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My favourite Royal - Sisi, Empress of Austria

Court life turned her into a sufferer of anorexia nervosa.

She installed an indoor gym and climbing frames in the royal apartments so she could work out.

Was massively into raw veal, both drinking its juice and placing steaks on her skin.

She also slept with vinegar soaked clothes above her hips to fight off fat.

She made calls on hospitals and lunatic asylums not in genuine charity, but out of ghoulish interest.

She had extremely long hair which took the better part of a day to wash so she studied Greek whilst being tended to.

Her son and his lover died in the Mayerling Affair, a murder suicide.

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by Anonymousreply 178October 25, 2020 5:10 AM

I read that she was considered quite beautiful - and quite vain. Hence her OTT obsession with maintaining her figure and long hair.

by Anonymousreply 1January 8, 2018 9:35 PM

This story is unintentionally funny: "She developed a horror of fat women and transmitted this attitude to her youngest daughter, who was terrified when, as a little girl, she first met Queen Victoria".

by Anonymousreply 2January 8, 2018 9:38 PM

Played by beloved Romi Schneider.....

by Anonymousreply 3January 8, 2018 9:44 PM

Ach-Romy.

by Anonymousreply 4January 8, 2018 9:45 PM

The Empress knew how to deal with unwanted photographers.

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by Anonymousreply 5January 8, 2018 9:46 PM

Like most Germans, she was very much into nature, hiking, the outdoors and horseback riding. She also hated the paparazzi, and hid from them being a convenient accessory.

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by Anonymousreply 6January 8, 2018 9:46 PM

The Romy Schneider films about her are the most unbearable kitsch (my grandmother was a huge fan of them); but she later reprised the role in a more realistic fashion in Visconti's "Ludwig".

by Anonymousreply 7January 8, 2018 9:50 PM

She was murdered in Switzerland.

by Anonymousreply 8January 8, 2018 9:53 PM

Though I don't see exceptional beauty (or even the reputed shocking slimness) in the actual photos. She looks normal.

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by Anonymousreply 9January 8, 2018 9:58 PM

She was pretty and extremely thin as she got older.

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by Anonymousreply 10January 8, 2018 10:01 PM

The guy who killed her was pretty hot but apparently he was a shrimp. Sissi really was an idiot to walk around without a bodyguard, especially during the end of the 19th century when Europe was just one big ticking bomb waiting to explode. The story about her assassination is a pretty fascinating one - that guy ran into her in the street and pierced her heart with a file but her corset was on so tight that she didn't even feel she had been stabbed so she boarded a ferry together with her lady-in-waiting where she collapsed and died.

I'm surprised that Hollywood never made a movie about her. Well, there was Mayerling (where she was played by Ava Gardner) but that movie was mostly about her son and his lover.

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by Anonymousreply 11January 8, 2018 10:01 PM

You can still see the apparatus for working out in her apartments in the Hofburg in Vienna. The Empress Elisabeth was a Wittelsbach by birth and may have suffered from depression common in that family.

If you want to see the Austrian and Bavarian hot polloi who worship Sisi, visit Trieste in Italy. Before he became Emperor of Mexico (at the urging and backing of Napoleon III), the Archduke Maximilian was viceroy of Lombard-Venetia in residence in Trieste at Miramare. It's on a point overlooking the Adriatic. The Austrian navy was headquartered there. It's a lovely Italianate residence, but it is usually overrun with hordes of Austrians and Bavarians trying to recapture their Romy Schneider memories.

Here's Sisi on her deathbed, shortly after the Italian anarchist stabbed her on the promenade on Lake Geneva.

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by Anonymousreply 12January 8, 2018 10:05 PM

I stand corrected: here her waist is just a tad wider than her neck. She must have laced up her corset to the point she couldn't breathe.

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by Anonymousreply 13January 8, 2018 10:06 PM

Captivating

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by Anonymousreply 14January 8, 2018 10:08 PM

R12 That's not Sissi but a screenshot from some silent movie that was made about her in the 1920's. I don't think there are any photos of Sissi's body in existence, which is weird because it was a tradition back then to photograph the royal corspes (they even took a photo of her dead son with a bandage around his head). There were some photos of Sissi's body taken during the autopsy but the Kaiser later had them destroyed.

But you can see Sissi's death mask in some museum in Vienna:

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by Anonymousreply 15January 8, 2018 10:12 PM

Here's the clip that screenshot came from:

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by Anonymousreply 16January 8, 2018 10:13 PM

The Cocteau play "The Eagle Has Two Heads" was based on her. Brando and Bankhead were in a production on Broadway. In his early screen test, when he mentions her, he rolls his eyes.

by Anonymousreply 17January 8, 2018 10:16 PM

I was just in Vienna a few months ago, and learned a lot about her while touring Schonbrunn palace. Very interesting story. Franz Joseph was supposed to marry her older sister, but fell in love with her instead. They met when she was 15 years old, and he proposed just 5 days later.

by Anonymousreply 18January 8, 2018 10:18 PM

Why not treat yourself to a macabre weekend in her suite at the Beau Rivage Genève? The aide-de-champ of a African dictator used to host me there for white imperialist fetish role play.

