The Assassination of Empress Elisabeth 'Sisi' (1837-1898)
Lake Geneva 10th September 1898
Empress Elisabeth ('Sisi'), was empress of Austria from 1854 after marrying emperor Franz Joseph of the House of Habsburg whilst aged sixteen. Sisi was also crowned queen of Hungary in 1867,when the dual monarchy of Austria - Hungary was established.
In 1854 the Austrian empire was ten times the size of the modern-day EU member state. The largest country in Europe after Russia, its territory included Hungary,Slovenia, Croatia, Bohemia and Moravia, along with parts of what are now Italy, Roumania, Poland, and the Ukraine. Austria lost Lombardy in 1859 and Venetia in 1866 to the new united kingdom of Italy, but gained control of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878.
As a Bavarian princess ,the early life of Sisi was unconventional and quite carefree. Her royal pedigree was via her mother's side. Her father, Duke Max, was a lover of folklore, gypsy music and circuses.HEYHAUSER Soon Sisi began to rage against the rigid conventions of the Austrian court, especially being unable to raise her first three children herself. Perhaps out of retaliation, Sisi became enthusiastic about Hungary,whose people had risen unsuccessfully against Austrian rule in 1848. She appreciated this country's landscape, its history and culture, the language. Staring to liaise with Hungarian politicians. And Sisi certainly played a key part in the establishment of the dual monarchy of 1867. The Hungarian nationalist movement may have gravitated far more towards hostile Prussia, which had defeated Austria in the previous year, without Sisi's influence.
Sisi was a keen horse rider achieving show jumping standard, a frantic devotee of physical exercise, as well as enjoying hunting, reading and writing poetry, also showed a dedication to Ancient Greece. But her relationship with food was a major issue. Sisi sometimes spent weeks on meagre diets, even managing to get her waist reduced to a 21 inch /51 centimetre circumference and her weight to 7 Stone 4 pounds/ 47 kilos BLOKS Spells of depression also incapacitated Sisi at different times. She repeatedly expressed a wish to die and also feared losing her mind- wondering if there was some genetic disposition to this effect. Sisi's cousin was Ludwig II -so called 'Mad King Ludwig'- of Bavaria.
Sisi nursed soldiers during Austria's wars with Piedmont and France in 1859 and with Prussia in 1866. She would also visit orphanages and other social institutions. However, Sisi was impulsive and very selective in how she performed her royal duties and her stint as a mother. As well as having a turbulent relationship with her mother in law ,Princess Sophie, Sisi had some epic clashes with Franz Joseph, and would simply go abroad for months at a time. At one point Sisi even announced that she was going to leave Austria and move to Corfu. Yet the couple were close in many respects, Sisi accepted Franz Joseph's affairs with other women, and the emperor was distraught at her death.
One daughter -Sophie-died at the age of two from typhus. Sisi's only son, Crown Prince Rudolph, died in mysterious circumstances in 1889 aged thirty: It is now largely accepted that he shot his young mistress Mary Vetsera and then himself behind closed doors at the Mayerling hunting lodge as part of a joint suicide pact. Rudolph was ill with depression and gonorrhea, (he had infected his wife Princess Stephanie of Belgium, who was unable to conceive any more children as a result). Highly strung , self medicating with alcohol and narcotics, and fatigued with over work, Rudolph had already expressed suicidal tendencies. He was certainly destined never to succeed Franz Joseph as emperor even without the Mayerling tragedy having occurred. MARKUS
After Rudolph's death, Sisi wore only black, and was vicious in her treatment of the obviously grieving Vetsera family and also towards Princess Stephanie. Yet apart from a childhood crisis when he was traumatised by excessive military training which was clearly not suitable, Sisi had been indifferent and quite unsympathetic towards Rudolph and how he was floundering.
Sisi is now a mythic figure in European history: Her iconic status being reinforced by a mass of films, books, novels, Television series ( the so called 'Sisi TV') ,in different languages. There is also a Netflix series dedicated to her The Empress. In Vienna there is the Sisi Museum, and her image can be found on a range of souvenirs. The house Sisi owned at Gastouri, Corfu, the Acheillion Palace, has now become a museum dedicated to her and to the future owner who bought the property in 1907, Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Assassination was a hazard for 19th century monarchs and other rulers, either by 'lone wolves' acting on their own or as a result of conspiracies.: Queen Victoria managed to survive nine attempts on her life. Tsar Nicholas II was murdered by a bomb hurled by a Nihilist from the 'Narodniki' movement. King Umberto I of Italy was shot dead in 1900. In 1853 a Hungarian nationalist stabbed Emperor Franz Joseph in the neck. The high stiff collar of his uniform prevented the wound from being fatal.
