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  THE RELUCTANT EMPRESS

  A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria

  BRIGITTE HAMANN

  TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY RUTH HEIN

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Preface

  Chronology

  List of Abbreviations

  CHAPTER ONE

  Engagement in Bad Ischl

  CHAPTER TWO

  Wedding in Vienna

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Newlyweds

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Flight

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Cult of Beauty

  CHAPTER SIX

  Hungary

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The Burdens of Public Appearance

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The Queen Rides to Hounds

  CHAPTER NINE

  Titania, Queen of the Fairies

  CHAPTER TEN

  Eagle and Seagull

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Heine’s Disciple

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Katharina Schratt, “The Friend”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Rudolf and Valerie

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The Odyssey

  Index

  Illustration Credits

  Plates

  Copyright

  PREFACE

  This book is the life story of a woman who refused to behave according to her rank. Drawing on remarkable self-confidence, she strove for and achieved the goal that it took the twentieth-century feminist movement to name “self-realization.”

  She played none of the roles assigned to her by tradition and her surroundings: not the role of loving and devoted wife, not the role of mother, not the role of principal figurehead in a gigantic empire. She insisted on her rights as an individual—and she prevailed. That her self-realization did not make her happy is the tragedy of her life—aside from the tragedies that befell her most immediate family, set in motion by her refusal to be co-opted. Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia (to list only her most important titles), was at heart a republican, calling the venerable monarchy the “skeleton of former splendor” and an oak tree that was bound to fall, since it had “outlived its usefulness” (see here). She excoriated the excesses of the aristocratic system, and she flouted kings and princes, as she had learned to do from her revered model and “master,” Heinrich Heine.

  Class consciousness was not in her nature, foreign to her to such a degree that in the end the Empress-Queen seemed an alien outsider at the court of Vienna, an irritant to the court society living by the traditional rules. This effect Elisabeth deliberately cultivated.

  On the one hand, as a proponent of democratic ideals, Elisabeth represents an anomaly (even a curiosity); on the other, her example above all illustrates the power of the antimonarchist ideas current in the late nineteenth century. These ideas did not stop short of princes, who were beginning to question the legitimacy of their (inherited rather than earned) elite positions. The remark Count Alexander Hübner entered in his diary on November 18, 1884, was surely true: “It is a fact that no one any longer believes in kings, and I do not know if they believe in themselves.” And Elisabeth’s friend, the poet Carmen Sylva (Queen Elisabeth of Romania), expressed the same belief even more bluntly: “The republican form of government is the only rational one; I can never understand the foolish people, the fact that they continue to tolerate us” (see here).

  This attitude gave rise to considerable conflicts in the area of class consciousness. For though the awareness of his “individuality” made the aristocrat who was touched by modern ideas willing to present himself as merely one among many equals (distinguished primarily by the middle-class virtues of “accomplishment” and “culture”), only too often he would have to recognize that he could not hold his own in the competition (at least not to an extent due his noble origins)—that his individual worth did not, therefore, coincide with his special social standing; these nobles understood that in the last resort they would leave nothing behind but a title they had not earned and a function whose value they did not acknowledge. This was the tragedy of Empress Elisabeth, as it was of her son, Rudolf.

  Elisabeth’s life is full of grim, even desperate efforts to gain recognition as an individual. Her first and most successful struggle was to be beautiful. The legendary beauty of Empress Elisabeth was in no way merely a gift of nature; it was also the result of rigorous self-control and lifelong discipline, which in the end became physical torment. In similar fashion she earned her reputation as an outstanding sportswoman, the top woman rider in hunts all over Europe during the 1870s. This was a form of fame that, like the fame of her beauty, could not but wane with increasing age, in spite of all her self-discipline. Her highest hopes for wresting renown from posterity lay in another direction: she would be known as an inspired poet. The evidence of her efforts—poems, hitherto unknown, covering more than five hundred pages, all written in the 1880s—forms the basis of the present study. These lines provide Elisabeth’s most intimate and personal statements about herself, about the world around her, and about her times. But they also clearly show her failure; for the poems in no way justify Elisabeth’s hope for posthumous fame. The lines are interesting not for their literary worth (the dilettantism of the Heine imitation is hard to ignore or gloss over); rather, as the work of an empress and queen, they furnish us with source material for the history of the Habsburg monarchy as well as the intellectual history of an enlightened aristocrat, a cultured woman of the nineteenth century. Finally, Elisabeth’s poetry serves to illustrate the “nervous century,” with an emotional life often transcending the limits of reality.

