Sisi

MyGen Profile GeneratorI am Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, Duchess in Bavaria, Princess of Bavaria, (December 24, 1837 – September 10, 1898), of the House of Wittelsbach, the Empress consort of Austria and Queen consort of Hungary due to my marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph. My father was Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria and my mother was Ludovika, Royal Princess of Bavaria; my family home was Possenhofen Castle. From an early age, I have been called Sisi by family and friends.
I accompanied my mother and 18-year-old sister, Helene, on a trip to the resort of Bad Ischl, Upper Austria [1], where they hoped Helene would attract the attention of our cousin, 23-year-old Franz Joseph, then Emperor of Austria. Instead, Franz Joseph chose me, and we were married in Vienna on the 24th of April 1854. I later regretted accepting this marriage.I had difficulty adapting to the strict etiquette practiced at the Habsburg court. Nevertheless I 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. I was denied any major influence on my own children's upbringing, however — they were raised by my mother-in-law Sophie, and soon after Rudolf's birth my marriage started to deteriorate, some say it was due to my supposed "erratic behaviour".To ease my pain and illnesses, I embarked on a life of travel, seeing very little of my children, visiting places such as Madeira, Hungary, England, and Corfu, where I commissioned the building of a castle which called Achilleion.
While this may sound conceited, I paid extreme attention to my appearance and would spend most of my time preserving my beauty. My diet and exercise regimens were strictly enforced to maintain a 20-inch (50 cm) waistline. Not only did I become known for my beauty, but also for my fashion sense, diet and exercise regimens, passion for riding sports, and a series of reputed lovers; that is all just gossip however. Though I did tolerate, to a certain degree, Franz Joseph's affair with actress Katharina Schratt.National unrest within the Habsburg monarchy caused by the rebellious Hungarians led, in 1867, to the foundation of the Austro–Hungarian double monarchy, making me Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. I had always sympathized with the Hungarian cause and, reconciled and reunited with my alienated husband, I joined Franz Joseph in Budapest, where our coronation took place. In due course, our fourth child, Archduchess Marie Valerie was born (1868–1924). Afterwards, however, I again took up her former life of restlessly travelling through Europe, decades of what basically became a walking trance.I also engaged in writing poetry (such as the "Nordseelieder" and "Winterlieder", both inspirations from my favorite German poet, Heinrich Heine). Shaping my own fantasy world in poetry, I referred to myself as Titania, Shakespeare's Fairy Queen. Most of my poetry refers to journeys, classical Greek and romantic themes, as well as ironic mockery on the Habsburg dynasty. In these years, I also took up with an intensive study of both ancient and modern Greek, drowning in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Numerous Greek lecturers (such as Marinaky, Christomanos, and Barker) had to come along on the hour-long walks while reading Greek to me. My Greek genealogical roots are presented in Greek pedigree. According to contemporary scholars, I knew Greek better than each of the Bavarian Greek Queens in the 19th century. Ha, most amusing!
But on a more somber note, In 1889, my life was shattered by the death of my only son. 31 year-old Crown Prince Rudolf and his young lover Baroness Mary Vetsera were found dead, apparently by suicide. The scandal is known by the name Mayerling, after the name of dear Rudolf's hunting lodge in Lower Austria.
The IconOn September 10, 1898, in Geneva, Switzerland, Elisabeth, aged 60, was stabbed to death with a needle file by a young anarchist named Luigi Lucheni, in an act of propaganda of the deed. Bleeding to death from a puncture wound to the heart, Elisabeth's last words were "What happened to me?" Reportedly, her assassin 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 with her lady-of-courtesy, Countess Sztaray. As Lucheni afterward said, "I wanted to kill a royal. It did not matter which one."
The empress was buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna's city centre which for centuries served as the imperial burial place. Monument of Elisabeth of Bavaria (Sisi) in Szeged, Hungary.While Elisabeth's role and influence on Austro-Hungarian politics should not be overestimated (she is only marginally mentioned in scholarly books on Austrian history), she has undoubtedly become a 20th century icon, often compared to Diana, Princess of Wales. She was considered to be a free spirit who abhorred conventional court protocol. She has inspired filmmakers and theatrical producers alike.In the 1980s, Brigitte Hamann, a historian renowned for her book on Hitler's early years in Vienna (see bibliography), wrote a biography of Elisabeth, again fuelling interest in Franz Joseph's consort.Tourism has profited enormously from the renewed interest in Elisabeth and vice versa, both in Austria and abroad. Apart from the usual souvenirs such as T-shirts and coffee mugs, visitors are eager to see the various residences Elisabeth frequented at different points in her life. These include her apartments in the Hofburg and the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the imperial villa in Ischl, the Achilleion in Corfu, Greece that she built in 1890, soon after her son's tragic death, and her summer residence in Gödöllo, Hungary.Elisabeth loved Hungary far more than Austria and surrounded herself with Hungarian ladies-in-waiting, being particularly close to Marie Festetics. She insisted that her attendants speak Hungarian, which she herself spoke fluently. One of her closest friends, and a reputed lover, was Count Andrassy who later became Emperor Franz-Joseph's Foreign Minister. Elisabeth's attachment to Hungary benefitted the Empire because the Hungarian people returned the attachment. They considered her the only Habsburg they trusted. Her flagrant and well-known preference for Hungary mollified the Hungarians while antagonizing the Viennese, who were seething with resentment over Habsburg arrogance, and solidified the Empire. There are several sites in Hungary named after her, most famously the Erzsébet híd (Elisabeth Bridge) in Budapest.