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by Anonymousreply 19January 8, 2018 10:18 PM

Her Majesty is OP's favourite royal yet he can't spell her name.

by Anonymousreply 20January 8, 2018 10:21 PM

Thank you, R15 and R16. I originally saw that photo of her deathbed in the book, "The Last Courts of Europe."

by Anonymousreply 21January 8, 2018 10:21 PM

I've also read in some book that she was a fan of pigeon milk. Until I read that I didn't even know that birds produce milk.

by Anonymousreply 22January 8, 2018 10:22 PM

"pigeon milk" was a euphemism for precum harvested from young Ottoman slaves.

by Anonymousreply 23January 8, 2018 10:27 PM

Romy Schneider was intersting.

That assassin was a spunk.

That 1980s Mayerling movie was a dreadful bore.

by Anonymousreply 24January 8, 2018 10:40 PM

It's not milk. It's something they regurgitate.

by Anonymousreply 25January 8, 2018 10:40 PM

Whoa, whoa, back up there, R19. Don't think you're going to walk off and leave us hanging like that.

by Anonymousreply 26January 8, 2018 10:45 PM

I think Sissi's daughter Gisela was more beautiful than her mother. She reminds me of young Elizabeth McGovern a bit.

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by Anonymousreply 27January 9, 2018 12:33 AM

She looks like Juliette Lewis.

by Anonymousreply 28January 9, 2018 12:41 AM

And then there's "Elisabeth" -- the most successful German-language musical of all time.

She's not singing live, but if I were a German-speaking gayling, I would have been so all over this shit. Fucking fabulous.

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by Anonymousreply 29January 9, 2018 12:46 AM

R18, the Austrian Prince married Sisi instead because he had one look at her sister - and ran for the hills.

In the photo: Sisi - on the right, her sister - on the left.

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by Anonymousreply 30January 10, 2018 1:00 AM

Here's another 'flattering' image of Sisi's sister, Helene of Bavaria.

Not to be unkind, but her face was made for the radio (even if it wasn't invented yet).

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by Anonymousreply 31January 10, 2018 1:04 AM

R31, wow, now that’s a face only a blind mother can love. She’s looks like a man. A very rough looking man.

by Anonymousreply 32January 10, 2018 1:07 AM

I was in Vienna over Christmas, they love her over there!

by Anonymousreply 33January 10, 2018 1:08 AM
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by Anonymousreply 34January 10, 2018 1:09 AM

R31, But she looks so lovely in her offically commissioned Erich Correns portrait.

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by Anonymousreply 35January 10, 2018 1:11 AM

Speaking of Victorian divas, may I present Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione.

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by Anonymousreply 36January 10, 2018 1:17 AM

I can actually see the striking family resemblance between the two Bavarian sisters (Sisi and especially Helene, the poor dear) and their cousin - the "mad" King of Bavaria, Ludwig II (who commissioned "Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle" to be built).

It's rumored he was our 'family' too.

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by Anonymousreply 37January 10, 2018 1:24 AM

R31, that's Henry Thomas in drag.

by Anonymousreply 38January 10, 2018 1:47 AM

Franz Joseph's good taste in women single-handedly saved Viennese tourist board - I mean, can you imagine them selling souvenirs with Nene's face printed on them?! All the tourists would flee from Vienna in shock.

by Anonymousreply 39January 10, 2018 1:56 AM

I was strolling around Lake Geneva one day and spotted a sign that says "L'Empresse Elisabeth d'Autriche fut assassinee ici."

by Anonymousreply 40January 10, 2018 2:00 AM

Someone stuck his foot in her ass?

by Anonymousreply 41January 10, 2018 2:03 AM

Can anyone recommend a good book about her?

by Anonymousreply 42January 10, 2018 2:10 AM

Vinegar soaked clothes? We'll have to try that one!

by Anonymousreply 43January 10, 2018 2:16 AM

Like Caitlyn Helene seems to have transitioned and continued to be being just as miserable as she was before.

by Anonymousreply 44January 10, 2018 2:16 AM

She hides her face from photographers with a fan. Sounds familiar....... ;)

by Anonymousreply 45January 10, 2018 2:19 AM

There's a biography of her: "The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria" by Bridgette Hamaan. I remember reading parts of it long ago. I was most interested in her dedication to maintaining her good looks. I also remember it said she never smiled in photos because of her bad teeth.

by Anonymousreply 46January 10, 2018 2:32 AM

I had never heard of her until I visited Vienna and learned about the Austrian- Hungarian empire seated there

by Anonymousreply 47January 10, 2018 2:52 AM

"Sisi" makes an entrance

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by Anonymousreply 48January 10, 2018 3:37 AM

Have you seen the Sissi movies with Romy Schneider?

