historical deep dive: empress Sisi of Austria
an 19th century princess diana
The Empress Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, later known by her nickname Sisi, was born on Christmas Eve of 1837. Her father, Duke Maximilian Joseph of House of Wittelsbach, was a part of one of Germany’s oldest noble families, and married his cousin (yikes) Princess Ludovica of Bavaria. Together, they had 10 children. Elisabeth adopted the nickname Sisi at a young age from her family.
Her childhood was known to be a happy one. Her parents raised the children informally compared to other nobles, and enjoyed freedoms like exploring the outdoors and one of her greatest joys, horseback riding. Her father was more liberal leaning, and frequently would introduce Sisi to local peasants.
When Sisi was 11, her cousin Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria had just ascended to the throne after his uncle Ferdinand abdicated following the 1848 revolution. His mother, Archduchess Sophie, orchestrated the takeover, and put her claws into him as well as the court.
By the summer of 1853, Franz Joseph was looking for a wife. His mother wanted a match that would be not topple her power, so she decided to match her son with her niece (yikes again), Helene, Sisi’s sister. So, Sisi, her mother and Helene made the trip to Bad Ischl, an Austrian resort, to meet the Emperor and his mother.
Sisi was regarded to be a great beauty and later to be known as one of the most beautiful women in Europe in the 19th century. She had striking eyes said to inspire romantic poetry and long chestnut locks that reach the floor. The minute Franz Joseph laid eyes on her, he wanted her instead. Franz Joseph fell in love with the 15 year old. It is widely debated if Sisi actually had feelings for her match, but during that time, that did not matter as politics and siring an heir did.
Growing up, she experienced proper lessons to be a lady of the court but was constantly whisked away by her adventurous father who would take the kids on voyages, missing out on some of the important skills that Sisi would need being an empress at court.
The two were married on April 24th of 1854. Right away, the Archduchess Sophia became a pain in Sisi’s life. Later in life, Sisi is said to have regretted her acceptance to the Emperor’s marriage proposal for a wide range of reasons. The Emperor remained madly in love with the Empress. His office and castle was adorned with pictures and statues of his wife, displaying his love for her. It is cited that Franz was a highly unimaginative man, was a reactionary politician, and too dependent on the guidance of his mother, which is supposedly why Sisi had a hard time returning his feelings. However, there are records of letters sent between the two expressing love. At this point, any strength their relationship had was squashed by the overbearing archduchess Sophie.
Empress Sisi was very unhappy at court. She would write to her mother, “I am on show like a freak in a circus.” The stressful and formal nature of court proved to be overbearing compared to her lax childhood. She was still emotionally dependent on her parents and was not totally ready for the vicious court, as well as the strenuous duties as Empress and wife. She became ill from her court stressors, often terrified and anxious.
Just 10 months after their marriage, Sisi gave birth to their first child, a girl. The Archduchess immediately seized control of the girl, naming her Sophie after her without consulting Sisi first.
Sisi begged and pleaded with her husband to stand up to his mother. He refused, and the same pattern followed with her next two children. The Emperor was a mommy’s boy, and refused to advocate for Elisabeth as he did not want to upset his mother. The archduchess would refer to Sisi as a “silly young mother” and ignore her pleas to see and raise her own children. At one point, before Sisi’s son was born, the Archduchess left a pamphlet on Sisi’s bed stating that an Empress that fails to complete the task of siring a male heir is worthless.
Soon, Sisi began to feel like she could not control anything, even her own children. In response, she began to limit her eating and focus on her weight to compensate for the loss of control she felt in her life. She would often only consume milk, eggs, and raw beef juice. Many scholars say her eating habits would constitute as a modern day anorexia.
In 1857, the 19 year old went on holiday with her husband and two daughters to Hungary. The empress fell in love with the country, as it was seen as a mysterious and romantic place. She began to feel favor with the country and sympathized with its people as an uprising a few decades earlier had been suppressed.
Tragedy struck, however, when the family had fallen ill with food poisoning. The one year old, Gisella, thankfully recovered but two year old Sophie sadly died in her mother’s arms. This tragedy caused the Empress to sink into a deep depression, returning to Vienna afraid to face her mother in law. The Archduchess used this death to paint Sisi as a bad mother, saying it was proof that she was unfit.
Eventually, she became pregnant for a third time. In 1858, she gave birth to Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. Imagining Sisi taking a big sigh of relief, brining forth a male heir finally gave her power at court. However, she still was unable to find happiness.
After attaining more leveraging power at court, she began to engulf herself in literature, art, and history. She even began to study different languages, even the scandalous Hungarian dialect. She loved to write poetry as well, comparing herself to Tatiana, the fairy queen from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She loved the work of politician and poet Henrich Heine, often using his style of poetry in her own work.
At this point in her life, her obsession with her health and figure reached an all time peak. At 5’8, she was taller than most women, and always maintained a weight of 110 pounds or less. She often refused to eat for days at a time as well. Her corset was always overly tightened, and for a small time in her life, her waist was recorded at 16 inches. She exercised vigorously and excessively and had workout spaces built at every castle she resided. At one point, she had gym equipment like mats and balance beams installed in her room. Her favorite activity, though, was horseback riding. She would frequent the garden of the Vienna palaces. She would ride through the garden and into the woods, imagining her freedom. She instilled a fear of overweight women to her youngest daughter, who was reportedly terrified when she met Queen Victoria of England.
