Empress Elisabeth, Part I

[britt.25]

Concerning the last one...I could not walk with that cloth....!

[CFH_Mexico]

I see many talk about how he or she changed in old age. Actually there were not to many that made it to old age as the Kaiser Franz Joseph did.... With whom are you comparing them? Of course a young man of 25 looks nicer than an old one with 86! On top of that people were very very old with 86.

Today there are more than 3 million Americans over 100 and there will be 2,5 million by 2035! There were very few Gentlemen wiith 86 in November 1916

[Princess Susan]

Of course Maximiliano, everybody looks absolutely diferent in his/her 20s and his/her 80s.

But age 86 is still over average. I 'm not sure(it depends on each country) but average age for women in Europe is  a bit unter 80, for men around 75. But maybe I am mystaken.
In 19. or early 20. century it was sure less usual then nowdays, but also in that time existed many people over 80-
Emperor Wilhelm I. was 91, Qeen Victoria 82, and also FJs son-in-low Prince Leopold died when he was 84.

By the way and for example my grandma has been 86 this year as well, but my grandfather passed away 15 years ago when he was 75.

[KarlandZita]

Sisi had inherited her passion for horses. Amazon remarkable, she willingly participated in hunts in court and she came to stay in the saddle six hours.

Here differently represented in painting, photo, drawning or etching, in her favorite exercise :

[britt.25]

Wonderful riding pics. Thank you. It really seems, she liked riding a lot, and as Eric said, she looks very good and elegant on horses. The last picture is a bit strange, it seems she did not want to be photographed there or something. Did anyone of her relatives inherit her riding passion? (brothers, sisters, children?)

[Princess Susan]

I pressume that last picture is from her later years when she disliked taking photos of her, because she didn't want so that people sow her face.
She hated ageing and tried to stay young for ever in people's mind.
I would like to know wether is her fourth picture from her hunting season in GB, or from Godollo. Palace in distance reminds me Godollo a lot.

[Eric_Lowe]

I think the huge leather fan still survives in some museum. 

[Greenowl]

Wonderful pictures, especially as I love horses. Thanks for posting them.

Princess Susan, I think the palace in the fourth picture is Godollo in Hungary.

[KarlandZita]

On June 8, 1867 Franz Josef and Elisabeth were crowned King and Queen of Hungary in the cathedral Szent Istvan of Budapest.

The ceremony takes place with a brilliance exceptional.

Below the Cathedral, the procession and two aspects of the ceremony :









The new Queen of Hungary in her coronation dress :









The imperial couple in front of the Royal Castle Gödöllo :

[Laura_]

She looked so beautiful in her coronation gown ..deffinetly my favorite pictures of Elisabeth :-)

[Cambria_Coheed]

she had beautiful hair....i heard it took hours to fix each day...is that true?
 

[Greenowl]

Yes, Cambria Coheed, that is quite correct. According to Brigitte Hamann, the daily care of Elisabeth's hair rarely took less than three hours. Her hair was washed once every three weeks (seems an awfully long interval between washes to me), an operation which took a whole day.

Her favourite hairdresser was Fanny Feifalik (nee Angerer), who served the Empress in this capacity for about 30 years.

[britt.25]

KarlandZita, thank you for the recent pictures. They are just wonderful, I enjoyed to see them. Especially the last with the family was new to me!
Greenowl, how strange with Sisis hair, I don't want to imagine what I would look like, if I washed my hair only once in three weeks...

[Greenowl]

Yes Britt, I agree! I find that fact very difficult to comprehend, as apart from looking dreadful I would feel most uncomfortable if I did not wash my hair at least once every three DAYS. However, according to Brigitte Hamann, the hair washing was a very elaborate procedure and involved bottles of cognac, numerous raw eggs etc etc, and perhaps these ingredients somehow maintained the hair in a clean, pleasant and non-greasy state for a longer period of time??? ODD!!

[Mari]

 Beautiful pictures....She looked so beautiful and regal....as to her hair...I have read many accounts of Women in that era and they brushed their hair 100 strokes and did all kind of things including certain rinses as has been mentioned. But as you can see her hair looks good. I guess its comparable to my Mother who when staying in the Hospital due to an illness went about that length of time and to the amazement of all of us her hair stayed shiny, thick and curly. Looked like it had just been fixed.