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by Anonymousreply 49January 10, 2018 4:08 AM

[quote]OP - "My favourite Royal..."

spelled [italic] favorite [/italic]

by Anonymousreply 50January 10, 2018 4:17 AM

[quote] spelled favorite

Only in America. Elsewhere in English speaking countries it's spelt favourite.

by Anonymousreply 51January 10, 2018 5:25 AM

You're on American website so speak American, goddammit!

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by Anonymousreply 52January 10, 2018 5:29 AM

Fuck off you retarded frau cunts.

by Anonymousreply 53January 10, 2018 7:47 AM

Regarding the tiny waist seen in photos, I'd like to remind you that retouching photographs is not new, in fact it was common in 19th century portraits of women. Eensy waists were in fashion, and photographers made a good living making waists look fashionably unnatural in the finished photo.

Look at this one, you can see the blotches where half the subject's torso was blotted out! An empress, of course, would have higher quality retouching done.

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by Anonymousreply 54January 10, 2018 8:18 AM

She actually was lovely when she was young, and doesn't seem to have gone batshit crazy until she was older and losing her looks.

She looks quite lovely here, although it looks like she stuck a pillow down the front of her gown as well as cinching in her waist, the proportions of her torso just aren't right.

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by Anonymousreply 55January 10, 2018 8:21 AM

She seems to have been a normal weight when she was young, unless the portrait painter deliberately made her look heavier. It was fashionable for women to be a bit plump, in the middle of the 19th century.

Judging from the fashions she would have been quite young when this portrait was done, maybe 1860?

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by Anonymousreply 56January 10, 2018 8:25 AM

She was 5'8" and under 100 pounds her adult life and contemporary diary entries from bitchy nobles talk about how flat and gaunt she is, so I am sure the artists soften her appearance because she looks quite nice/normal in paintings (likely to her disgust).

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by Anonymousreply 57January 10, 2018 8:52 AM

I prefer the Grand Imperial Duchess Miss Sissyboodles!

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by Anonymousreply 58January 10, 2018 9:10 AM

R40 - when I was in high school in Geneva, we went to see that sign with our history teacher when studying the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 9th grade. Which is rather odd, now that I think of it.

by Anonymousreply 59January 10, 2018 9:26 AM

I think I saw her coffin on one of my trips to lovely Vienna. They didn't bury her, just put the body in a highly decorated metal coffin. She's with all the other royals in one big underground cavern.

by Anonymousreply 60January 10, 2018 9:32 AM

I can't imagine how much more luxurious her hair would have been without the anorexia. Damn, that's some hair!! Weave perhaps?

by Anonymousreply 61January 10, 2018 10:51 AM

Actually the tomb of the Habsburgs is quite amazing because it is quite nondescript in some ways. The Church is very average and you would pass it without looking at it , because Vienna is an Imperial city and there are quite a few amazing buildings.

You go do sown the stairs and for a moment you think that you have misunderstood what they mean by Hapsburgs but you see them one by one in rows. In a way quite magnificent and in another nondescript. I actually quite admired them.

by Anonymousreply 62January 10, 2018 11:20 AM

She used to have her hair dresser count the hairs in the brush and would lose her shit if too many had fallen out.

by Anonymousreply 63January 10, 2018 11:28 AM

Too bad those you tube movies do not have English subtitles.

Lucky you who speak german.

It does look very pretty.

by Anonymousreply 64January 10, 2018 11:32 AM

If you live in a place where downloading torrents isn't illegal you can easily download the Sissi trilogy with English subs from The Pirate Bay.

Those movies are cheesy and have little to do with historical Sissi but are gorgeous to look at (the cinematography and the costumes are divine) and of course there's also the beautiful Romy Schneider to gaze at. Her mother in the film is played by her real life mother Magda who was one of Hitler's favorite actresses.

There's also a fun TV movie depicting Sissi's last few days where she is played by Arielle Dombasle. That film portrays Sissi in a much more realistic manner.

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by Anonymousreply 65January 10, 2018 3:30 PM

OP, I adore her too.

I spent a whirlwind 12 hours in Vienna and it was enchanting. Sisi is everywhere. I saw the crypt as well.

Her life is so interesting, aside from her beauty. I don't think she was a happy camper. She had to stand up to her mother in law because she wanted to raise her youngest daughter, not a bunch of nannies. Her heart was broken after her son pulled off his crazy stunt. He alledgedly asked two other women to join his suicide pact before settling on frumpster Greek nouveau riche baroness teenager - - poor kid.