  I am deeply grateful to the Swiss federal government and the directors of the Swiss Federal Archives in Bern for granting me permission for the first perusal of these sources, which were kept under strictest secrecy until now. Our friend Dr. Prof. Jean-Rudolf von Salis graciously used his good offices to secure this permission. The circumstance that the Empress entrusted what she believed to be her most valuable possession, her literary bequest, to a republic (though the one she considered the prototype and ideal) best characterizes her attitude to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy as well as to the House of Habsburg.

  Besides the Empress’s literary estate, I worked through still other new sources, such as the documents referring to Elisabeth in the archives of Archduke Albrecht (Hungarian State Archives, Budapest); Privy Councillor Baron Adolf von Braun (Imperial Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna); the Imperial Adjutant General Count Karl Grünne (in private hands).

  Additional sources include the diaries of Archduchess Sophie (with kind permission of Dr. Otto von Habsburg) and of Prince Karl Khevenhüller (with kind permission of Prince Max von Khevenhüller-Metsch).

  I am also indebted to the estate of the archivist and historian Richard Sexau of Munich for a vast amount of new material. Sexau made detailed and reliable copies of sources in private hands which were unfortunately not available to me in the original. The most valuable among these are the diary of the Emperor’s younger daughter, Archduchess Marie Valerie, and the diary of Elisabeth’s niece, Duchess Amélie von Urach, as well as the extensive correspondence of the Empress’s mother, mother-in-law, and aunts to and from each other.

  Valuable notes on conversations with Countess Marie Festetics, one of Elisabeth’s ladies-in-waiting, were made available to me in the papers of the historian Heinrich Friedjung (State Library, Vienna, Manuscript Division).

  I found several though widely scattered source copies (especially of Elisabeth’s letters to her husband, to her daughter Marie Valerie, and to her mother, Duchess Ludovika) among the papers of Egon Caesar Conte Corti (Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienn
a). However, whenever I worked with sources earlier cited by Corti, I made use of the originals. Without exception, my opinion of what passages were worth quoting differed from Corti’s—though I do not mean even by implication to diminish his merits in interpreting primary sources. It is precisely to this renewed perusal of the following original sources that I owe many new insights: diary of Countess Marie Festetics (Széchenyi Library, Budapest); diary of Count Alexander Hübner (Historical Institute of the University of Padua); estate of the Imperial Adjutant General Count Franz Folliot de Crenneville (Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna); estate of Landgravine Therese Fürstenberg (Fürstenberg Family Archives, Veitra, with kind permission of Prince and Landgrave Johannes von und zu Fürstenberg).

  Of course I made use of the diplomatic correspondence, insofar as it concerns the Empress, in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna; in the Swiss Federal Archives, Bern; and in the Federal Archives, Bonn. Another rich lode was furnished by the contemporary newspapers preserved in the Periodicals Division of the Austrian National Library.

  The days of the Court Circular are gone—every bit as much as are the days of disparaging the Old Monarchy. I feel committed to the scholarly quest for truth, and in this search I consider the figure of the Empress Elisabeth—with all her problems, but also with her surprisingly modern, never ordinary peculiarities—typical of the final days of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The levelheaded and dutiful “official,” Emperor Franz Joseph, and the unorthodox, highly intelligent, dreamy Empress Elisabeth—these two were like plus and minus, like day and night: opposites that nevertheless affected each other, each one the other’s misfortune. A private tragedy at the end of a dying empire at the close of a century.

