"I think I was dancing with our future Empress!"
The meeting of the fifteen-year-old Elisabeth and the twenty-three-year-old Franz Joseph took place at a fashionable resort, Bad Ischl, on 16th August, 1853. Ludovica and her daughters arrived one and a half hour later than expected, in addition, the carriage delivering their clothes was fallen behind with their maids so they could not change dresses. Archduchess Sophie sent her maid to help her sister and her nieces.
The black dress fitted Sisi perfectly but Helen looked terrible in that
Ludovica, Helene and Sisi were wearing mourning dresses because of the death of an aunt. The simple, highly closed black dress fitted Sisi perfectly but Helene seemed too strict in that. According to many, it also played a role in the Emperor’s choice and that is why his marriage proposal was made so quickly...
Archduchess Sophie’s maid, while preparing Helene’s hairdo, was delighted by the charming Sisi, who braided her own long blondish brown hair herself. The cousins first met at Sophia 's lounge. According to one of Elisabeth’s bibliographer, Count Corti, Nene was a beautiful, tall and slender phenomenon but there was something like hardness and fortitude in her personality, which was enhanced by her embarrassment. However, Sisi behaved completely at ease.
Pictures: Nene (left) and Sisi (right) in black dress
Many after having a look at a painting or a photograph of Elisabeth say "she was not as extraordinary beautiful as she was said to be". This might be true, at least as far as the young Sisi is concerned. Elisabeth did not consider herself as a beauty at this time and the first years of their marriage either. When her mother, Ludovica, informed her that it was her and not Helene, her elder sister, who the Emperor wanted to marry, she was extremely surprised and said, "I do not understand at all how the Emperor could think of me? I am so young and insignificant. "
Archduchess Sophie’s choice: Helene, the older Bavarian Duchess
Helen was chosen as a bride, so why did Ludovica actually take Sisi to Bad Ischl?
Archduchess Sophie told her son that she had chosen the older daughter of her Bavarian sister, Ludovica, as a bride for him, and she wrote a letter in which she invited her and her parents to Austria. Actually, Duchess Helen was only the third choice. Elisabeth’s bibliographer, Brigitte Hamann said the Emperor and Archduchess Sophie had been to two courts but they had not succeeded to have the proper wife, the future empress.
Duchess Helen (left) - Sophia’s choice and Duchess Elisabeth (right) - the Emperor’s choice
As it follows from the mentioned above, Franz Joseph’s mother was the aunt of Helene and Sisi. Consequently, his future bride was his first cousin! Today we would be startled if anything like that happened. However, that time it was quite common in the European royal courts. Though, not only the Bavarian King’s but also the Pope’s permission was needed before the marriage.
Franz Joseph and his fiancée, Elisabeth on the wall of the Royal Palace of Gödöllő, Hungary (the similarities are worth studying)
Possenhofen, the reception of Archduchess Sophie’ s letter
Sophia’s Letter was very much welcome in Possenhofen. Ludovica is enthusiastic and Helen too. Ludovica was preparing for weeks to get Helene (Nene) ready for being the bride of the Emperor. Not only Nene and her mother, but her father, Duke Maximilian was also invited by Archduchess Sophie and the Emperor but he excused himself and refused to go. A question can emerge: Would the Duke’s favourite daughter have been engaged so fast if her father had been there?
The young Sisi’s love-sorrow
Taking Sisi was Ludovica’s decision and it had a surprising reason: The young Sisi had love-sorrow. Elisabeth had fallen in love with a soldier, a certain Count Richard S. who was “accidentally” removed from Possenhofen by a mandate. Not long after he returned but got ill and died. Sisi went into deep melancholy. She was in her room crying and writing love poems all day long.
According to her bibliographer, Brigitte Hamann, on the one hand, Ludovica wanted to make her daughter glad and cheerful with the travel; on the other hand, she hoped to find a bridegroom for Elisabeth. She also thought of Charles Louis, who liked Sisi very much and had changed letters with her after their first meeting several years before, furthermore, he also had sent a ring to his young cousin. Sometimes Sisi answered his letters.
Since there was no focus on Sisi during the visit, there was no fuss made about her and as regards her wardrobe, nobody cared with that. Why to care? It is not her but Helene who would be the future empress! Only shortly before the travel a simpler prom dress was prepared while Nene got as many clothes as it was possible. It was natural, of course, because everybody was convinced that the older sister would be the bride of the Emperor.
Possenhofen - the place of freedom and happiness
Possenhofen really meant the liberty and happiness to the Bavarian Duchess as well as her other siblings. As regards the children's upbringing, Duke Maximilian believed in freedom and the direct contact with nature, furthermore, the relationship with the local people from the lower classes. Thanks him, horse riding became Sisi’s passion, who was an excellent and a daring rider like her father, and it was also him, who made Sisi love travelling since he was a great traveller himself. As an empress, Elisabeth would travel really a lot... Duke Maximilian did not deal much with his children preferred his “not worthy” friends.
Left: Sisi with the Palace of Possenhofen in the background
Every member of the family loved Elisabeth, especially her father. Whatever her siblings wanted from their parents, they asked Sisi to persuade them. The marriage of the parents were not an idyllic one. According to Brigitte Hamann, prior to their marriage, the beautiful Ludovica had a romance with Prince Miguel Braganza, the future Portuguese King, who (because of political reasons) she could not marry. As regards Maximilian, she loved a civil girl, and shortly before the marriage he declared that he did not love his bride at all, so the marriage was unhappy from the very beginning. Later Ludovica told her daughters about the first anniversary of their marriage when "she cried from morning to night," and she also added many years later that her husband was good to her only after their golden anniversary.
The Tea and what came after that...
Elisabeth also attended the tea with her mother and sister. On the tea party, which was followed by a dinner, one of the Emperor’s brother, Louis Charles, who liked Sisi very much, also took part. According to Elisabeth’s bibliographer, Brigitte Hamann, Sisi was sitting with her governess at the end of the table, where she felt herself a bit uncomfortably because of being treated as a child. She might have had some idea about what was happening, however, Helene knew very well "what was at stake."
Pictures: Helen (left) and Sisi (right)
On the tea party and the dinner after that many guests noticed that the Emperor was so fond of and delighted by the young Sisi. He liked Elisabeth’s weak and fine shape, gorgeous hair and the lovely expression of her face. When Sisi realised that the Emperor was looking at her, all her consciousness, calmness and impartiality were over. She was embarrassed and confused, which was realised by Charles Louis at once, who immediately noticed that his brother preferred his own (Charles Louis’s) chosen one better and not her older sister. Sisi whispered her governess's, "I am so scared that I'm not hungry any more."
To be continued:
To read the next article, please visit:
A WEDDING PROPOSAL WHICH CANNOT BE REFUSED
Works Cited
Hamann, Brigitte. Erzsébet királyné. Európa Könyvkiadó, 2012
Count Corti Egon: Erzsébet. Révai Kadás, Budapest, 1935
Jean des Cars: Sisi avagy a végzet. Magyar Könyvklub, Budapest, 2001
Soós István: Sisi és családja. Erzsébet, a magyarok királynéja. Rubicon, Budapest, 2001
F. Dózsa Katalin: A világ legszebb asszonya. Erzsébet, a magyarok királynéja. Rubicon, Budapest, 2001
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AJÁNLOM AZ OLDALT
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