I tried to work Sisi into the Victorian Era Datalounge thread bc I love her so much but I am not as clever as the rest of you....

by Anonymousreply 66January 10, 2018 3:54 PM

On vacation in Vienna, my husband and I visited the Schonbrunn Castle and with all the Sissi memorabilia there, I joked that there must be a Sissi Barbie.

And then we see this in the gift shop...

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by Anonymousreply 67January 10, 2018 5:32 PM

Great thread!

by Anonymousreply 68January 10, 2018 5:47 PM

R67 that will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.

by Anonymousreply 69January 10, 2018 5:52 PM

She had the first flushing toilet installed in the winter palace in Vienna and you can still see it.

by Anonymousreply 70January 10, 2018 5:53 PM

[quote]Her Majesty is OP's favourite royal yet he can't spell her name.

OP spelled it correctly as Sisi. In those movies they spelled it Sissi and that caught on to some extent.

by Anonymousreply 71January 10, 2018 5:58 PM

[quote]r65 where she is played by Arielle Dombasle.

: o

[italic] "Which one of you bitches is my mother??" [/italic]

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by Anonymousreply 72January 10, 2018 6:05 PM

"Wasp waisting" in the West was as ridiculous and harmful as foot binding was in China:

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by Anonymousreply 73January 10, 2018 6:15 PM

[quote]I was strolling around Lake Geneva one day and spotted a sign that says "L'Empresse Elisabeth d'Autriche fut assassinee ici."

Did you see the fabulous statue near the site?

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by Anonymousreply 74January 10, 2018 6:20 PM

OMG, please tell me that stature is near the Freddie mercury statue? Or am I way off?

by Anonymousreply 75January 10, 2018 6:25 PM

I saw a locket pic of a young Franz Joseph. Quite the hottie when he was young.

by Anonymousreply 76January 10, 2018 6:26 PM

Mark Twain, who was living in Austria at the time and was close to the royal family, was so moved/outraged by Sisi's murder that he wrote an essay (never published) about it:

[quote]In her character was every quality that in woman invites and engages respect, esteem, affection, and homage. Her tastes, her instincts, and her aspirations were all high and fine and all her life her heart and brain were busy with activities of a noble sort. She had had bitter griefs, but they did not sour her spirit, and she had had the highest honors in the world's gift, but she went her simple way unspoiled. She knew all ranks, and won them all, and made them her friends. An English fisherman's wife said, "When a body was in trouble she didn't send her help, she brought it herself." Crowns have adorned others, but she adorned her crowns.

Twain didn't think quite so highly of the assassin:

[quote]And who is the miracle-worker who has furnished to the world this spectacle? All the ironies are compacted in the answer. He is at the bottom of the human ladder, as the accepted estimates of degree and value go: a soiled and patched young loafer, without gifts, without talents, without education, without morals, without character, without any born charm or any acquired one that wins or beguiles or attracts; without a single grace of mind or heart or hand that any tramp or prostitute could envy him; an unfaithful private in the ranks, an incompetent stone- cutter, an inefficient lackey; in a word, a mangy, offensive, empty, unwashed, vulgar, gross, mephitic, timid, sneaking, human polecat. And it was within the privileges and powers of this sarcasm upon the human race to reach up--up--up--and strike from its far summit in the social skies the world's accepted ideal of Glory and Might and Splendor and Sacredness! ...Anything to get notoriety; anything to set the village, or the township, or the city, or the State, or the nation, or the planet shouting, "Look--there he goes--that is the man!" And in five minutes' time, at no cost of brain, or labor, or genius this mangy Italian tramp has beaten them all, transcended them all, outstripped them all, for in time their names will perish; but by the friendly help of the insane newspapers and courts and kings and historians, his is safe and live and thunder in the world all down the ages as long as human speech shall endure! Oh, if it were not so tragic how ludicrous it would be!

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by Anonymousreply 77January 10, 2018 6:33 PM

[quote] I saw a locket pic of a young Franz Joseph. Quite the hottie when he was young.

His brother Ludwig Viktor was the pretty one in the family:

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by Anonymousreply 78January 10, 2018 6:35 PM

Hedy Lamarr played Sissi on stage in Vienna until she married her first husband in 1933 and she didn’t act again until 1938 when she came to America.

by Anonymousreply 79January 10, 2018 6:49 PM

Love this from R77’s Twain quote: a mangy, offensive, empty, unwashed, vulgar, gross, mephitic, timid, sneaking, human polecat.

by Anonymousreply 80January 10, 2018 7:06 PM

R75 Freddie is in Montreux with is the other end of Lac Leman (which you know as Lake Geneva). Montreux is where the river dumps into the lake and is facing the pre-Alps. Lovely small city. Now popular with the SUB billionaire Middle-Eastern and Russian set. If your fortune is 600 million you're in Montreux.