In 1882 Guglielmo Obderan, an Italian nationalist was arrested in Trieste ( at the time still under Austrian rule) for planning to assassinate Franz Joseph who was due to visit the City. Obderan confessed,convicted and was hanged, becoming a martyr for the cause of Italian unification. Statues to honour him appeared in towns throughout Italy. A song titled-Inno a Obderan ( 'Hymn to Obderan') became a battle anthem of Italian forces in World War 1.
On 9th September 1898 Sisi was booked into the Hotel Beau Rivage, Geneva, using an assumed name. Switzerland had quite a liberal asylum policy, permitting a number of revolutionaries and other exiles to settle in the country. Amongst those was a young Anarchist called Luigi Lucheni who had decided to assassinate Henri Duke of Orleans, a pretender to the throne of France who was due to be visiting Geneva. By this time France had been a Republic for nearly 28 years.
It is sometimes stated that Lucheni found out that the Duke was away on holiday but read in one of the local newspapers that Sisi was in town. This doesn't quite add up. Lucheni was staying and working in Lausanne heading over to Geneva on 9th September 1898, whilst the newspaper didn't publish details of the visit until the 10th September . CORTE/O'HALLORAN
Whilst on the Lake Geneva shoreline, Sisi wanted to avoid stepping out with her entourage, so her staff and baggage was sent on ahead, Sisi left later with her companion Countess Irma Sztaray. Lucheni had been following them, he ran at Sisi and appeared to punch her under her left breast. Sisi seemed to have quite a capacity to take pain with her excessive exercising and tumbling off a horse or two. Her corset may have weakened the blow. It was assumed that this incident was a bungled mugging attempt. In reality, Sisi had been stabbed with a sharpened triangular file ( that is now on display at the Sisi Museum). The ladies went on board a steam boat to cross the Lake as planned. Sisi fainted, and when her corset was loosened, it was obvious that she had a chest wound. The boat changed course to return to fetch medical help, but upon reaching land, Sisi was dying. CORTE/O'HALLORAN
Lucheni was already in custody, passers by had seized him for committing a violent assault. He was later convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, though he was hoping to be executed.There was some speculation that there was a wider conspiracy to commit murder CORTE/O'HALLORAN but this was not proven in Court. The Swiss authorities still expelled 35 revolutionaries from their territory. Lucheni was found hanging from his belt in his cell in 1910. The Swiss authorities beheaded his corpse, sending his head away for further study to Geneva professor Louis Megevaud to see what scientific knowledge could be gained from studying the skull of such a criminal. When the professor had completed his research, the head was immersed in a jar of formaldehyde to preserve it - and left, until 1985 when it was moved to Vienna. Finally, in the year 2000, was interned in Vienna. VAN ORSOUW
On 17th September 1898 Sisi's funeral took place in Vienna. During the service, Franz Joseph managed to break with all protocol, knelt and put his arms around Sisi's coffin.NEUHAUSER Franz Joseph's reign lasted sixty-eight years, not dying until 1916, but not before another family member was assassinated-his nephew Franz Ferdinand- on 28th June 1914.
Picture Credit Posthumous portrait of 'Elizabeth of Austria with black dress and fan ' from 1899, Leopold Horowitz, in the public domain, courtesy of Wikipedia Netherlands. More information from http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp
On Line
Habsburg Net Several web articles on Sisi ( English pages)
National Museum Switzerland - 'Luigi Lucheni Sisi Assassin' blog post by Michael VAN ORSOUW
SiSi Museum (Vienna) webpage on the assassination -English language
Achilleion Palace (Corfu) webpage on Sisi- English language
Strangeful Things podcast -Luigi Lucheni
Youtube
There is a huge amount about Sisi so worth searching there. Just some to be getting on with ......
Fall of Eagles Episode one British TV series (1974) featuring the collapse of the Empires of Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany. This episode covers the start of Sisi's marriage to Franz Joseph .
Fall of Eagles Episode four Deals with the deaths of Crown Prince Rudolph and Mary Vespera, Mayerling Hunting Lodge 1889 and how Sisi assisted initial attempt at a royal cover up.
Sisi/La Principessa Sissi Six part joint Italian-German TV series, English subtitles, (2009) covers the years 1853-1866 .
Sisi was a terrible empress ( Her romanticisation needs to stop). Interesting take on the Sisi myth.
Further Post from this blog
Books
Empress Elisabeth of Austria A Collection of Articles ,Moniek BLOKS (Independently published/available on Amazon UK in kindle) 2022
Crime at Mayerling-The Life and Death of Mary Vetsera, GEORG MARKUS, Ariadne Press, 1995
Empress Elisabeth of Austria: Free Spirit, Beauty Queen, Imperial Legend. Regine NEUHAUSER, Ebook, (Amazon UK, kindle) 2024
An Intimate Portrait of Empress Sisi of Austria Count CORTI/ Re-edited by T.C. O'HALLORAN 1936/2022
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