She was heavily focused on her beauty. She would often takes olive oil bath as well as ice baths. At night, she would sleep with a facemask of either raw veal or crushed strawberries and set aside days just to wash her floor length hair. It has been said that the Empress used snail mucin, which is just another example of how she was ahead of her time. She had a special royal hairdresser tasked with brushing and styling her hair, and had to present the disappointed Empress with any hairs that have fallen out. It would be washed every two weeks with a mixture of eggs and cognac. She would spend this time reading and learning other languages, especially her favorite, Hungarian.
After arguments with her mother in law about the education of her son, which she did not want him enduring a military education because of his sensitive personality, her mental health was at an all time low. Her physicians recommended time away from court for rest and a chance to recuperate, which she happily accepted, spending the winter in Portugal. Her health improved over the winter, but not surprisingly, on her way back to court she began to suffer migraines and bouts of vomiting. This only proves how much Sisi hated the Vienna court.
She spent the next several years avoiding court, her husband, and especially her mother in law while traveling around Europe.
Her passion for the plight of the Hungarian people was what kept her going back to court. She began a friendship with Count Gyula Andrassy of Hungary, and began to appeal to her husband. It is rumored that Sisi had an affair with the count, but lots of historians argue that Sisi was sexually repressed and was disgusted by the thought of sex out of wedlock. This is proven by her reaction to her sister, the last empress of Naples, who conceived a child out of wedlock because her husband was impotent. Regardless, around this time, Sisi became pregnant again.
Sisi was able to prevent war by encouraging a diplomatic solution between Austria and Hungary. Successfully, an agreement was reached in 1867, establishing a dual monarchy. Andrassy was elected as Prime Minister of Hungary and Franz Joseph and Sisi were crowned King and Queen of Hungary. The two were given a countryside estate outside of Budapest as a gift where Sisi made her primary residence. There, she gave birth to her fourth and final child, Marie, who was known as the Hungarian child.
Finally, Sisi had a child that would not be taken away from her. All of her repressed maternal feeling had their time to shine and Marie was smothered in turn. On top of that, Archduchess Sophie finally died in 1972, freeing Sisi of her overbearing mother in law.
At the age of 32, she decided that she did not want to pose for anymore paintings or pictures as she wanted her reputation of having great beauty to never faulter.
Sadly, in 1889 her son Rudolf and his lover were found dead of a suspected murder suicide in his hunting lodge. Sisi wore black the rest of her life, and began to bury herself in charity work. Luckily, her relationship with her husband began to improve after the death of his mother in law, and she was able to live more happily at court. However, she still preferred to distract herself with her travels as to not let her depression overtake her.
In 1898, the Empress was visiting Lake Geneva in Switzerland. The empress was unaware of the uptick in political assassinations. During a walk along the lake to a steamship, a man appeared to peer under Sisi’s parasol and ran away. The Empress was carried to the steamship where a red stain was found on her blouse. Before they could turn back for help, Sisi had passed away.
Luckily, Sisi was a fatalist, writing in her letters, “I am always on the march to meet my fate. Nothing can prevent me from meeting it on the day on which it is written that I must do so.”
The man behind her death was an Italian anarchist who had originally planned to assassinate the Duke of Orleans, until he left the city early. He had to change his plans fast, and the nearest royal happened to be Empress Sisi. She was stabbed with a 4 inch needle file, and was said to die a peaceful and painless death. She had gained consciousness once before her passing, in which she expressed she was not in pain.
She was brought back to Austria where she was buried. In her will, she expressed that all of her jewels be sold and and the money be donated to charity.
Empress Sisi’s reputation lives on to be one of the most undesirable lives, but the one of the most desirable faces and a trailblazer in western beauty. Her life seemed to be an imprisonment of duty and cruelness, only rubbed in her face more by her awful mother in law.
History tells many tales of the docile on the outside, yet driven on the inside women. Sisi happens to be one of them. Her life is an example of the subjugation of women, and especially the effect of the patriarchy at its western peak.
Sisi lives on in infamy for her kindness, charity, and sadly, her eating disorder. Her body image became a blueprint for desirable women, affecting our modern day standards. However, that really is not her fault. The circumstances that forced her control to focus on an area that would unpredictably be so much more problematic centuries later were patriarchal, which is ironic.
Overall, I feel that Sisi is a lesson in control and femininity. Many us feel our job, or life or partner is not enough, we lose control, and we take it out on our body. Seemingly, the vehicle that seems to garner all of the value we have to offer, from virginity to chest size. Maybe if we get implants or starve ourselves enough, society will like me better and all of my problems will be solved.
Yes, Empress Sisi was loved by many and acclaimed across all the lands for her beauty, but was she happy?
I hoped you enjoyed this different type of article. I’m sorry I have not posted in a while, I got sucked in to researching for this article. If you enjoy this historical deep dive, let me know, and if you hate it, maybe be a little nice about it.
Remember, life can always be bejewelled, take it from a diamond in the rough.
love, light, and thank god women don’t live under those pretenses anymore,
allison
Sources:
https://gw.geneanet.org/castel974?n=de%2Bwittelsbach&oc=0&p=elisabeth%2Bsissi&type=tree
https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/elisabeth-empress-austria