Emperor Franz Joseph

[dboro]

I've found this rather interesting and unusual portrait of Franz Joseph on the Hermitage website. It was painted in 1874 by Heinrich von Angeli. FJ's wearing some kind of Russian uniform, isn't he? The uniform and the location suggests that the picture was a diplomatical present. Any idea of the occasion? Thanks,

db

[Kaiserin_Sissi]

I SEE TOPICS ABOUT ALL FAMILY OF FRANZ JOSEPH BUT NOT ABOUT FRANZ JOSEPH HIMSELF. WHY DOES HE ALWASY FORGOT IN COMPARISON WITH SISSI FOR EXEMPLE ?

[Yseult]

Do you think really that he is forgotten? I don´t think so, but, for sure, he is not a legendary figure as his bavarian wife. He was raised up with a great deal of emphasis on devoutness, sense of responsability, diligence, self-sacrifice to guarantee the future of his empire...good qualities, I believe.

[Kaiserin_Sissi]

YSEULT I M REALLY ALLRIGHT WITH YOU. I THINK THAT FRANZ JOSEPH WAS A VERY GREAT EMPEROR AND I THINK THAT IS A PITY THAT NOBODY BE INTERESTED MORE BY HIM. HE IS A VERY INTERESTING
PERSONN AND EMPEROR I THINK.

[Sissi]

I agree with both of you, I believe he was a good lookinh man even as an old man, he was charming, and very polite to everybody, he was frugal in his taste, he had military discipline! He was very conscious of his role as emperor, I think he was a good one, he was loved by most of his people.

[Yseult]

Archduchess Sophia was an energic and very resolutive woman, this is the reason why an iron man as old Metternich said about her that she was the "only man into de Habsburg´s family circle". So, she made her best to give her elder son Franzi the features of a great emperor, with a great sense of responsability and a strong feeling of being the first among the servers to the Empire.

But, from my point of view, the failure of Sophia was to brough up her children in a great isolation. They had very weak family ties with another members of the extended Habsburg family, and, if they could not made strong relationship with their cousins, imagine how isolated they were from the rest of the people. This seclusion caused, I think, a great damage to Sophia´s children when they reached their adulthood.

Life could have been more easily taken by this kind of man if he had been married to the right woman, but I think that his cousin Elisabeth was not the right woman for him. For sure that he was madly in love with the beautiful Sissi, but to love someone with every beat of your heart is not enough to made an succesful marriage.

[Sissi]

I completely agree, even though I am a fan of Sissi, I cannot be blind to her weaknesses, she was not fit to be an empress, she did not have the education, or a sentiment of sacrifice, because in certain aspect being a sovereign is a sacrifice, you have to be watch all the time and you have to behave in a certain way. She probably had the best interest at the beginnings but later on I think she did not cared anymore about her duties as empress, she wanted to live her life and that`s it.

Francis Joseph loved her with all his heart, but tha match did not help thing for him.

[dboro]

More (both by Gyula Benczur)
# 1: 1894, as king of Hungary /Hungarian National Museum, Budapest/
# 2: 1902, in English uniform: a gift fot the coronation of Edward VII /Royal Collections, UK/
# 3: 1904 (detail) /destroyed/

[Kaiserin_Sissi]

Does anybody know the story about Franz Joseph and Countess Elisa Ugarte is first love ? It is true or not?

Does anybody have pictures of her ?

                                                                       Thanks   Kaiserin Sissi
                                                                        

[MarieCharlotte]

Does anybody know the story about Franz Joseph and Countess Elisa Ugarte is first love ? It is true or not?

Does anybody have pictures of her ?

You have already started a topic about Franz Joseph's mistresses, do you remember?
Here is the link: http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/YaBB.cgi?num=1149859245

There you can find a picture of ANNA Ugarte who is said to have had an intimate relationship to Franz Joseph.

[Kaiserin_Sissi]

Thanks Marie Charlotte, it's true, I forgotten that i have a photo of her in this topic.



                                                                                               Thanks again

[Lucien]

Today,november 21st,is the 90th anniversary of the death of Emperor Franz Joseph I.

[Alixz]

I just started reading  Francis Joseph by Van Der Kiste.  So far it is kind of dry, but he does mention that Franz Joseph probably had at least two affaires and that he gave Sisi an STD.

His mother was very controling and she and Sisi did not get along.  Franz Joseph was orginally intended to marry Sisi's sister, but her fell in love with Sisi at first sight.

I have always been fascinated by his long rule and his friendship with Johann Strauss, Jr..  Strauss wrote The Emperor's Waltz as a tribute to Franz Joseph.  I think it was in 1898 for his 50th Jubilee.

Johann Strauss, Sr. wrote the Radetsky March as a tribute to Radetsky who served Franz Joseph during the 1848 revolutions.

Think of the amazing things and changes that Franz Joseph saw in his long reign.  From 1848 to 1916, the world changed so much and so many new things were invented.

[MarieCharlotte]

Think of the amazing things and changes that Franz Joseph saw in his long reign.  From 1848 to 1916, the world changed so much and so many new things were invented.

... although Franz Joseph was not very fond of all these new inventions.

[TsarPaulI]

I'm reading the Van Der Kiste biography to at the moment Alixz

I've enjoyed it so far. Emperor Francis Joseph did have such a hard life with so much tradegy yet never swaying from his duty. It was also interesting to find out what a lonely life he led especially when his children had grown up and he saw less and less of the Empress with her constant travelling.