Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Elisabeth of Bavaria (December 24. 1837 – September 10, 1898) is Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary by marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I.

Elisabeth was born into the royal Bavaria house of Wittelsbach.

Nicknamed Sisi, she enjoys an informal upbringing before marrying Emperor Franz Joseph I at the age of sixteen

The marriage thrusts her into the much more formal Habsburg court life, for which she is unprepared and which she finds uncongenial

Early in the marriage she is at odds with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who takes over the rearing of Elisabeth's daughters, one of whom, Sophie, dies in infancy.

The birth of the heir apparent, Crown Prince Rudolf, improves her standing at court, but her health suffers under the strain, and she often visits Hungary for its more relaxed environment.

She comes to develop a deep kinship with Hungary, and helps to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria–Hungary in 1867.

The death of her only son and his mistress Mary Vetsera, in a murder–suicide at his hunting lodge at Mayerling in 1889 is a blow from which Elisabeth never recovers.

She withdraws from court duties and travels widely, unaccompanied by her family.

In 1890, she has a palace built on the Greek Island of Corfu that she visit often.

The palace Achilleion, featuring an elaborate mythological motif, servesas a refuge.

She is obsessively concerned with maintaining her youthful figure and beauty, which are already legendary during her life.

While traveling in Geneva in 1898, she is mortally wounded by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni.

Elisabeth is the longest serving Empress of Austria at forty-four years.