SISSI DEEL 2

Newlyweds Crownprince Rudolf of Austria and spouse, Crownprincess Stephanie, neé Princess of Belgium. 1880s,

Only son of Empress Sissi of Austria

Archduchess Marie Valerie

The daughter of Empress Sissi, with her children

The office of Emperor Franz-Josef of Austria

THE CORONATION

HH.II.RR.MM. Empress Elisabeth and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria Coronation   

Last photo taken of the Empress Elisabeth before her assassination. 

Summer residence of Princess Sissi . Hungary

Archduchess Marie-Valerie of Austria,daughter of Empress Sissi

Crown prince Rudolf 1876 ca.

Archduchess Auguste of Austria (born Princess of Bavaria) with her sons Archduke Ladislaus and Archduke Josef Franz

She was a grand daughter of Empress Elisabeth (Sissi)

Empress Sissi of Austria didn’t want to take photos of her when she became old.

She wanted people to remember her beautiful what she was.

So there are no pictures of her in her last years.

Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria (1837-1898) in mourning for her son Rudolf (1858-1889). Posthumous portrait (1899) by Leopold Horowitz

Details of Portraits by Franz Xaver Winterhalter 

Close Up : Empress Charlotte of Mexico, Archduchess of Austria, neé Princess of Belgium. 1860s.

Sister -in-law of Empress Elisabeth (Sissi)of Austria

Charlotte was very proud of the fact that she was daughter and grand daughter of kings, while Sissi was only a duchess in Bavaria. That’s why Charlotte looked down on Sissi because of her “humble” origin.

 Hotel Beau Rivage,the room where Sissi died

Hermes Villa-Vienna

The bedroom of Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria

Elisabeth, Empress of Austria & Queen of Hungary, holding a fan

Sissi’s Villa Hermes

Personal photo album of Empress Elizabeth of Austria, c. 1880.

Jewels and fans of Empress Sissi

Empress Elisabeth and her dog Shadow

Archduchess Gisela of Austria with her husband-She was the  daughter of Empress Sissi 

Funeral of Empress Sissi of Austria

Dress of Empress Elisabeth of Austria ca. 1880

Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, AKA “Erszi” and “The red Archduchess”. 1880s.

Sissi’s granddaughter

Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, carte de visite by Carl Pietzner, 1898 (via)

To what extent Elisabeth’s smoking habit was a kind of protest is hard to guess. Sources reprimanded “the countenance of the empress who smoked in the royal carriage”; clearly that was as unladylike as smoking while driving is today. Another extravaganza was that she had herself tattooed while in Corfu (1888); since then she bore an anchor on her left shoulder. — Hans Bankl, Woran sie wirklich starben, Wilhelm Maudrich (1989), p. 61 (translated).

She was unique

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. 

 Sissi’s husband

Kaiserin Elisabeth of Austria. 1860s.

Mantle of the Austrian Emperor by Kotomi_
Design: Philip von Stubenrauch, Execution: Johann Fritz, Vienna, 1830

Franz Joseph I (1848), Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Sissi’s hat and other personnal things

Schloss Belvédère, Wien, Österreich.

Day dress of Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria, ca. 1860s.

HH.II.RR.HH. Archduchess Gisela of Austria, later Princess of Bavaria; and Archduke Rudolph of Austria, Crown Prince of Austria   

Queen Maria Sophie of Naples

Sissi’s sister

Hotel Beau Rivage,the place where Empress Sissi died in 1898

Sissi’s sister Duchess Helene in Bavaria with her family

Elisabeth’s parents hoped to marry off her older sister Helene (Nene) to Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. The Wittelsbachs met with Franz Joseph and they brought Elisabeth as well as Helene. He fell for Elisabeth.

Crown Prince Rudolf and Archduchess Gisela, chidlren of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. 1868.

Princess Auguste of Bavaria granddauhter of Empress Elisabeth(Sissi) of Austria 

Born 28 April 1875

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria

Heinrich Wassmuth (1915)

 Achilleion (1890)

The famous villa in Greece(Corfu) A monument to Achilles, Elisabeth’s favourite hero of Greek mythology, and after whom the villa was named.

Following her death, the estate passed to her daughter Gisela, who sold it to the German Emperor Wilhelm II. 

"‘Our dreams are always lovelier when we do not realize them.’"

Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria

Heinrich Heine 

“My dark heart loves you
It loves you and it breaks
And breaks and shrugs and bled to death <
But you do not see it”

      Heine was Sissi’s favorite poet

The fan and the gloves of Empress Sissi 

Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria-Toscana

Sissi’s granddaughter

Ludwig in Bavaria,brother of Empress Elisabeth(Sisi)of Austria

"Without her I should never have been able to carry out the work which God has laid upon my shoulders."

