Elisabeth and Franz Joseph: wedding and marriage

Elisabeth and Franz
Joseph: wedding and
marriage
When the search started at the Viennese court for a
suitable bride for the young Emperor Franz Joseph,
Archduchess Sophie looked on the daughters of her
sister Maria Ludovika as a welcome pool of possible
candidates.
Elisabeth on marriage:
‘Marriage is an absurd institution. One is sold as a
fifteen-year-old child and makes a vow one does not
understand and then rues for thirty years or more
and cannot undo.’
Source: Hamann, Brigitte: Elisabeth. Kaiserin wider Willen,
München 1981, p. 85
At first it was the eldest daughter Helene, called Néné (1834–
1890), who was intended as his bride. However, at the
arranged meeting in Bad Ischl in the summer of 1853 Franz
Joseph fell head over heels in love with her younger sister
Elisabeth, who had only come along as a companion to her
sister and was at that point not even sixteen years old.
The wedding took place in Vienna on 24 April 1854, the
emperor’s young bride having been put through a ‘crashcourse’ in preparation for her future role as empress. During
the first few years of her marriage Elisabeth was overwhelmed
by her position as empress. Not only was everything new to
her, but she also found it difficult accustoming herself to life at
the extremely conservative Viennese court, which was ruled by
strict convention and where she was not allowed any privacy.
Highly intelligent, sensitive and with little appreciation for the
formalities of etiquette, the young Elisabeth did not live up to
the expectations placed in an empress by court society. The
first years of her marriage were a traumatic experience for
Elisabeth and sowed the seeds of her increasing alienation from
life at the Viennese court.
She saw herself degraded to the role of a brood mare,
expected to produce numerous healthy offspring, male for
preference. The young empress bore three children in quick
succession: first two daughters, Sophie (b. 1855) and Gisela (b.
1856), then in 1858 the long-awaited heir, Rudolf. By the age of
21, Sisi already had three children.
Elisabeth’s relations with her first three children were difficult,
as she was given little opportunity to engage with them, and
their upbringing was taken out of her hands. This was partly
because Archduchess Sophie regarded her daughter-in-law as
too immature and unequal to the task. On the other hand it
was not usual for empresses to have very much to do with the
upbringing of their children in court society as they were
handed over to the care of tutors and governesses.
Elisabeth’s reaction to this was a phase of exhaustion and
depression which was exacerbated by the early death of her
first daughter Sophie, who died in 1857 before reaching her
second birthday.
She found no support in her husband Franz Joseph, who was
torn by conflicts of loyalty between his mother and his wife.
Franz Joseph had been prepared since early childhood for his
role as monarch and showed little empathy or understanding
for the needs and fears of his young wife.
Author
Martin Mutschlechner
Literature
Conte Corti, Egon Caesar: Elisabeth. Die seltsame Frau, Wien 1942
Hamann, Brigitte: Elisabeth. Kaiserin wider Willen, München 1981
Hamann, Brigitte / Hassmann, Elisabeth (Hg.): Elisabeth. Stationen
ihres Lebens, Wien/München 1998
Katalog: Elisabeth von Österreich. Einsamkeit, Macht, Freiheit; 99.
Sonderausstellung des Historischen Museums der Stadt Wien in
der Hermesvilla 1986/87, Wien 1986
Praschl-Bichler, Gabriele: Unsere liebe Sisi. Die Wahrheit über
Erzherzogin Sophie und Kaiserin Elisabeth. Aus bislang
unveröffentlichen Briefen, Wien 2008
Reischauer, Manuela: Der Einfluß der Frauen auf Kaiser Franz
Joseph, Salzburg 1994
Schad, Martha / Schad, Horst (Hg.): Marie Valerie von Österreich.
Das Tagebuch der Lieblingstochter von Kaiserin Elisabeth,
München 2006
Unterreiner, Katrin: Sisi. Mythos und Wahrheit, Wien 2005
Unterreiner, Katrin: Die Habsburger. Mythos & Wahrheit,
Wien/Graz/Klagenfurt, 2011