Empress Elisabeth of Austria

December 24, 1837 - September 10, 1898

Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie had an unusual upbringing for a girl of her station. Born into the royal Bavarian House of Wittelsbach in 1837, she would be allowed to dismiss all courtly education in favor of a spontaneous and carefree existence as it was her sister, not her, who was meant to marry Kaiser Franz Joseph I. However, the Kaiser would demand Elisabeth’s hand instead, and she married him at the age of sixteen. Though he remained faithful to her, it would be a loveless and depressing union. 

Instantly disliked by her peers in Vienna due to her lack of courtly manners, she found comfort in the city of Budapest in Hungary. Fluent in multiple languages, including ancient Greek and the Magyar language of Hungary, she would reside there most of her life. After the Revolution of 1848, she was instrumental in repairing the relationship between Hungary and Austria. She was widely respected in Hungary and kept close relations with Hungarian statesmen, like the future Prime Minister Gyula Andrássy, with whom a romance was rumored. After the death of her son Rudolf, she abandoned her royal duties and began relentlessly traveling the world.