![]() ![]() ‘You have no idea how much I loved this woman’, Franz Joseph is said to have exclaimed after Elisabeth was murdered. Franz Joseph and Elisabeth maintained a bond of friendship, corresponding and meeting regularly. From the 1860s, the couple could no longer be said to have had a married life together. Elisabeth withdrew more and more, and increasingly turned her back on both the Court and her husband. However, she came increasingly into conflict with the conventions and rules of the Viennese court, personified by her mother-in-law.įranz Joseph was torn between the wishes of his wife and the demands of his mother. She even fulfilled the most important duty of an empress, giving birth to Crown Prince Rudolf. However, in the early years, the young empress did strive to live up to expectations. Elisabeth found life at Court extremely uncongenial, suffering from the strict protocol, the intrigues and her official duties as empress. In 1854, six months later, the ‘dream wedding’ was held in Vienna, and so began a marriage which, for both parties, constituted an extremely unhappy arrangement. ‘Oh, if only he were a tailor!’ Elisabeth is said to have exclaimed, adding, however, that ‘One doesn’t turn down an emperor!’ Before they even left Bad Ischl, the couple’s engagement was announced. However, events took a different turn, for Franz Joseph – and here, the narration of the famous Sissi film trilogy reflects real history – fell head over heels in love with Helene’s sister, Elisabeth, only fifteen years of age and still very childlike, who in fact was only supposed to play a ‘supporting role’ on the trip. ![]() On the occasion of her son’s twenty-third birthday, she arranged a party at Bad Ischl, to which her sister Ludowika was invited along with her nineteen-year-old daughter Helene, in the hope that the emperor would take a fancy to his young cousin. Indeed his mother Sophie, who was extremely ambitious politically, already had concrete plans. And the 1914 assassination of his nephew and heir apparent, Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo famously triggered World War I.Young, attractive, ruler of a global empire and – single! Franz Joseph was much in demand on the European aristocratic marriage market. He lost his only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, in 1889. The Mexicans executed his brother, Maximilian, in 1867. Sisi died at the hands of an assassin in 1898, one of several personal tragedies to strike Franz Joseph. And her story gives those imperial rooms in the palaces far greater importance than they might otherwise have earned. So we have, for example, a Sisi museum in Vienna, a Sisi exhibition and various other Sisi locations. You might argue that Franz Joseph’s biggest contribution to Viennese history and tourism was to marry the 16-year-old Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie of Bavaria in 1854.Įmpress Elisabeth (known as Sisi) has become more of an icon than her husband, thanks to her beauty and fairytale-like ascension, but also through her struggles against court life and various personality issues. Reproduced with permission under the terms of Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 4.0. (Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Kaiserin Elisabeth, undated. But he also has close associations with various sights and experiences favoured by visitors to the city. Obviously Franz Joseph stuck around for a significant part of Vienna’s recent history. Incidentally, Franz Joseph’s nephew and successor (Karl I) failed to enjoy quite the same longevity the end of WWI in 1918 also saw the demise of the Habsburg monarchy and the creation of a republic. (Not that Franz Joseph was necessarily a fan of all the modernist developments.) These problems led to increased autonomy for Hungary and the reorganisation of the Austrian empire as Austria-Hungary in 1867.īut long periods of relative peace and stability also allowed the growth of the arts, science, and industry, including the development of, for example, Viennese Modernism with such proponents as Gustav Klimt. He lost the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, and nationalist tendencies in the different lands of the monarchy caused him plenty of sleepless nights. And, of course, he died with his realm embroiled in World War I.įranz Joseph faced a fair bit of conflict throughout his rule. For example, he only came to power because his childless uncle (Emperor Ferdinand I) abdicated in his favour in the wake of the 1848 revolutions that affected much of Europe. Inevitably, plenty happened during Franz Joseph’s reign. This extended period of rule gave him ample opportunity to stamp his mark on Vienna (the empire’s de facto capital). He was the last “great” monarch of the Habsburg dynasty. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)īorn in 1830, Franz Joseph became Emperor of Austria in 1848 and went on to reign for almost 70 years until his death in 1916. (Emperor Franz Joseph, sporting his trademark moustache and sideburns. ![]()
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