Queen Elisabeth of Hungary (full name: Erzsébet Amália Eugénia, German: Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie von Wittelsbach, Duchess in Bavaria, Czech: Alžběta Bavorská; Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, December 24, 1837 – Geneva, Switzerland, September 10, 1898) Bavarian princess from the House of Wittelsbach, Empress of Austria and Queen of Bohemia from 1854 and Queen of Hungary from 1867 until her death in 1898 by her marriage to Emperor and King Franz Joseph I. In reference to Ernst Marischka's film adaptations from 1955–1957, she was nicknamed Sisi in the family circle, the popular name Sissi spread in the press and in common usage.
When Elisabeth was sixteen, she entered into a love marriage with the Austrian Emperor Ferenc József I in 1854. With this marriage, the incompletely educated princess entered the much stricter etiquette of Viennese court life, where she soon came into conflict with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Zsófia. Erzsébet often spent time in Hungary and established close relations with the Hungarians. They also attribute a major role to him in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.
The last decade of her life was marked by the suicide of her only son, heir to the throne Rudolf, and his mistress, Baroness Maria von Vetsera, in Mayerling and the mourning of the queen. After that, he withdrew almost completely from public life, spent most of his time traveling and, with few exceptions, wore only black. He often visited the Palace of Achilleion, built on the island of Corfu. She was obsessed with her appearance, her slim figure and the constant preservation of her beauty, practices that were already legendary during her lifetime. In 1898, she was fatally wounded in Geneva by an Italian anarchist, Luigi Lucheni, and died shortly after the assassination attempt. Her final resting place is in Vienna, in the Imperial Crypt of the Capuchins.
Translated by Google •
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