  BRIGITTE HAMANN

  CHRONOLOGY

  So as to be able to develop the most important themes, I have occasionally abandoned strict chronological order, preferring to summarize the ample available material by subject. The most significant dates are therefore placed at the beginning to make it easier for readers to get their bearings.

  August 18, 1830 Franz Joseph born in Vienna

  December 24, 1837 Elisabeth born in Munich

  December 2, 1848 Emperor Franz Joseph’s accession to the throne

  1849 Subjugation of Hungary with Russian military aid

  July 1853 to March 18, 1853 Crimean War. Consequences: Russia loses her preeminence in Europe to France; enmity between Austria and Russia

  August 18, 1853 Engagement in Bad Ischl

  April 24, 1854 Wedding in the Augustinerkirche, Vienna

  March 5, 1855 Birth of Archduchess Sophie (d. 1857)

  July 15, 1856 Birth of Archduchess Gisela

  August 21, 1858 Birth of Crown Prince Rudolf

  June 1859 Austria wages war against Sardinia and France; Austria is defeated at Magenta and retreats from Solferino

  November 1859 Peace of Zurich; Austria loses Lombardy

  February 1861 The King and Queen of the Two Sicilies flee from Naples to Rome

  March 1861 Victor Emmanuel assumes the title of King of Italy

  September 1862 Bismarck becomes Prussian Minister-President

  August 1863 Congress of German Princes, Frankfurt

  April 1864 Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian accepts the imperial crown of Mexico

  1864 The Danish War over Schleswig-Holstein, with Austria and Prussia fighting together

  June-July 1866 War between Austria and Prussia; defeat of Königgrätz on July 3, 1866. War between Austria and Italy; victories of Custozza and Lissa

  August 1866 Peace of Prague; dissolution of the German Confederation. No territorial losses of Austria to Prussia; loss of Venetia to Italy.

  1867–1871 Beust serves as prime minister and chancellor

  June 8, 1867 Franz Joseph crowned King of Hungary

  June 19, 1867 Emperor Ferdinand Maximilian of Mexico executed

  August 1867 Franz Joseph and Napoleon III meet in Salzburg

  April 22, 1868 Birth of Archduchess Marie Valerie

  1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War; France becomes a republic; the German Empire is created

  1871–1879 Andrássy serves as imperial and royal foreign minister

  May 27, 1872 Death of Archduchess Sophie

  1873 World Exhibition, Vienna

  1875 Death of Emperor Ferdinand I; Franz Joseph is his principal heir

  1878 Occupation of the Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Hercegovina

  October 1879 Conclusion of the Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria

  1879–1893 Eduard Taaffe serves as prime minister

  1881 Marriage of Crown Prince Rudolf and Stephanie of Belgium

  May 1882 Triple Alliance among Germany, Austria, and Italy

  June 13, 1886 Death of Ludwig II of Bavaria

  June 1888 Wilhelm II succeeds to the German throne

  January 30, 1889 Suicide of the Crown Prince at Mayerling

  February 18, 1890 Death of Gyula Andrássy

  July 1890 Wedding of Marie Valerie and Archduke Franz Salvator of Tuscany

  1897 Badeni crisis, with dangerous ethnic riots

  September 10, 1898 Assassination of Empress Elisabeth in Geneva

  November 21, 1916 Death of Emperor Franz Joseph in Vienna

  List of Abbreviations

  The principal sources are cited with the following abbreviations:

  Albrecht Hungarian State Archives, Budapest. Papers of Archduke Albrecht. Quoted from the microfilm in Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna, by reel number.

  Amélie D. Sexau Papers. Diary of Duchess Amélie von Urach. Partial copy.

  Amélie M. Sexau Papers. Memoirs of Duchess Amélie von Urach to her grandmother Ludovika. Copy.

  Bern Swiss Federal Archives, Bern. Political Reports of the Swiss Envoy in Vienna: E 2300 Wien.

  Bourgoing Jean de Bourgoing, ed., Briefe Kaiser Franz Josephs an Frau Katharina Schratt (Vienna, 1949).

