Elisabeth von Bayern, Empress of the Habsburg Empire, Queen of Hungary etc. etc. (1837-1898), wife of Fransz Joseph, one of the most powerful men in Europe ‘till his death in 1916, was an icon of her time.

Yet today we remember her mostly from the romantic costume drama’s with Romy Schneider as the leading actress. The Sissi movies are a portrait of an innocent woman who just wants to be a simple housewife and mother, yet has to face setback after setback because of an evil mother-in-law and a overdemanding outside world; a picture that was very popular with the fifties audience. It would, however, have been hardly recognizable for any lady of standing in the nineteenth century. In this article I would like to explore how Empress Elisabeth was viewed by her contemporaries, and the ways in which she and others steered that perception.

When Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria announced his engagement to Elisabeth von Bayern in 1853, the Bavarian press wrote swollen reports filled with national pride. The press pictured her as a simple country girl, wearing the national costume, whose only pleasures were things like rowing on lake Starnbergersee, walking in the forest surrounding Possenhofen near Munic, playing the cytar and drinking a good glass of honest Bavarian beer. How could the Emperor not love this symbol of Bavaria herself? Elisabeth and those people surrounding her played into the hands of this rise of national feeling by appearing in public with a national costume and ordering a painting depicting her in the middle of a Bavarian landscape.

This burst of nationalism should be placed in the German context. Bavaria was under extreme political pressure of Big Brother Prussia and the German nationalist movement, who wanted all German countries to unite into one liberal nation, to conform to regional considerations. Bavaria often maintained her independence by setting up Prussia and Austria against each other. Both archenemies didn’t want the other to gain the strategic country of Bavaria, which formed a buffer between them. It was no coincidence that the mother of Emperor Fransz Joseph was Elisabeth’s aunt Sophie, while her other aunt was queen of Prussia.

So who was Elisabeth, or Sisi as she was lovingly called in Bavaria, in reality? Far from being a simple country girl, Elisabeth was familiar with the Bavarian court. Her mother was a princess, sister to the contemporary Bavaria king, various queens in Germany and of course the Archduchesse Sophie. Her father was a duke in his own right, the title Von Bayern instead of In Bayern denoting that although he didn’t belong to the royal court he was a close relation. Possenhofen was a formidable mansion not in the least resembling a simple home. Her mother raised all her children with knowledge of the proper etiquette, and engaged into the same family politics as her sisters by trying to arrange good marriages for her daughters. Although Elisabeth may have had a little more freedom to run in the forests than most princesses of that age and time, she still was clearly a part of the aristocratic establishment.

Elisabeth was crowned as the queen of Hungary in 1867, part of changing the Habsburg Empire into a Dual Monarchy and thus granting Hungary a form of autonomy. Again she was often pictured in national dress, this time Hungarian. Press reports stressed the love Elisabeth felt for the Hungarian countryside, the fact she spoke Hungarian and that she spent a lot of time at her castle there. In fact, they almost suggested that Elisabeth had become Hungarian. Rumors also suggested she had an affair with the political leader of Hungary count Andrassy.

Her love for Hungary was more true to the mark, as she seems to have enjoyed the different atmosphere to the Habsburg court, although it must be pointed out that by presenting herself as an alternative to the harsh politics of her husband, offering to protect the people and stand up for them, she succeeded in safeguarding Hungary for the Habsburg Empire. Not an innocent female with a warm heart, rather a strong woman in politics who turned the odds in her favour.