While she may not
be as famous today as someone like Queen
Victoria, Elisabeth of Austria was one of the most powerful
monarchs of the 19th century. The iconoclastic ruler defied
Austrian court traditions and became a beloved figure
in her homeland and abroad. But her reign came
to a dramatic end. So today we're going to take
a look at the tragic life of Elisabeth of Austria. But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel. After that, leave
a comment and let us know what other royal figures
you would like to hear about. OK everyone, tighten
up those corsets. Despite the fact that
she would one day become a powerful ruler,
Elisabeth of Austria, or Sisi to those who knew her,
was a fairly obedient child. Her mother, Princess Ludovika,
and aunt, Princess Sophie, had mapped out her
future from day one. And that wouldn't
be the least bit surprising if you knew
them, because they were ambitious aristocratic
sisters from Bavaria's ruling Wittelsbach family
who were determined to see their children marry
influential men in the ruling class. Elisabeth's father, Duke
Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, was informally known as
Duke Max to his friends and presumably his fellow DJs. A free spirit, Duke
Max had a deep interest in Bavarian folk music. He also traveled extensively
around the world, particularly to Asia
and Africa, and once constructed a temporary circus
behind his palace residence in Munich. Call it Cirque Du Backyard. In contrast to his
wife Princess Ludovika, Duke Max encouraged his
daughter's adventurous side, and given the chance, Elisabeth
rejected rigorous academics in favor of horse
riding and long hikes into the Bavarian countryside. Honestly, who hasn't daydreamed
of jumping on a horse and galloping away from school? In some ways, her
unorthodox upbringing limited her ability to adhere to
a conventional royal lifestyle. But that seemed to be the
way she and her dad liked it. Princess Ludovika wanted to
introduce her older daughter, Helene, to her sister
Princess Sophie's son, Franz Joseph, the
Emperor of Austria. Which is a nice gig
if you can get it. Ludovika and Sophie arranged
for Franz Joseph and Helene to meet with the intention that
he would court and marry her. But because formulaic
romantic comedies hadn't been invented yet, they
decided to send Elisabeth along with Helene, and of course,
Franz Joseph fell in love with the wrong sister. Yes, the 23-year-old
emperor decided he was more into his
15-year-old cousin Elisabeth than her older sister, who
if you're keeping track, was also his cousin. He was in fact so into
Elisabeth that he married her on April 24, 1854,
just eight months after their first meeting. So romcoms hadn't been
invented, but they were familiar with the show
Married At First Sight. Getting married meant that
Elisabeth was finally free from living under the
thumb of her mother. Instead, she'd have to live
under the thumb of her aunt, which was not a better deal. Sophie was domineering
and manipulative and took charge of Elisabeth's
children and their upbringing. She supervised their
day to day life and didn't allow them much
contact with their mother. And that's not all. She also had Elisabeth and Franz
Joseph's first child christened without Elisabeth's
input, naming the baby, you guessed it, Sophie. In 1857, during a
visit to Hungary, the two-year-old Sophie and
her infant sister Gisela, became ill, and little
Sophie ultimately succumbed to what
was probably typhus. Elisabeth's mother-in-law
used the incident to further strengthen
her control of Gisela's upbringing,
which estranged Gisela from Elisabeth. And if all that wasn't
enough, Princess Sophie also mercilessly berated
her daughter-in-law because she produced
only female children, and she wanted a male heir
to the Austrian throne. Eventually, however,
Elisabeth gave birth to Crown Prince Rudolf. She actually got to
pick that kid's name. Meanwhile, Franz Joseph
may have been an emperor, but he was no prince. He had a roving
eye for other women and engaged in several
affairs during his marriage to Elisabeth. Even worse, based on
factors like Elisabeth's mysterious illnesses,
her prolonged absences from the Viennese
court, and her refusal to have any more
children, scholars believe that Franz Joseph
may have given her something. The emperor did not pay
attention during health class. He probably didn't even go. Elisabeth did
eventually give birth to another daughter in
exchange for a guarantee from her husband that he would
crown her Queen of Hungary in June of 1867. Aw, and they say
romance is dead. But she wasn't totally
without support. Elisabeth and her cousin
Ludwig were thick as thieves. Both enjoyed royal
prominence at an early age, with Elisabeth becoming empress
of Austria at 17 and Ludwig becoming King of Bavaria at 19. The Forbes 30 Under 30
list has nothing on them. Under pressure to
marry, Ludwig proposed to Elisabeth's sister, Sophie
Charlotte, in January of 1867. But Ludwig ultimately
called off the engagement in October of the same year. So what happened? Well based on his diaries
and private letters, Ludwig was very
likely homosexual. And a recent addition to
the German Provisional code made homosexual contact illegal. In any case, he never
got engaged again. What he did do was bankrupt
the state of Bavaria with his grandiose
castles and get himself deposed by a
government-led coup d'etat. He drowned in a Bavarian
lake three days later on June 13, 1886, and
Elisabeth was distraught at the loss of her confidant. Like her circus-obsessed
father before her, Elisabeth was simply ill
suited for a submissive, polite lifestyle, and she
found the oppressively formal and
protocol-driven atmosphere of the Austrian court
was giving her a rash. Both figuratively and
somewhat literally. As she was giving birth
to Crown Prince Rudolf, she suffered a physical
collapse that likely indicated tuberculosis, and her
doctors recommended she travel to a more
tropical climate. She stayed on the
Portuguese island of Madeira without her children or
husband for six months, and she enjoyed
the hiatus so much she began traveling on a
