She was supposed to lead a life like a fairy tale, but she could not find herself in the roles of wife and mother. Hated by her mother-in-law, cheated on by her husband, obsessed with beauty, she plunged into depression and anorexia. Sisi's real story has little to do with a romantic myth ... How unhappy was she?
“I know that I am headed for a terrifying end that has been set for me by fate. I will go away as smoke escapes, my soul will leave me through a small hole in my heart ... ”- wrote the empress, famous for her extraordinary beauty. The piercing desperation showed on her face as well. Under the mask of a beautiful woman, fulfilled as a wife and mother, was a lonely hypochondriac, obsessed with persecution mania. Already during her lifetime, she was labeled the most unhappy empress in the world, and yet she went down in history as a princess from a fairy tale, whose dreams came true. So how was it really?
The Empress involuntarily
Her real name was Elizabeth Amalia Eugenia von Wittelsbach. She was born on Christmas Eve in 1837. The marriage of her parents - Maksymilian Bawarski and Ludwika - was not the happiest, but despite numerous romances and several illegitimate children, the father made sure that his five "official" daughters and three sons did not lack anything.
She was called the most beautiful - and unhappy - empress in history.
Elizabeth's childhood was rather idyllic - and did not prepare her for a collision with the reality of the austere and restrained Austro-Hungarian Empire, which she would rule in the future alongside Emperor Franz Joseph I. From an early age, the future empress was a loner with a vivid imagination. She loved to ride horses (she never gave up on this passion), walk and write. She had no interest in politics - which contributed to her downfall.
Maksymilian played an important role in this. It was primarily he who insisted that his descendants should have contact with literature, circus and music, ignoring their formal education. At one point, he gave Elizabeth a diary so that she would write her poems in it and aroused her interest in culture. The problem is that her mother did not share this passion, which made Sisi feel misunderstood. This feeling was to accompany her for the rest of her life.
The summer of 1853 turned out to be a turning point for Elizabeth. It was then that her sister, Helena, was to be married to Franz Joseph I, the cousin and successor of Ferdinand I. Pech wanted that the young emperor fell in love not with Néné (as Helena was affectionately called), but with the younger Wittelsbach . He looked at her much more than at his fiancée, and he danced with Sisi, breaking court protocol.
Elizabeth of Bavaria in a coronation dress. The empress was dazzling with beauty, but her beauty actually flourished after the birth of the children.
In the face of such a turn of events and the stubbornness of the enchanted ruler, the matter was sealed - it was she who was to marry the ruler. This decision was to turn her whole life into a nightmare. Although it started innocently:with parties in honor of Elizabeth and gifts, the most wonderful of which was perhaps the mansion given to the fiancées by the mother-in-law.
The fairy tale ended quickly, however. Sisi had to make up for gaps in education as well as learn etiquette and table manners . It was a necessary condition for becoming an empress. So is the waiver of the rights to the Bavarian throne. In April 1854, she left the family home once and for all. She looked to the future with hope - in the end, a wedding with great pomp and a long and happy life awaited her. But is it really?
Still very alien
Life at the Austrian court - contrary to the ideas of the young empress - turned out to be monotonous and boring. Elżbieta, accustomed to a playful lifestyle, was disappointed after only a few days in Vienna. Until now, she was cheerful and positive about the world, she was growled, was gruff and rarely spoke up . She made blunders again and again. No wonder the mother-in-law looked at her askance.
Archduchess Sophia did not like her daughter-in-law and expressed it at every step. She did not address her directly, she was strict and overly inquisitive (or even inquisitive - she was the first to know the details of the wedding night of the bride and groom and interfered with almost every aspect of Sisi's life). In addition, Elżbieta could not count on her husband's support - although at least at first he was madly in love with her, he remained a mama's boy submissive to Zofia's aura of power.
The moment she married Franz Joseph, she completely lost her sense of freedom. For example, she could not freely meet her friends - it was only possible after prior approval of the list of guests, which included the immediate family. Sisi was also not allowed to go shopping alone and visit the sick in hospitals. She was always accompanied by bodyguards who looked at the empress in her arms .
Although at first Sisi and Franz Josef had warm feelings, their marriage eventually fell apart, and the lonely and sad empress plunged into a mania for caring for her impeccable figure.
The young empress quickly began to lead a single life. As soon as she had the opportunity, she escaped from the stuffy Vienna. She often found shelter in Tyrol. Her "escapes" are colorfully described by Jeannine Meighörner in a novel based on the biography of the empress "Sisi in Tirol. A heart that is still rushing somewhere. However, she could not always afford to leave. That's why she found another "passion" - beauty care, which quickly turned into an obsession.
