Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria ruled the Habsburg empire for much of the 19th century. He was an interesting guy. But it turns out that his wife, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, was far more interesting. We met her last time. Let us continue her sad story now.
Teenage Elisabeth was dragged from her idyllic Bavarian home into the stifling world of the Austrian royal court. The rules, formalities, and pressure proved to be too much for her.
Palace or Prison?
But worse by far was the abuse she suffered at the hands of her domineering step-mother, Sophie. “Domineering” puts it mildly. Sophie took Elisabeth’s first child away from her, named the girl Sophie after herself, and raised her away from Elisabeth. That’s just plain mean.
When Elisabeth gave birth to a second daughter – not a male heir to the throne – it made life in Hofburg Palace even worse. She had to get out of there.
To get away, Elisabeth traveled with Franz Joseph on business trips. One of these trips took her to Hungary, which was part of the Habsburg Empire. She loved Hungary and the Hungarians. The Hungarians loved her, too. Maybe there was hope after all.
Getting out of Hofburg Palace and away from Sophie was good for Elisabeth. She liked to travel, so she hit the road whenever she had the chance. Sometime during her travels she picked up the nickname of “Sisi.” The name stuck, and she became known everywhere as “Empress Sisi.”
Her third child was a boy. Thank goodness. But the situation in the palace still got the the best of her over time. She was in ill health more often than not. She developed odd behaviors that become something of a concern.
Empress Elisabeth – Family Ties
Sisi’s unusual fears and quirks were of particular concern due to her family history. She had some odd monkeys swinging from the vines of her family tree.
Her father was a bit of an eccentric. It was said of him that he liked circuses more than he liked ruling his domain. That’s not to say that he didn’t like ruling his domain. He just really liked circuses.
Sisi’s uncle Ludwig was a bit further out there. He was known for his love of building castles that look like they belong in fairly tales. The most famous one is Neuschwanstein Castle.
Seems like a pretty neat hobby to me, if you have the funds, of course. But people said he was nuttier than a fruitcake.
On the other hand, uncle Ludwig may have gotten a raw deal. He spent a ton of money building fairy tale castles. That was his thing. But Ludwig’s extravagant spending deprived some other family members of money that might have otherwise been theirs one day.
Ludwig’s death was something of a mystery. Did disgruntled family members do him in? An investigation many years later yielded some incriminating evidence.
Something’s Rotten in Bavaria
Family members and enemies appear to have collaborated in a scheme to do Ludwig in. They paid a psychiatric expert handsomely to testify that Ludwig was insane. A legally insane Ludwig could be removed from his position.
The plan worked. The psychiatric expert testified, and Ludwig was booted out. He’s been known as Ludwig the Mad ever since.
And guess what? Just a few days after Ludwig was stripped of his holdings, both he and the psychiatric expert were found dead. They died from questionable causes.
Even if he wasn’t insane, there was no doubt that Ludwig was “different.” And he wasn’t the only member of Empress Siri’s family to be, shall we say, eccentric. So when Sisi started acting strangely under the pressure of life in Hofburg Palace, tongues were wagging.
How would those family genes manifest themselves in Empress Sisi’s world?
To be continued…
