Assassination of Empress Elizabeth 'Sisi' of Austria

Assassination of Empress Elizabeth 'Sisi' of Austria

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On 25th April 1854, a shy and melancholy bride, married into a major European royal house.

Trembling and overcome with emotion, 16-year-old Elisabeth, known by her childhood nickname Sisi, was wed to the 23-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, the absolute monarch of the largest empire in Europe, outside of Russia.

Sisi’s husband, Franz Joseph, was hardworking and loved her very much, but he had little imagination, or much humor.

Shy and unsure, Sisi crumbled under the strict court etiquette, which left her isolated and friendless.

She bore Franz Joseph four children, during the first four years of their marriage, but only two, Crown Prince Rudolf and Archduchess Gisela, survived past infancy.

Her melancholy and distaste for public life, was treated as a childish indulgence by her distracted husband.

Despite her sombre character, Sisi captivated the public, thanks to her stunning beauty, and ankle-length chestnut hair.

Sisi was just as fixated with her beauty, as the public was.

Hours were spent maintaining her looks, three hours a day of hairdressing, and an hour to cinch her famous 19.5-inch waist.

Obsessed with her figure, Sisi lived on a strict diet and fanatical exercise routine, that would likely be interpreted as symptoms of anorexia today.

By the 1880s, it was clear Sisi was suffering from a serious mental illness.

She frequently spoke of suicide to a terrified Franz Joseph, and turned to mediums and psychics, to help cure her mental anguish.

In 1889, her beloved son, Crown Prince Rudolf, was found dead with his 17-year-old mistress, sending Sisi into a steep decline.

With her weight plummeting, and dressed in mourning black, she traveled aimlessly, across the continent and North Africa, longing for the end of her 'miserable existence'

At the age of 51, she got a tattoo of an anchor on her arm.

The end would come on 10th September 1898, when Sisi was visiting Geneva.

Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni, was also in town.....

Lucheni approached Sisi, as she walked along a dock to board a ship.

He lunged at her, attacking her with a small triangular file.

The Empress fell to the ground, but picked herself up and complained of a pain in her chest.

After the blow to her chest, Sisi thought she had been punched, but collapsed shortly after boarding the ship.

Her lady-in-waiting, noticed blood dripping from a tiny stab wound, above her left breast.

Two hours later, Sisi died of internal bleeding.

Her heart had been irreparably pierced.

Sisi was 60 years old, and the darling of Austria, and the whole country went into a deep mourning.

Sisi's body, was placed inside a triple coffin.

The two inner ones were made of lead, and the third one made of bronze.

The coffins were fitted with glass panels that could be slid open, so that her face could be seen.

Her coffin was placed on a funeral train, and Sisi was returned to Vienna.

Sisi was interred at The Capuchin Church, Vienna, on the 17th September.

Her assassin, Luigi Lucherni, claimed he had come to Geneva, "to kill a Sovereign, as an example to those that suffer, and have nothing.

It mattered not, who the Sovereign was.

I did not kill a woman, i killed an Empress"

Lucherni was sentenced to life imprisonment.

In October 1910, Lucherni was found hanging in his cell, he had committed suicide.

After his suicide, Lucherni's head was severed from his body, and kept in a jar, at the University of Geneva.

In 2000, Lucherni's head was finally buried, at The Central Cemetery, Vienna.

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https://www.history.com/.../the-tragic-austrian-empress...

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https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders

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Sisi~by Franz Xaver Winterhalter 1865.