Sissi? Or Elisabeth?

The Empress. The Sissi-movies (of the 1950s). The musical Elisabeth.

The „Reluctant Empress“ - as the title of her biography by historian Brigitte Hamann goes - is certainly good for the tourist business in Vienna.

Fact is that she was a beautiful woman and she did a lot of exercise to stay slim. But her story is a lot more complicated than the bits and pieces you come across when visiting Vienna.

Elisabeth was 16 when she got married to the emperor of Habsburg Austria, Franz Joseph, in 1854. The Habsburg empire was one of the big players in Europe in the 19th century. So, Elisabeth suddenly became one of the important people in Viennese society. Brigitte Hamann writes that the young woman certainly tried to fulfil her task as the empress of Austria. But expectations were high and after several years and having grown a bit older and wiser, Elisabeth also realised that court life was not her thing.

And the rest is history. If you would like to find out more, come visit Vienna and book a private tour with me. 😊 Or you start by reading Elisabeth‘s biography and read the stories of her later years and her tragic death in Geneva, Switzerland.