Emperor Franz-Josef for his wife Empress Sissi

"Joy is something only passenger, an episode, a filler, while waiting for the torment that will be then. And that inevitably comes, because it is the expectation of destiny, and this is the end toward which all our lives. It is the saddest thing in the world, and therefore also the most beautiful."

Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria

"All I ask of humanity is that it should not interfere with me."

Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria

Elisabeth Franziska Maria, Archduchess of Austria, Princess of Hungary and Bohemia

-Granddaughter of Empress Sissi of Austria.

-She married at Niederwallsee on 19 September 1912 Georg Graf von Waldburg zu Zeil und Hohenems (1878–1955). The marriage was one of love and not a political marriage.

-Died 29 January 1930 (aged 38)

Marie Valerie married Archduke Franz Salvador, from the Tuscan branch of the family on 31 July 1890 a year after her brother’s tragic death. They had ten children.

Empress Sissi’s daughter

Crown Prince Rudolph’s cradle. 
Made by Franz Matthias Podany from mahogany, maple and bronze mounts in 1858.

Emperor Franz Josef I and Sissi in Vienna

Archduchess Marie Valerie (1868-1924) of Austria with her friend Princess Aglaë von Auersperg (1868-1919).

Franz Joseph I and his three brothers; Maximilian I, Archduke Karl Ludwig, and Archduke Ludwig Viktor.

Empress Sissi’s son Crown prince Rudolf of Austria

Princess Elisabeth-Marie of Bavaria

She was the granddaughter  of Empress Sissi.daughter of Archduchess Gisela

“Oh swallow, give me your quick wingsAnd take me with you to distant countries.I’ll be happy to break the chains that hold meAnd to break the bars of my prison …If I could fly with youThrough the blue eternity of heavenHow I would make thank you with all my beingThe Goddess that men call freedom!That would take me to freedom:I had never lostTaking the path of vainglory.I awakened in a prisonWith arms entwined by painful chains.I suffer more in the desire for youYou more freedom, abandon me …Bride to be … and not proved to be more cheerful:I had never left the road”  - a poem written by Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Ludovika in Bavaria mother of Empress Elisabeth of Austria 

Empress Sissi in black after her son’s death

Franz-Carl and Elisabeth , children of Archduchess Marie-Valerie (Sissi’s daughter)

Carl-Theodor in Bavaria brother of Empress Sissi with his wife Marie-Jose

Sophie Charlotte in Bayern. later Duchess d´Alencon. Early 1860s.

Sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Fanny Angerer, Hairdresser of Empress Elisabeth Sisi

Sophie Charlotte in Bayern Duchess of Alencon and son Emmanuel of Orleans

Sissi’s sister

Prinz Georg Franz von Bayern, Prince of Bavaria 

Grandson of Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) 

He was the son of her daughter Archduchess Gisela

Mathilde and Marie duchesses in Bavaria,sisters of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sissi)

Empress Elisabeth hairstyle

 Sisi’s Hungarian Coronation Carriage 

Crown princess Stephanie of Austria with her only child Elisabeth-Marie.
She was the wife of Sissi’s only son Crown Prince Rudolf

Archduchess Marie-Valerie of Austria,daughter of Empress Sissi

Hotel  Beau Rivage,  Geneva

where Empress Elisabeth of Austria died on Sept 10, 1898 ( x )

She was assassinated on the Quai Mont Blanc on her way to board the ferry. 

Elisabeth of Austria in 1847, at the age of ten years old.

Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria. Early 1870s.

Sissi’s daughter

Ludovika in Bayern, mother of Kaiserin Elisabeth of Austria. 1860s.

Mathilde duchess in Bavaria,Countess Trani

Mathilde was a younger sister of Empress Elisabeth(Sissi)

Helene was one of Sissi’s sisters

H.R.H. Princess Helene von Thurn und Taxis, née Duchess in Bavaria  (1834-1890)

Sissi’s sister

Empress Elisabeth during the 1850’s

Duchess Sophie Charlotte Augustine in Bavaria (23 February 1847 – 4 May 1897), The Duchess of Alençon. The younger sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria was a talented singer and piano player.

Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria by Fraz Schrotzberg

Sissi’s beloved daughter

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria 

Busy and hard working until the end

Composite of Kaiserin Elisabeth of Austria, children Kronprinz Rudolf and Archduchess Gisella and the Baroness Charlotte von Welden. 1862.