  Braun Papers Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna. Papers of Court Councillor Baron Adolf von Braun.

  Corti Papers Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna. Papers of Egon Caesar Conte Corti, materials for biography of Elisabeth.

  Crenneville Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna. Papers of Count Franz Folliot de Crenneville.

  Elisabeth Swiss Federal Archives, Bern. Literary Bequest of Empress Elisabeth of Austria: J I. 64.

  Festetics Széchenyi Library, Budapest. Manuscript Collection. Diary of Countess Marie Festetics.

  Fürstenberg Fürstenberg Family Archives in Weitra/Waldviertel. Letters from Landgravine Therese to her family.

  Grünne Grünne Family Archives in Dobersberg/Waldviertel. Letters from Empress Elisabeth to Karl Count Grünne.

  Hübner Historical Institute, University of Padua. Diary of Count Alexander von Hübner.

  Khevenhüller Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna. Depot Khevenhüller. Diary of Prince Carl Khevenhüller-Metsch.

  Nostitz Georg Nostitz-Rieneck, Briefe Kaiser Franz Joseph an Kaiserin Elisabeth, 2 vols. (Vienna, 1966).

  Rudolf Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna. Family Archives, Papers of Crown Prince Rudolf.

  Scharding Carlo Scharding, Das Schicksal der Kaiserin Elisabeth (privately printed, n.p., n.d.), with letters from Countess de Jonghe to her family.

  Schnürer Franz Schnürer, ed., Briefe Kaiser Franz Josephs I. an seine Mutter 1838–1872 (Munich, 1930).

  Sexau Papers Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich. Manuscript Collection. Papers of Richard Sexau. Materials for the biography of Duke Karl Theodor of Bavaria.

  Sophie Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna. Papers of Archduchess Sophie. Diary.

  Valerie Sexau Papers. Diary of Archduchess Marie Valerie. Partial copy.

  In addition, the following abbreviations are used throughout the notes:

  AA Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes (Foreign Office Archives), Bonn

  BAB Schweizer Bundesarchiv (Swiss Federal Archives), Bern

  BStB Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State
Library), Munich

  DStB Deutsche Staatsbibliothek (German State Library), Berlin

  FA Familienarchiv (Family Archives)

  GHA Geheimes Hausarchiv (Secret Family Archives), Munich

  HHStA Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna

  I.B. Informationsbüro

  NFP Neue Freie Presse

  NWT Neues Wiener Tagblatt

  OMeA Obersthofmeisteramt (Office of Chief Chamberlain)

  SStA Sächsisches Staatsarchiv (Saxon State Archives), Dresden

  StbW Stadtbibliothek (Municipal Library), Vienna

  THE RELUCTANT EMPRESS

  CHAPTER ONE

  ENGAGEMENT IN BAD ISCHL

  On Thursday, August 18, 1853—the twenty-third birthday of Emperor Franz Joseph I—a fifteen-year-old girl from provincial Possenhofen in Bavaria took her place in Austrian history. It was on that day that the Emperor asked for the hand of his cousin, Duchess Elisabeth of Bavaria. To no one’s surprise, he was accepted.

  Until that moment nothing had occurred to call the bride to anyone’s notice. She was a shy young thing, only just past childhood, a long way from being fully developed. She was remarkably slender, with long dark-blond braids and light-brown eyes with a melancholy cast. She had grown up a child of nature, among seven high-spirited brothers and sisters, far from all the pressures of court life. She excelled at horseback riding, swimming, fishing, mountain climbing. She loved her home, especially the Bavarian hills and Lake Starnberg, on whose shores stood the small castle of Possenhofen, the family summer residence. Elisabeth spoke Bavarian dialect, and her playmates were the children of the local peasantry. Her upbringing and manners left a good deal to be desired. Like her father and her brothers and sisters, she set little store by ceremony and protocol—which did not matter much at the Munich court. Since the ducal branch of the Wittelsbachs had no official function at court in any case, the family could afford to indulge in a colorful private life.