frequent basis from there on out. As she aged, her involvement
in her homeland's politics grew, and she
influenced her husband on matters of the
Hungarian state. But by the end of her life,
she spent virtually no time in Vienna. In fact, she believed
the city itself caused her to become ill,
displaying what many believe were a psychosomatic symptoms. And what we believe was
a bad case of Viennitis. And her desire to spend most
of her time out of the office happened to coincide
with another problem. Despite receiving co-lead
billing in the Austria-Hungary Empire, Hungary was historically
oppressed by the arrangement, and in 1848, after popular
uprisings in Hungary threatened Austrian
rule, Franz Joseph instituted harsh reprisals
against the Hungarian people, which obviously did not do
much to improve relations. Elisabeth, on the other hand,
was sympathetic to Hungary. A point of view likely
encouraged by a possibly romantic relationship
with Count Gyula Andrassy, a Hungarian populist leader
who put his whole Andrassy into everything. After Austria's defeat at
the hands of Prussia in 1867, Elisabeth convinced her
husband that improved relations with Hungary, along
with expansion into the Baltic states,
could re-establish Austria as a European power. And for her troubles,
Elisabeth was officially crowned Queen of
Hungary in 1867. Aw, his and her geopolitics. Andrassy for his part,
was named prime minister of the Hungarian part
of the dual state. The union set off a
period of stability and economic prosperity
in the region. Elisabeth became
extremely popular, and even today, she's
revered in Hungary, with numerous Hungarian
memorials and statues dedicated to her memory. Historical records
show that Elisabeth was obsessed with her appearance. She seldom ate meat, living
mostly on dairy and eggs, and her regimen included daily
workouts with gym equipment, as well as horse riding
and fencing exercises. So she would crush on
TikTok is what we're saying. All this doesn't
necessarily mean she was healthy,
physically or mentally. Even a slight
weight gain brought on days of obsessive fasting. At one point, her weight
got as low as 96 pounds, which is pretty light for an
adult woman who was 5 foot 8. Elisabeth also
placed a high value on her remarkably long hair
and spent nearly three hours per day caring for it. She would have been a popular
figure in Whitesnake videos. She wore no makeup,
opting instead for creams made of whale
oil, wax, and rose water. She even slept with raw meat
and crushed strawberries on her face and soaked her
night clothes in vinegar in an attempt to
preserve her tiny waist. It's unclear why she
thought rolling around in artisanal ingredients would
help her maintain her figure, but she did work her way up to
empress of one of the world's most powerful countries. Interestingly, despite her
renowned beauty and dedication to maintaining her
looks, Elisabeth refused to sit for portraits
or allow formal photographs beginning at the age of 32. She was even famous
for riding on horseback or walking in public with a fan
or parasol covering her face to prevent people from
photographing her. Royal paparazzi must
have been no joke. Elisabeth's son, the
Crown Prince Rudolf, was a progressive thinker with
an outlook similar to hers. Initially, he embarked on the
life of a traditional crown prince, which is to say he
got married in his early 20s to a member of the Belgian royal
family and fathered a daughter. Classic prince stuff. Now he just needs to
record a bunch of albums. But Rudolf grew
tired of marriage and the constraints imposed by
the royal Austrian lifestyle. He attempted to have his
marriage officially annulled. But when that failed, he began
drinking heavily and engaging in numerous adulterous affairs. In 1888, Rudolf
allegedly took up with a 17-year-old noblewoman
named Mary Vetsera. The pair were found
on January 30, 1889, at the crown prince's
hunting lodge at Mayerling, having offed themselves. In 2015, historians discovered
letters written by Mary explaining that she was
preparing to be Juliet to Rudolf's Romeo out of love. But historians are
unsure exactly why Rudolf wanted to go through with it. Some believe it was because
his father, Franz Joseph, ordered him to end
the affair with Mary. Others believed he was simply
depressed and mentally ill. As a result of Rudolf's passing,
Franz Joseph's nephew Franz Ferdinand eventually
became the heir apparent to the Austrian throne. And if that name
sounds familiar to you, it's probably because he
was the famous Archduke whose assassination
in 1914 set off the events that
triggered World War I. Or if you're a fan of
early aughts indie rock. By 1898, Empress Elisabeth
only spent a few weeks out of the year in
Vienna, opting instead to travel around Europe. Wouldn't want that
Viennitis to flare back up. In September of that
year, she planned to take a steamboat
across Lake Geneva to Montreaux, Switzerland,
and she left her hotel for the short walk
along the lake to the ship's boarding area. Elisabeth didn't know it
yet, but Italian anarchist and fanatic Luigi
Luchini had stalked her and discovered she was staying
at the Hotel Beau-Rivage. He approached the unguarded
empress and her lady in waiting,
pretended to stumble, and braced himself by
leaning on Elisabeth. At that moment, he stabbed
her with an industrial file attached to a wooden handle. But because of Elisabeth's
habit of wearing extremely tight corsets, she didn't feel
any pain from the wound, so at first nobody
understood what had happened. She actually managed
to board the ship, only to collapse and be carried
back to her hotel, where she perished. Authorities immediately arrested
Luchini, placed him on trial, and gave him a life sentence. Today, Elisabeth is remembered
for her tragic death as much as her sense of
style and beauty. And in December of 2014, fashion
impresario Karl Lagerfeld introduced a line for Chanel
inspired by Elisabeth's late 19th century aesthetic. Again, we're telling you, she
would have crushed TikTok. So what do you think? Which of these facts about the
life of Elisabeth of Austria surprised you the most? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