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by Anonymousreply 81January 10, 2018 7:18 PM

So R81 I will have to Climb Evry Mountain if I want to see both statues?

by Anonymousreply 82January 10, 2018 7:24 PM

She looks like Kyle Richards with that hair.

by Anonymousreply 83January 10, 2018 7:37 PM

The Sisi museum is interesting, but to me she came off as kind of crazy, and more than a little ungrateful, though she did have some surprisingly modern views of marriage. The adoration of the Austrians for her is a bit odd because she absolutely hated being Empress and spent as much time out of the country as possible.

by Anonymousreply 84January 10, 2018 8:28 PM

No R82, you can take a white belle époque steamboat from Geneva to Montreux. Audrey Hepburn style.

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by Anonymousreply 85January 10, 2018 8:40 PM

I went to see Schloss Schönbrunn and the Museum of Natural History when I was in Vienna some 15 years ago. Also saw the Schatzkammer museum (I think that's what it's called) where they display all the China, silver and cookware of the Habsburger family.

Beautiful city, Vienna, been there 4 times, and would visit again in a second. But unfortunately I don't live in Europe anymore.

by Anonymousreply 86January 11, 2018 8:53 AM

All the Sisi kitsch on display in Vienna is nauseating, as is the naive glorification of the Habsburg empire by the Austrians. All the Mozart memorabilia is equally tacky but hey - at least he was one of the most talented men who ever lived so I get it. But what did Sisi ever do to deserve such fame - wear pretty dresses and get stabbed to death due to her own stupidity? She's actually one of the LEAST interesting 19th century royals, if you ask me.

by Anonymousreply 87January 11, 2018 9:29 AM

Her Husband, Franz was hot and interesting. Adored her till the day he died. His brother, the Emperor of Mexico may have been Gay. Certainly another of them was.

by Anonymousreply 88January 11, 2018 11:18 AM

r87, Mozart has his own commemorative chocolate.

Sisi would not ABIDE her own commemorative chocolate.

by Anonymousreply 89January 11, 2018 6:07 PM

R89 Sissi has her own chocolate (called Sisi taler) too. It's not as famous as Mozart Kugeln but equally bland and overpriced.

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by Anonymousreply 90January 11, 2018 6:14 PM

I know she didn’t particularly care for Austria, I think she preferred to hang out in their other kingdoms Hungary and Bohemia. Or maybe it was because she didn’t have a great marriage. I think she was rare among the Habsburgs for even being able to speak Hungarian. I don’t think she got on well with the Windsors.

by Anonymousreply 91January 11, 2018 6:26 PM

* I mean, the Hanovers and Saxe Coburg Gothas. There was no Windsor family at that time.

by Anonymousreply 92January 11, 2018 6:27 PM

The story of Empress Sisi shows why royals used to marry for duty, rather than love.

She became empress at 15 or 16 because the emperor was madly in love with her (or hot for her bod), and she wasn't happy in the role of empress and spent much of her life avoiding her official royal duties. She wasn't trained for the job growing up like a princess would be, and she didn't adapt to the role of Empress in time. That's why in previous centuries kings married princesses by arrangement, not only to form alliances that would be valuable to their kingdom, but to get someone who'd been trained to be a queen.

And that's why people are dubious about Harry and Meghan Markle.

by Anonymousreply 93January 11, 2018 11:31 PM

I have been all over Europe and it is hard to pick the mist beautiful country. I think I would have to say Austria. It also is a very Christian nation, I love that. They hate the towel heads. They have a bright young man as President who hopes to eject those scum.

by Anonymousreply 94January 12, 2018 12:14 AM

^ Adolf, is that you?

by Anonymousreply 95January 12, 2018 12:16 AM

No R95. Have You ever been out of buttfuck, tn?

by Anonymousreply 96January 12, 2018 12:27 AM

R93, Meghan won’t ever be a queen or empress. Her only job will be doing photo ops, something she is trained to do.

But back to Sisi: the Romy Schneider trilogy turns up on TCM every now and then; it was on about a month ago.

by Anonymousreply 97January 12, 2018 12:38 AM

I'd never heard of Sissi till I went to Austria a couple of years ago. I didn't get the "Christian" vibe when I was there but then again I wasn't looking for it. That isn't a plus in my book.

by Anonymousreply 98January 12, 2018 2:05 AM

Poor Helene looks like a bad sketch comedy show player dressed as a woman.

by Anonymousreply 99January 12, 2018 4:39 AM

R98 did you notice all the beautiful churches? It is a very great very Catholic country. What do you have against Christians? Would you prefer to be stoned to death in your xaftan or tossed off a building by a group of smelly Satan worshippers? The profound stupidity of DL ers who clutch to their Muslims for comfort.

by Anonymousreply 100January 12, 2018 8:27 AM

All Hail Kaiser Franz Joseph!

