Elisabeth

Elisabeth (born December 24, 1837, Munich, Bavaria [Germany]—died September 10, 1898, Geneva, Switzerland) was the empress consort of Austria from April 24, 1854, when she married Emperor Franz Joseph. She was also queen of Hungary (crowned June 8, 1867) after the Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich, or Compromise. Her assassination brought her rather unsettled life to a tragic end.

Elisabeth was the daughter of the Bavarian duke Maximilian Joseph. In August 1853 she met her cousin Franz Joseph, then aged 23, and he quickly fell in love with the 15-year-old Elisabeth, who was regarded as the most beautiful princess in Europe. Soon after their marriage she became involved in many conflicts with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophia, which led to an estrangement with the court. Generally popular with her subjects, she offended Viennese aristocracy by her impatience with the rigid etiquette of the court.

The Hungarians admired her, especially for her endeavours in bringing about the Compromise of 1867. She spent much time at Gödöllő, north of Budapest. Her enthusiasm for Hungary, however, affronted German sentiment within Austria. She partly assuaged Austrian feelings by her care for the wounded in the Seven Weeks’ War of 1866.

The suicide of her only son, the crown prince Rudolf, in 1889, was a shock from which Elisabeth never fully recovered. It was during a visit to Switzerland that she was mortally stabbed by an Italian anarchist, Luigi Luccheni.