Marie Valerie, the one child on whom Sisi doted, wrote of finding her mother laughing hysterically in a bathtub. “Have you not noticed,” she once asked, “that in Shakespeare the madmen are the only sensible ones?”īy the 1880s, it was clear Sisi was suffering from a serious mental illness herself. The empress was fascinated with new innovations in the treatment of the insane, and even toyed with the idea of opening her own psychiatric hospital. “I saw the tears trickling down the faces of the men.” “Truly like an angel of mercy she went from bed to bed,” lady-in-waiting Marie Festetics wrote of one such visit, as recorded in The Reluctant Empress. Here she displayed surprisingly down-to-earth behavior for a royal: holding hands with the dying, and speaking to patients about their needs. Sisi reveled in her role as comforter of the empire’s “common” people, and often arrived at hospitals and charity wards unannounced, with only a lady-in-waiting in tow. For her part in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Sisi was beloved by the Hungarian people. Hungarians were given new freedoms, and Franz Joseph was allowed back into the royal bed (the couple’s last child, Marie Valerie, was born in Budapest in 1868). Franz Joseph was crowned King of Hungary and Sisi became queen. In 1867, Hungary became an equal partner in the Austro-Hungarian empire. In his diary, a servant recalled walking in on her mid-exercise, as recorded in medical historian Louise Foxcroft’s Calories and Corsets: A History of Dieting Over 2,000 Years:
In every royal palace, Sisi had an exercise room where she lifted dumbbells and trained on rings. Horseback riding, fencing, fast-paced hikes and exercises adapted from the circus-unusual for the time-consumed her days. She survived for a time on only thin broth, while in later years she subsisted almost exclusively on raw milk (traveling with her own cow), oranges and eggs. Obsessed with her figure, Sisi lived on a strict diet and fanatical exercise routine that would likely be interpreted as symptoms of anorexia today. Hours were spent maintaining her looks-three hours a day of hairdressing, and an hour to cinch her famed 19.5-inch waist. Though outwardly cynical, Sisi was as fixated with her beauty as the public was. “Whenever there’s something to see they come running, for the monkey dancing at the hurdy-gurdy just as much for me.” “They’re curious,” her lady-in-waiting Marie Festetics wrote of Sisi’s response to the fawning masses. Sisi, however, dismissed all this attention.
Her melancholy and distaste for public life was treated as a childish indulgence by her distracted husband and his mother, the formidable Archduchess Sophie.Įmpress Elisabeth of Austria, known for her long hair. She bore Franz Joseph three children during the first four years of their marriage, but only two- Crown Prince Rudolf and Archduchess Gisela-survived past infancy. Shy and unsure, Sisi crumbled under the strict court etiquette, which left her isolated and friendless. The situation did not improve as she settled into her new reality.
Sisi, on the other hand, was so nervous during the courtship that she was unable to eat. The new couple’s mothers (who were also sisters) had intended for the handsome 23-year-old emperor to marry Sisi’s sophisticated older sister, but Franz Joseph had been captivated by the slight Sisi from the moment he saw her.
Sisi’s husband, Franz Joseph, was hardworking and loved her, but had little imagination or humor. (Credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images) The Emperor family of Austria, circa 1856.
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