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by Anonymousreply 101January 12, 2018 8:49 AM

Austria is lovely but is not the most beautiful European country. For one, it has no sea coast. The Swiss Alps are more dramatically beautiful, in my opinion.

by Anonymousreply 102January 12, 2018 9:24 AM

I always thought Austrian Alps were bland-looking too. Italian Alps are much prettier - you won't find funky-shaped peaks like the ones in Dolomites in Austria.

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by Anonymousreply 103January 12, 2018 9:36 AM

[quote]I don’t think she got on well with the Windsors.

Well, they're fat.

by Anonymousreply 104January 12, 2018 10:28 AM

The Austrian people are quite good looking.

They are also a bunch of FREAKS.

by Anonymousreply 105January 12, 2018 11:07 AM

Italy has natural and man-made beauty in spades.

by Anonymousreply 106January 12, 2018 12:03 PM

Bah. This thread turned into the equivalent of a boring friend's vacation slides. I expected some real dirt from those of you were there and knew her. I know you still post here.

by Anonymousreply 107January 12, 2018 1:14 PM

Gosh, R100, I have NO idea why all us homosexuals don't just love Christians!

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by Anonymousreply 108January 12, 2018 3:54 PM

R107 well last week when I jumped in my time machine, I met up with Sisi and we ditched that boring ass empire for the weekend and she told me how she actually had an Oedipal freaky relationship with her son and that whole mayerling snafu messed with her in ways that cannot be appreciated.

by Anonymousreply 109January 12, 2018 4:32 PM

R108, that is not typical Christianity. Those people have more in common with the lowest form of life on earth, Muslims, that you coddle and worship, even they they would be the first to kill your fat queer ass. Muslims equal evil. Keep loving them u stupid queers.

by Anonymousreply 110January 12, 2018 8:07 PM

Bullshit, R110, even the "good" Christians aren't any better than anyone other decent person, and the bad ones are fucking evil, and their religion gives depth and strength to their imposition of evil on the world.

I don't loathe Christianity the way I loathe Islam, but I see no merit in it. Fuck off, closeted priest.

by Anonymousreply 111January 12, 2018 10:23 PM

19th century women of the upper and middle classes used corsets made of fabric and whalebone that were comparatively flexible and comfortable, and they thought that extreme tight lacing was immoral. Prostitutes wore heavy-duty corsets braced with metal and possibly made of leather, and laced as tightly as they could stand.

Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, wore prostitute-style corsets of leather and metal, and laced as tight as she could. Which meant that she was actually wearing Victorian slutwear under her fabulous court gowns!

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by Anonymousreply 112January 12, 2018 10:31 PM

Those wasp waists were achieved by putting little girls into severely laced "training corsets" of whalebone and metal from a very early age. The person above who compared them to the practice of binding girls' feet in China was correct. The corsets prevented normal physical growth and caused displacement of both the rib cage and internal organs with sometimes extremely unfortunate results. It is still done, often a sexual fetish, and doctors still have to warn women -- and the occasional man -- of the potential damage.

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by Anonymousreply 113January 12, 2018 11:28 PM

This is freaky. *Just* as I posted the above, William Peterson on a CSI rerun started talking about wasp waists and training corsets. Seems the latest unidentified victim is a man with a 19 inch waist. Someone asked him how he knew so much about corsets.

by Anonymousreply 114January 12, 2018 11:35 PM

R111 you will go to hell. Repent.

by Anonymousreply 115January 12, 2018 11:39 PM

You're watching ION, aren't you r114? I'm not going to hijack this thread but just want to mention that the current episode has DL fave Miss Veronica Cartwright in another fabulous performance. Now, back to Sisi!

by Anonymousreply 116January 12, 2018 11:44 PM

Poor Emperor Franz Josef: His son and heir commits murder and then suicide, his daughter-in-law is left barren by her husband having given her venereal disease, his wife is murdered. Oh, yes, then his great-nephew and heir is assassinated starting a world war.

by Anonymousreply 117January 12, 2018 11:47 PM

R117 Well, at least he had his mistress' pussy to play with. I guess they had paparazzi back in the 19th century too because there are many secretly taken photos of Kaiser taking long walks with her around.

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by Anonymousreply 118January 12, 2018 11:53 PM

Yes I am, r116, and I am really freaked out they started discussing wasp waists and training corsets just as I made my post. I mean, what are the chances? How often do you hear this discussed on a popular network TV shows?

And yes back to Sisi and her fabulous Winterhalter portraits.

And yes, as someone mentioned above, she had notoriously bad and hideous teeth and so cultivated that famous half-smile. She never showed the abomination from Hell in her mouth.

(Just heard on CSI: "His corseting was private.")