Secrets of the Empress
Neither Franz Joseph, nor his mother, nor even the members of the palace entourage at the Viennese court could understand this desire to be the most beautiful. Meanwhile, Eugenia von Wittelsbach was taking care of her appearance almost maniacally. She never fully accepted her body and was constantly on a diet. Apparently, she ate only boiled meat and oranges and washed it down with vegetable broth or meat "juice" with egg white and salt .
When asked about the secret of her impeccable figure, Sisi replied that she was tied tightly around the waist. Meanwhile, she was actually tormenting her body with exercise and a backbreaking diet. She never smiled widely because she heard from Empress Sophia that she had ugly teeth. She was only satisfied with her long hair, unlike the people who helped her care for it. It was a strenuous ritual that lasted at least several hours each time.
Over time, Sisi's problems have worsened to such an extent that some historians suspect her of anorexia. The goblet of bitterness overflowed when she gave birth to her first child, Zofia (named after her grandmother). The girl died at the age of three, depressing Elizabeth. She stopped eating at all then.
Empress Sisi with the children. Only the youngest daughter, Maria Waleria, could be brought up by herself. So she clearly favored her.
Only when she gave birth to a son (it was her third child, after Zofia she had a second daughter - Gizela), she breathed a sigh. Which did not affect her obsession with beauty in any way. Practically immediately after the birth of Prince Rudolf - who, like the sisters, was given to his grandmother to raise - Sisi took care of returning to the form from before pregnancy . In one of the palaces, she had a gymnasium set up and exercised there every day.
She had other quirks too. She demanded that her room be heated to 15 degrees. In addition to the oranges that were always within her sight, there were to be comfortable furniture and distilled water in it. And she drank milk only from her own cows, which she carried everywhere with her.
The animals were so dear to her that she even gave them names! This is what Jeannine Meighörner describes her taste in the book "Sisi in Tirol":“The Empress loves to drink milk straight from the cow, in the morning and at night before going to bed. It just has to come from a cow that he knows personally! Ha! This cow must be vaccinated, spotlessly clean, and must produce milk that tastes good to her. And not everyone suits her. ”
Behind the door of a lonely alcove
It is possible that these whims had their source in something else besides the difficult character of the empress. Conflicting with her mother-in-law and not well liked by her closest circle, Sisi was desperately lonely. Especially that she did not get on well with her husband.
Brought up in completely different conditions, Franz Józef and Elżbieta simply did not understand each other. She loved animals - dogs in particular, and he was used to the rigid court etiquette. Meanwhile, it was not so rare that the Empress's sheepdogs sat at table with people and were fed with silverware . You can imagine what her conservative spouse thought about this.
Besides, Sisi, tired of constantly having children, categorically refused to fulfill her wife's "duties" after the third birth. She began to sleep away from her husband - this became another topic for gossip in the palace. Which does not mean that she has completely rejected love. She simply did not direct her towards the eagerly cheating on his wife, Franz Józef. For a while, the couple had to reconcile, because in 1868 their third daughter was born. Basically, however, Elizabeth's heart was drawn to others. Apparently she was in love with Karol Ludwik, her cousin, and also with Gyula Andrássy from Hungary.
Elizabeth's situation was made worse by the suicide of her only son in 1889. Her marriage eventually fell apart and she plunged into depression again. For the rest of her life, she mourned Rudolf, who in Mayerling reportedly killed his young lover first and then shot himself in the temple.
In defense of Franz Józef, it should be emphasized that Sisi was a rather difficult partner. Her "character" manifested itself, among other things, by frequent outbursts of anger and constant complaining. Some courtiers said of her that " she is mentally ill, leads a life so secluded that it only worsens her condition ”.
Sisi was killed in an assassination attempt, stabbed in the heart ... with a nail file.
Beauty said goodbye to the world nine years after the death of her son in even more tragic circumstances. Italian assassin, Luigi Lucheni, stabbed her in the heart with a sharpened nail file. He later admitted that he was looking for his victim among the crowned heads, but he didn't care for anyone in particular, and Elizabeth seemed to be the perfect target ...
Her death completed the tragedy that changed her life when she married into the rulers of Austria. An unhappy marriage and a set of unfortunate events only deepened her depression and persecution . And yet Sisi (mainly thanks to the movies and series based on her biography) is associated primarily as a beautiful, loving and ... happy woman. As a matter of fact, it was only years, when the historian Brigitte Hamann's book "The Reluctant Empress" was published, that her secrets began to come to light, which on the one hand shock, but on the other - show what life was like in the fossilized Austrian court in the 19th century. / P>
Inspiration:
This article was inspired by the novel by Jeannine Meighörner entitled “Sisi in Tirol. A heart that is still rushing somewhere ", published by the Lira publishing house. It is a colorful story about the tragic life of Empress Elizabeth of Bavaria.