Sissi empress of austria biography examples

The German-born Elisabeth, Empress of Austria (1837-1898), was the beloved “Sisi,” one of the most famous royal celebrities of her day. As the consort of the emperor of Austria—a land that dominated the map of Europe at the time—Elisabeth was a wellknown figure whose exploits were avidly chronicled in the nineteenth-century press much in the same way that Britain's Diana (1961-1997), Princess of Wales, would be a hundred years later.

The future empress was born Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie von Wittelsbach on December 24, 1837, in Munich, Bavaria.

Her father was Maximilian Joseph, a duke from one of Germany's oldest aristocratic families, the House of Wittelsbach. In possession of vast estates throughout southern Germany, the von Wittelsbachs had been the ruling dynasty in the area since 1180, and played a key role in shaping the region's political destinies.

During Elisabeth's lifetime, Bavaria was a kingdom ruled by perhaps the most famous Wittelsbach