Empress Elisabeth, Part IV

[timfromengland]

 (I'm guessing that the other lady in that photo is   Countess Irma  Sztaray.... her very last lady in waiting  ......)

Borzeviczy... one of her entourage ...   begged Eliz not to go on the trip over to Geneva  as the city harboured some of the most dangerous revolutionaries in Europe.

It was a beautiful day ...9th Sept ... as they crossed the lake.. the first snows of winter glistened on the  mountain heights... the vines were turning to gold.

Arriving at Baroness Rothschild's villa  the dining  table was decorated with some of the
most beautiful orchids  Eliz had ever seen.
The meal was served on the finest Viennese porcelein.

That evening Eliz  booked into the  Beau Rivage Hotel  and  she  slept with the  window shutters
wide open... it was a full moon and she loved to sleep with the moonlight shining   into her room.

[Jen_94]

She'd stayed at the Hôtel Beau-Rivage that previous year, if I am right? Yes, must be the Countess, I take it the Empress is the one on the left in the photo then.

Yes, I am reading about the day she arrived at the Rothschild villa(Pregny) and her stroll she took the day before she got assasinated. She was with her reader, wasn't she?

[timfromengland]

Yes that must be  Elizabeth on the left.......
 Reading aloud back then seems to have been very common in society...
it was  of course ...the days before the cassette  tape.. before the gramophone.

Frederick Barker ... the bright  young Englishman became  one of her  "readers " and even helped   Eliz translate Shakespeare into Greek  !!!!
(what an intellect she was !)

He also    introduced the Empress to the works of  popular English novelists... Mrs Humphrey Ward.... Marie Corelli  among others.

A few days before her death they were walking through the woods of Caux and  Frederick
was reading aloud to her the novel .. Corleone... by Marion Crawford.
It was then that  Luigi  suddenly appeared begging for arms.

He was an aggressive individual and was treated curtly by her entourage and received no money.

Perhaps that  harsh treatment turned his mind and made him decide on revenge and murder ?
His mother had deserted him on the streets of paris and his home had been the foundling hospital of St Antoine.

(Frederick's diaries describe this meeting of  Eliz and her murderer.)



.

[Jen_94]

Really?! Elisabeth's life seems interesting and yes, she seen have been quite an intellect!

I read Luigi said this:
"I am an anarchist by conviction...I came to Geneva to kill a sovereign, with object of giving an example to those who suffer and those who do nothing to improve their social position; it did not matter to me who the sovereign was whom I should kill...It was not a woman I struck, but an Empress; it was a crown that I had in view."

Yes, perhaps it was harsh treatment that made his mind turn and decide on murder, like you said. I read Luigi was part of an anarchist group.

I read she was travelling under the name Countess of Hohenembs, and this was revealed in a Genevan newspaper the next morning after she arrived. Luigi originally intended to strike the Duke of Orleans, but obviously, turned for Elisabeth instead. Some information here: http://www.cosmopolis.ch/travel/hotel_beau_rivage_geneva.htm

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

I like very much this portrait of Sissi

Fencing
Courtesy: kaiserin-sissi.vzpomina

[Jen_94]

I've not seen either of those! They are lovely, thank you for posting.

Her waist is SO tiny in that first one  I've read it was a 19" waist....so small!

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Glad you like them Jen! You're very welcome! Yes, as we know,  Sissi was anorexic and had a veery little waist during all her life, her surviving gowns can prove this!   
Beautiful and young Sissi: Click here!!!
Watercolor

[Jen_94]

Another gorgeous one! Yes, I'v heard she refused to eat for days after her daughter Sophie's death. And she really had a gymnasium equipped in every castle she lived in?

Yes, I'v seen pictures of the gowns, This is my favourite one, from the famous 1867 photo:



I remember when In Austria, I went trhough Bad Ischl on the way to another village, and that is where I first learnt about Elisabeth. I remember I wanted to see the Villa in Ischl, but I did not get the chance

[Eric_Lowe]

Should go. It is owned by Archduke Markus of Austria, he welcome tourists to his home for tours.

[Jen_94]

If I return to Austria, it is one place I will definitely try and visit!

[timfromengland]

Wonder what Godollo looks like these days ...
do the  Hungarians treasure that period of their history ?

[Eric_Lowe]

My next trip to Hungary...it is now a museum.

[Jen_94]

Godollo looks very beautiful, where in Hungary is it? What is in the museum?

[Eric_Lowe]

Not too far from Budapest.

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Godollo looks very beautiful, where in Hungary is it? What is in the museum?

In the next link you can see a few photos of Gödollö palace (inside and outside), there are many furniture, portraits and other things that belonged to Sissi and family. At seeing it I wish I'd have the enough money to go there  

Click here for seeing the photos!!!