Twenty-five years that should have been spent home-making
were spent horseback riding. If that quote from a newspaper
of her day doesn't give you a feel for Elizabeth, Empress
of Austria-Hungary, nothing will. Known to family as SISI,
this lady was the great beauty of her time, her travel and
riding keeping her slim and vigorous when many other nobles
became staid and gouty. Read this account of her life
during 1868 - 1898 from Allison Pataki, whose family roots
reach back to Hungary, for a fascinating insight.
Poised on the cusp of change, Europe and Asia see empires
and monarchies crumbling, bankrupted by lavish overspending
at the top and undermined by starvation and deprivation at
the bottom. Anarchists rise in hot-blooded action and
assassination of nobles becomes the European sport. While
this develops, Sisi is controlled by her mother in law
Sophie, whose word is a command in the Hapsburg family.
Sisi's three eldest children are taken from her to be
reared - and in the case of the Crown Prince Rudolf, we see
how badly that works. As the novelised version of Sisi's
life opens, we see her determined to leave the court with
the youngest of her four children, and raise this girl in
her own way. Her estate on Hungary's open fields becomes
her retreat. Her duty-bound, ritual-obsessed husband Franz
Joseph remains in Vienna carrying out administration and
ensuring political stability.
Not too surprisingly this lively lady takes a lover, one of
the ministers, but that has to end when he is appointed
First Minister and has to attend the Emperor every day.
Sisi hosts spectacularly described occasions, such as the
World Fair in Vienna, and welcomes many dignitaries
including the Shah of Persia, Edward, Prince of Wales, Tsar
Alexander and Bismarck. To please both her family and her
people, Sisi spends hours being prepared for state
occasions, and her hairstyles and dresses are the talk of
society. Yet she cannot suit the Austrian commentators and
always ends up travelling to escape unkind headlines.
The requirement for the highest royalty to marry someone of
equal stature constricted the available matches, especially
as all Victoria's children followed a different religion.
So by this time we see a line of madness running through
the families of Europe, with tragic consequences. Sisi's
eccentric cousin Ludvig has bankrupted his kingdom of
Bavaria constructing castles and financing the musician
Wagner while the Ring Cycle was being composed. Sisi has to
decide whether to approve of her younger sister's marrying
this ruler.
I was very interested in the winters Sisi spends living in
England and Ireland in order to hunt, meeting Queen
Victoria. Sisi has portraits of her favourite horses
painted to hang in her rooms. The author doesn't use
correct hunting terms, which surprised me. While Sisi finds
another romantic interest the author has decided that it
remained a deep friendship, contrasted with the many
infidelities of married wealthy men and flamboyant affairs
of the singletons. The poor or working people of Europe are
almost never seen, as Sisi would probably not have met
them; I did think that Sisi might not have left all the
work of providing for the peasants' needs to her husband.
She bought jewels, horses and houses, when she might have
endowed a hospital or a school for the children of her
stable hands. Maybe they had a school. Sisi never enquires.
I could go on about the culture clashes, obsessions, temper
tantrums, admirations, loves, state occasions and deaths in
this lavish tale. I'll just leave you with my comment to my
husband that in those days, women spent hours dressing in
different outfits for each occasion, but men just got into
their best uniform and put on their polished medals.
Allison Pataki has provided her references so you can check
that yes, each extraordinary event really did happen. I
have to admire this book SISI: Empress On Her Own
wholeheartedly for bringing the splendid world of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, just before World War One, into my
home.
For readers of Philippa Gregory, Paula McLain, and Daisy
Goodwin comes a sweeping and powerful novel by New York
Times bestselling author Allison Pataki. Sisi
tells the little-known story of Empress Elisabeth of
Austria-Hungary, the Princess Diana of her time, in an
enthralling work of historical fiction that is also a
gripping page-turner.
Married to Emperor Franz Joseph, Elisabeth—fondly known as
Sisi—captures the hearts of her people as their “fairy
queen,” but beneath that dazzling persona lives a far more
complex figure. In mid-nineteenth-century Vienna, the halls
of the Hofburg Palace buzz not only with imperial waltzes
and champagne but with temptations, rivals, and cutthroat
intrigue. Feeling stifled by strict protocols and a
turbulent marriage, Sisi grows restless. A free-spirited
wanderer, she finds solace at her estate outside Budapest.
There she rides her beloved horses and enjoys visits from
the Hungarian statesman Count Andrássy, the man with whom
she’s unwittingly fallen in love. But tragic news brings
Sisi out of her fragile seclusion, forcing her to return to
her capital and a world of gossip, envy, and sorrow where a
dangerous fate lurks in the shadows.
Through love affairs and loss, dedication and defiance, Sisi
struggles against conflicting desires: to keep her family
together, or to flee amid the collapse of her suffocating
marriage and the gathering tumult of the First World War. In
an age of crumbling monarchies, Sisi fights to assert her
right to the throne beside her husband, to win the love of
her people and the world, and to save an empire. But in the
end, can she save herself?
Featuring larger-than-life historic figures such as
Bavaria’s “Mad King Ludwig” and the tragic Crown Prince
Rudolf, and set against many of Europe’s grandest sites—from
Germany’s storied Neuschwanstein Castle to England’s lush
shires—Sisi brings to life an extraordinary woman and
the romantic, volatile era over which she presided.
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