Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary

Elisabeth in Bavaria
Empress Elisabeth (by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1865)
Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, Lodomeria and Illyria; Queen of Jerusalem etc. Archduchess of Austria; Grand Duchess of Tuscany and of Cracow; Duchess of Lorraine, of Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and the Bukovina; Grand Princess of Transsylvania, Margravine of Moravia Duchess of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli, Ragusa and Zara; Princely Countess of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Princess of Trent and Brixen; Margravine of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria; Countess of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg etc.; Lady of Trieste, of Cattaro and on the Windic March; etc., etc.
Tenure	24 April 1854 – 10 September 1898
Coronation	8 June 1867, Budapest
Queen of Lombardy–Venetia
Tenure	24 April 1854 – 12 October 1866
Born	(1837-12-24)24 December 1837 Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria (now part of Germany)
Died	10 September 1898(1898-09-10) (aged 60) Geneva, Switzerland (assassinated)
Burial	17 September 1898 Imperial Crypt, Vienna
Spouse	Franz Joseph I of Austria
Issue	Archduchess Sophie Archduchess Gisela Crown Prince Rudolf Archduchess Marie Valerie
Full name Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie
House	Wittelsbach
Father	Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria
Mother	Princess Ludovika of Bavaria
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria (24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898) was the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, and thus Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, and many others (see Grand title of the Empress of Austria).

Born into the royal Bavarian house of Wittelsbach, Elisabeth (also called "Sissi") enjoyed an informal upbringing before marrying Emperor Franz Joseph I at the age of sixteen. The marriage thrust her into the much more formal Habsburg court life, for which she was ill-prepared and which she found uncongenial. Early in the marriage she was at odds with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who took over the rearing of Elisabeth's daughters, one of whom, Sophie, died in infancy. The birth of a male heir, Rudolf, improved her standing at court considerably, but her health suffered under the strain, and she would often visit Hungary for its more relaxed environment. She came to develop a deep kinship with Hungary, and helped to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria–Hungary in 1867.

The death of her only son Rudolf, and his mistress Mary Vetsera, in a murder–suicide tragedy at his hunting lodge at Mayerling in 1889 was a blow from which Elisabeth never recovered. She withdrew from court duties and travelled widely, unaccompanied by her family. She was obsessively concerned with maintaining her youthful figure and beauty, which was already legendary during her life. While travelling in Geneva in 1898, she was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni. Elisabeth was the longest serving Empress of Austria, at 44 years.