A fairy walks among the earth
Wings unseen to humankind
Flowing locks adorned with flow’rs
The whole of life within her mind

She’s now her own worst enemy
Arrayed in black, lifelong she’ll mourn
And no one else shall understand
Why such a belle is so forlorn

Her poems tell of places
She visits in her sleep
She can’t escape these fantasies
And drowns within their deep

Sissi’s poem

Duke Carl Theodore in Bavaria

Sissi’s brother

Elisabeth with her hair down by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1864). This portrait was hung in Franz Joseph’s study room.

Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, Kaiserin Sissi s youngest daughter.

Archduchess Gisela of Austria by MADAME VINTAGE

Sissi’s daughter

  Letter of Empress Elisabeth of Austria 

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (1830-1916) on his death-bed, 1916 by Franz von Matsch on Magnolia Box

Franz Joseph died on 21 November 1916, after ruling his domains for almost 68 years.

Little Archduchess Marie Valerie of austria, daughter of Kaiserin Elisabeth and Kaiser Franz Josef I

“How beautiful she is!”, shouts the Shah of Persia against all etiquette, when Elisabeth receives him in 1873. Men and women of her time enthuse over Elisabeth’s fabulous beauty, and are even more allured by her grace, charisma and the mysterious aura surrounding the Empress.

Close up of Empress Sissi of Austria

Kaiserin Elisabeth of Austria.




SCHLOSS POSSENHOFEN, THE BIRTHPLACE OF EMPRESS ELIZABETH OF AUSTRIA by the lost gallery
J. SCHERFEL the painting shows the landscape and ruins before the construction of the new palace by the father of Elizabeth, the duke Maximilian in Bayern.

Archduchess Elizabeth “Erszi” of Austria

Empress Sissi's  granddaughter

The beautiful smile of Empress Elizabeth of Austria 

Ak S.K.H. Herzog Karl Theodor von Bayern Wittelsbach, Uniform (b/w photo) by German Photographer on Magnolia Box

Empress Sissi’s brother

Gisela, Archduchess of Austria. 

Sissi’s daughter

Ak Prinzessin Gisela von Bayern Wittelsbach, Modisches Kleid, Schmuck (b/w photo) by German Photographer on Magnolia Box

She was the daughter of Empress Sissi

Archduchess Marie Valerie, 1890

Sissi’s beloved daughter

Ak Prinzessin Gisela von Bayern Wittelsbach, NPG 6065 (b/w photo) by German Photographer on Magnolia Box

Daughter of Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria

Auguste Maria Luise of Bavaria in her wedding dress

Sissi’s granddaughter

Sissi’s diamond stars

Archduke Ludwig-Viktor, Mathilde Countess of Trani and Marie of the Two Sicilies.

Sissi’s sisters with Franz-Josef’s brother

Marie-Valerie daughter of Empress Elisabeth with her husband Franz-Salvator

This marriage  was one of the few happy events of Elisabeth’s later life.

On that occasion she laid aside her mourning for a pale gray silk gown, and for the first time since Rudolf’s death made an effort to smile and appear cheerful.

HIRH Archduchess Elisabeth Maria Henriette Stephanie Gisela of Austria (2 September 1883, Laxenburg – 16 March 1963, Vienna) was the only child of HIRH Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and HIRHCrown Princess Stéphanie (née HRH Princess Stéphanie of Belgium). She was known to the family as “Erzsi”, a diminutive of her name in Hungarian. Later nicknamed “The Red Archduchess”, she was famous for becoming a socialist and a member of the Austrian Social Democratic Party.

Empress Elisabeth “Sisi”, did not enjoy being identified as a grandmother and was therefore not close to any of her grandchildren. However, after her assassination in 1898, her will specified that outside a large bequest of the sale of her jewels to benefit charities andreligious orders, all of her personal property was bequeathed to Erszi, her namesake and, of course, Rudolf’s only child. The Empress was open in her dislike of her daughter-in-law prior to the scandal, and afterMayerling blamed Stéphanie’s jealous behavior for her son’s unhappiness and suicide. Rudolf’s wife, the Crown Princess Stéphanie, mother of the young Archduchess Elisabeth, was entirely dependent on the Emperor’s charity. Following Rudolf’s death, the resulting lack of Imperial support towards Stephanie impacted Elisabeth’s relationship with her mother negatively; the parent and child were never close.

Maria Sofia, Queen of Naples, neé Duchess in Bavaria. Early 1870s.

Sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Mayerling, Lower Austria. The site of the murder-suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his seventeen year old mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in 1889.

Empress Sissi of Austria was an impressive woman and took her beauty very serious.

At 172 cm (5 feet 8 inches), Elisabeth was unusually tall (she was even taller than her husband).

And even after four pregnancies she maintained her weight at 50 kg for the rest of her life. She was known to be fasting and exercise quite a lot.

Rare moment of Empress Sissi andEmperor  Franz-Josef walking together