1. Sissi the Empress of Austria was the most famous empress of the Austro-Hungarian empire in history.
2. At just 16 years old the beautiful Sissi the Empress of Austria or Isabel (literal translation of her name) stole her older sister’s fiancé Francisco José I. Who just happened to be the future emperor of the Austro-Hungarian empire. One year later they were married and she became the empress.
3. Gifted with great physical beauty, Isabel was known for being a rebel, cultured, and to be forward thinking for her time.
4. She adored horse riding and even participated in many tournaments.
5. After turning 35 she no longer allowed anyone to paint her portrait or take photographs of her. She also took up the habit of always wearing a blue veil, a parasol, and a large fan made of black leather to hide her face, whenever someone came to close.
6. In 1889 the Sissi the Empress of Austria’s life radically changed when her only son Prince Rodolfo died.
7. After her son’s death, the empress left Vienna and wore only black to represent her mourning and her broken heart.
8. Since she didn’t allow anyone to photograph her for year only a select few where able to take the Empresses photo.
9. As time went by the Empress visited her husband in Vienna less and less. However curiously their written correspondences increased and the couple’s relationship became more platonic and caring.
10. Sissi the Empress of Austria tragically died on the 10th of September 1898, she was murdered by an Italian anarchist called Luigi Lucheni, who after pretending to bump into her stabbed her in the heart with a dagger. She collapsed several minutes later.
11. The dagger itself only cut the heart tissue which caused minimum amount of blood loss to for her death to occur.
12. Luigi Lucheni had actually planned on killing a candidate to the French throne. A prince of the house Orleans, but changed victims upon reading in a newspaper that the prince had cancelled his visited and that the empress happened to be in the city.
13. There have been multiple films and series made about the life of Sissi the Empress of Austria.
During your visit to Vienna don’t forget to stop by Belvedere, the most famous palaces where many years ago the famous empress of Austria Sissi lived.
