With Elisabeth’s full support, she – a constantly-absent spouse – was replaced by Franz Joseph’s ‘dear, good friend’, Burgtheater actress Katharina Schratt, the ageing emperor’s most important source of emotional support. ‘You have no idea how much I loved this woman’, Franz Joseph is said to have exclaimed after Elisabeth was murdered. Franz Joseph and Elisabeth maintained a bond of friendship, corresponding and meeting regularly. The medal was created by Emperor Joseph II on 19. The Medal for Bravery (or Tapferkeitsmedaille in German) was a military decoration of Austria-Hungary established in 1789 and awarded for bravery in battle until the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. From the 1860s, the couple could no longer be said to have had a married life together. Country: Austria, Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. Elisabeth withdrew more and more, and increasingly turned her back on both the Court and her husband. However, she came increasingly into conflict with the conventions and rules of the Viennese court, personified by her mother-in-law.įranz Joseph was torn between the wishes of his wife and the demands of his mother. She even fulfilled the most important duty of an empress, giving birth to Crown Prince Rudolf. However, in the early years, the young empress did strive to live up to expectations. Elisabeth found life at Court extremely uncongenial, suffering from the strict protocol, the intrigues and her official duties as empress. In 1854, six months later, the ‘dream wedding’ was held in Vienna, and so began a marriage which, for both parties, constituted an extremely unhappy arrangement. ‘Oh, if only he were a tailor!’ Elisabeth is said to have exclaimed, adding, however, that ‘One doesn’t turn down an emperor!’ Before they even left Bad Ischl, the couple’s engagement was announced. However, events took a different turn, for Franz Joseph – and here, the narration of the famous Sissi film trilogy reflects real history – fell head over heels in love with Helene’s sister, Elisabeth, only fifteen years of age and still very childlike, who in fact was only supposed to play a ‘supporting role’ on the trip. On the occasion of her son’s twenty-third birthday, she arranged a party at Bad Ischl, to which her sister Ludowika was invited along with her nineteen-year-old daughter Helene, in the hope that the emperor would take a fancy to his young cousin. As his uncle Emperor Ferdinand (I) was childless, Franz Joseph was educated as his heir-presumptive. For the gold and silver medal, first class the name is LEISEK (Friedrich Leisek). Franz Joseph was the eldest son of Archduke Francis Charles and Sophia, daughter of King Maximilian I of Bavaria. Indeed his mother Sophie, who was extremely ambitious politically, already had concrete plans. Below the bust of the emperor is the designer’s name. Young, attractive, ruler of a global empire and – single! Franz Joseph was much in demand on the European aristocratic marriage market.
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