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by Anonymousreply 119January 12, 2018 11:57 PM

Good lord, why has it taken mankind so long to figure out how to take care of teeth?!?!

by Anonymousreply 120January 13, 2018 12:49 AM

Queen Maud of Norway was also famous for her painfully tiny waist, but somehow she never became a kitschy tourist industry.

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by Anonymousreply 121January 13, 2018 1:35 AM

We're obviously on opposite coasts r114. The corset CSI is on right now! O.K., O.K., back to Sisi.....

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by Anonymousreply 122January 13, 2018 2:34 AM

R121, thanks so much for that fabulous photo of Queen Maud. She must have been widely and extravagantly admired for that true hourglass figure. The Magnificent Maud!

by Anonymousreply 123January 13, 2018 2:52 AM

So what was up with Brian Keith and the hair?

by Anonymousreply 124January 13, 2018 2:54 AM

Here's one of Queen Maud's wasp-waisted gowns, preserved for posterity. How the fucking fuck did the woman breathe!

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by Anonymousreply 125January 13, 2018 3:17 AM

That dress is absolutely gorgeous r125.

by Anonymousreply 126January 13, 2018 3:20 AM

Maud was overweight. Trust me.

by Anonymousreply 127January 13, 2018 4:52 AM

Not only Maud but many many several other grand ladies of the era, including more of QV's granddaughters had such tiny waists. Tho QV's daughters were fat or almost fat.

by Anonymousreply 128January 13, 2018 5:12 AM

After watching R101 video, all I could think was how many of those old men in military uniforms were finger-banging the little girls in their white dresses and flower garlands.

by Anonymousreply 129January 13, 2018 3:07 PM

Queen Maud gave birth to this hot piece.

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by Anonymousreply 130January 13, 2018 3:22 PM

There are lots of fascinating videos of Habsburg royals on youtube. Unfortunately Sissi died a few years before film cameras became more widespread so we have no movie clips of her.

Here's another good one - wedding of the last Habsburg Emperor Karl I to Zita. The fun part starts at 2:10 - you can first see Franz Joseph talking to Franz Ferdinand and then the bride and the groom come into frame. It's interesting how relaxed and happy they all look. Unfortunately I can't see Karl's super hot brother anywhere in that video.

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by Anonymousreply 131January 13, 2018 3:27 PM

Here's the hot brother that was missing from that video. He was so purty!

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by Anonymousreply 132January 13, 2018 3:28 PM

More Maximilian Eugene hotness! He'd be a knockout without that hideous moustache:

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by Anonymousreply 133January 13, 2018 3:32 PM

I love the wave in his hair

by Anonymousreply 134January 13, 2018 7:40 PM

Did Yusupov wear a corset?

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by Anonymousreply 135January 13, 2018 8:30 PM

Yusupov was as gay as a cricket

by Anonymousreply 136January 13, 2018 8:45 PM

R135 Wasn’t he dressed as a girl in his childhood? I might be wrong.

by Anonymousreply 137January 13, 2018 8:55 PM

Its all tangential to this thread but I guess he was an almost Royal. His wife was royal, no? His mother was the richest person in Russia aside from the Romanovs. She kept her title and name and it was transferred to her husband, then Felix.

Mom: As the head of one of the most important noble families in Russia, she also inherited a vast fortune, which meant owning the largest collection of historical jewels in Russia, second only to that of the vaults of the Russian Imperial Family. She was in possession of 21 Tiaras, 255 Brooches, 42 Bracelets, 210 kilos of assorted Objet d'art and hundreds of thousands of loose gems.[5] Some of the famous gems were: The mid-16th century La Pelegrina pearl, "The Polar Star Diamond" (41.28 carat diamond), The "La Regente Pearl" (fifth largest pearl in the world), The 17th century "Ram’s Head Diamond" (a 17.47-carat diamond), The 17th century "Sultan of Morocco Diamond" (35.67 carats, fourth largest Blue diamond in the world),[6] The 17th century "Diamond Earrings of Marie Antoinette" (two 34.59 carat diamonds),[7] The "Blue Venus Statuette Sapphire" (4-inch-tall sapphire statuette of the goddess Venus atop a large Spinel)[8] and also The 15th century "Ruby Buddha" (70+ carat Ruby statue).[9]

Following her narrow escape during the Russian Revolution, she was forced to leave all her financial assets in Russia: her entire jewel collection was hidden in a secret vault in Moika Palace in hopes that she would retain their use in their return to Russia, however all were found and sold by the Bolsheviks in 1925. During her exile she took only the major jewels, and those of historical importance, and had them sold to fund her family's life.[9]

by Anonymousreply 138January 13, 2018 9:03 PM

R138, who the hell are you talking about?

by Anonymousreply 139January 13, 2018 9:25 PM

Yusopov’s mother. Even in exile he was wealthy though.

by Anonymousreply 140January 13, 2018 9:28 PM

I am fascinated by the Mayerling incident

by Anonymousreply 141April 20, 2018 5:36 PM

R133, yeah, if you like Jeffrey Dahmer.

