity wards unannounced, with only a lady-in-waiting in tow. Built in the 13th century, the Hofburg in Vienna was the imperial seat of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty. Franz Josef did not interfere, perhaps because he was in debt to his mother for elevating him to the throne through her skillful maneuvering. Elisabeth entered the Austrian court as Prussia and Germany were gaining power, and the Habsburg monarchy sought to maintain control of Austria and Hungary in the face of popular opposition. You’ll be amazed to find out what this palace witnessed during WW1 and WW2. Only Franz Joseph was supposed to wear a crown (not exactly my favourite person from our history) but we loved Sisi so much that we finally crowned her, too. With her liberal, progressive son dead, she knew that the creaking empire of Austria-Hungary could not last. During the wedding festivities, thousands lined Vienna’s streets, eager to catch a glimpse of the new teenage empress. He worked till late so he didn’t really get the chance to spend much time with his beautiful wife, Elisabeth. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Although her support for a man the Viennese court regarded as a traitor provoked animosity, Elisabethâs actions played a role in keeping Hungary within the empire. As news of the empress’s arrival leaked, Lucheni found out the prince had cancelled his trip. When it became clear Franz Josef preferred Sisi to Helene, his mother and aunt decided to support the match. It might even become your ‘happy place’. Her husbandâs civic duties kept the couple apart, which further isolated the young empress. Yet despite her somber demeanor Sisi captivated the public, thanks to her stunning beauty and ankle-length chestnut hair. The empress frequently spoke of suicide to a terrified Franz Joseph, and turned to mediums and psychics to help cure her mental anguish. In the spring of 1857, little Sophie caught dysentery during a trip with her parents to Hungary. Empress Elisabeth of Austria, 1857. Sisi declined to attend public functions and complained of physical and nervous ailments. Though both Rudolf and Vetsera left behind notes, the circumstances surrounding their deaths remained a mystery; rumors of a double murder persisted. Horses and cows grazing on the side of the valley, sunshine, the smell of the different trees, flowers and the grass. :6}, Name: {Name (First):4.3} {Name (Last):4.6} In fact, Lucheni had stabbed her. Are your clients ready for some culture combined with some fun time? She felt no jealousy for her husband, and recognized his loneliness and their incompatibility. But in her glass coach on the way to her new home in the sprawling Hofburg imperial palace, Sisi sobbed—overwhelmed and afraid. Elisabeth, the Empress of Austria, Sisi, the Queen of Hungary. Sisiâs maternal aunt, Sophie, was married to the Archduke of Austria, Franz Karl. The empress and her husband had begun living separate lives. Check my availability and I will show them everything! She bore Franz Joseph three children during the first four years of their marriage, but only two— Crown Prince Rudolf and Archduchess Gisela—survived past infancy. 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC. She stuck to a meticulous diet, severely limiting her daily intake of food. Franz Joseph was crowned King of Hungary and Sisi became queen. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2019/05-06/empress-elisabeth-of-austria.html. In 1874, using the pseudonym Countess of Hohenembs to ensure anonymity, Sisi embarked on a European tour with her younger daughter. When in 1885 Katharina Schratt, an actress from the Burgtheater of Vienna, became a fixture in the emperorâs life, Sisi accepted the relationship. {Choose the tour! When dressing, it took roughly an hour to cinch her waist to a punishing 19.5 inches. Elisabeth grew up in Bavaria, a wealthy Catholic kingdom that is now the largest state in Germany. She also exercised for hours every day. But rather than an outlet for her anxiety, her fixation on fitness became an unhealthy obsession, resembling the symptoms of modern eating disorders. The situation did not improve as she settled into her new reality. Although separated by several years, the two fell deeply in love, and although he was betrothed to her sister, they defied protocol and married. I yearn for the sun of my homeland I yearn for the beaches of the Isar. Although Franz Josef professed to be very much in love with his new bride, his imperial responsibilities left him with little time for her. She seemed a bit player in a drama reserved for Helene. Her life was carefully controlled and monitored. So he approached Sisi as she walked along a dock to board a ship, attacking her with a small triangular file. Isolated in the palace, she suffered through mental illness, mourned her beloved son’s suicide and set off to wander the globe in search of peace—all before her assassination at the hand of an Italian anarchist. If the weather is good, we can walk in the garden up to her former stable. Her father, the duke, was a music-loving bon viveur with notably liberal views that filtered down to his children. She was so shy that she had trouble eating in the presence of the Austrians. And in that palace, I am a mother.’ There, she could spend as much time with her children as she wanted without being under the watchful eye of her mother-in-law, ladies in waiting or even Spanish etiquette. The âMayerling Incidentâ became a sensational scandal across Europe. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. (Over three decades beginning in 1880, anarchists killed a Russian czar, an American president, two Spanish premiers, a French president, and an Italian king.). After a walk around their museum where some of their trophies are on display and a few of their former world champion horses are stabled, we’ll head to the highlight of the programme there: the 40-minute horse show where you’ll learn what a great equine culture we used to have and why people in Europe used to say: May the Lord save us from the arrows of Hungarians! Life for this Bavarian princess was no fairy tale.