Speaking of killers, the archduke Ferdinand was a rabid hunter and killed 250,000 nonhuman animals. Too bad he wasn't shot earlier.

Ava Gardner was Sissi in Mayerling with Deneuve. James Mason was Franz Joseph.

by Anonymousreply 142April 20, 2018 6:59 PM

There was a Mayerling with Audrey Hepburn too.

It needs an hysterical, gothic adaptation by Pedro Almodovar or even an Austrian Horror Story: The Mayerling Affair by Ryan Murphy.

by Anonymousreply 143April 20, 2018 7:51 PM

Did the one who was Emperor of Mexico actually LIVE in Mexico?

by Anonymousreply 144April 20, 2018 8:47 PM

Scarlett O'Hara, at age 16 and the peak of her Southern Belle allure, had a seventeen inch waist, "the smallest in three counties." She achieved that waist by getting laced as tightly as possible in her corset. How could anyone have stood such a thing? It seems to me it would be painful and would making breathing difficult. Oh well, anything to be attractive to men, I guess. Beauty, as some say, hurts.

by Anonymousreply 145April 20, 2018 9:14 PM

R144, he died there too. Shot by Juarez' firing squad.* The movie "Juarez" had Brian Aherne (Olivia's one-time brother in law) as Max and Bette Davis as Carlotta. And noted hispanic actor Paul Muni as Juarez.

by Anonymousreply 146April 20, 2018 10:41 PM

R145, ladies who wore their corsets THAT tight could spend their days sitting around batting their eyes at the boys and trying to breathe, while the slaves did anything resembling work.

But not all ladies of the period did that to themselves, or boasted of 17" waists for that matter. The huge hoop skirts of the period made waists look proportionately tiny, so tight-lacing was on a downswing anywhere people were sane, and it was fashionable for girls to be a bit plump at the time. Really, someone did a study of personal ads of the period, which were largely full of men looking for wives, and a great many of them specified a desired weight of 150 lbs or more.

by Anonymousreply 147April 21, 2018 5:07 AM

R29 I'm all over ELISABETH the musical and have been for years. It's great in any language, but the Japanese do the show especially well.

Allow me to recommend the glittery, glamorous and lovely Takarazuka productions (all female) or the recent TOHO stages if you haven't seen them yet. They're all breathtaking. For those who don't know the show, the story follows Sisi from childhood to death as she has a love affair with the Lord/Archangel of Death - who is stalking her down her days using dastardly deeds to chagrin our Empress. The songs are particularly beautiful.

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by Anonymousreply 148October 29, 2018 8:36 PM

[quote]"She developed a horror of fat women and transmitted this attitude to her youngest daughter, who was terrified when, as a little girl, she first met Queen Victoria".

LOL!

by Anonymousreply 149May 24, 2019 9:05 AM

Queen Vicky was so fat, when she sat around the Palace, she really sat around the palace!

by Anonymousreply 150May 24, 2019 3:59 PM

Helene looked like Jack Palance in drag.

by Anonymousreply 151May 24, 2019 4:06 PM

Do the pathologic dieters not realise that a tiny waist makes their chest and hips look massive?

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by Anonymousreply 152August 29, 2019 11:26 PM

She doesn’t look anorexic in your pic, OP.

by Anonymousreply 153August 29, 2019 11:33 PM

R152, that was the intended effect of wearing a corset.

by Anonymousreply 154August 29, 2019 11:42 PM

The 1968 Mayerling seems to be quite forgotten.

by Anonymousreply 155August 29, 2019 11:45 PM

R115 That's because it was awful. It's a visually arresting movie but a total mess otherwise. And what were they thinking by casting very semitic-looking Omar Sharif as the Crown Prince of Austria?!

That 1930s version with Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux was pretty boring too.

by Anonymousreply 156August 30, 2019 12:02 AM

There was another successful Japanese stage-run of 'Elisabeth' this summer past, dear R29 & R148. The show is still going strong globally.

Interestingly, the young man playing Der Tod this time around has already played Rudolf for the same Elisabeth (doyenne Hanafusa Mari) for the same company (TOHO, in a lauded 2016 production).

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by Anonymousreply 157September 21, 2019 5:33 PM

Sissi's perfume

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by Anonymousreply 158September 21, 2019 5:51 PM

She was an obsessive animal hunter, one of her less endearing features. The guy who murdered her came to kill the king of Italy, but he had changed his plans, so the guy hung around, like a Datalounger who'd been stood up, till he learnt that the Empress of Austria was in town.

by Anonymousreply 159September 21, 2019 6:02 PM

I love this pic of Luigi Zucheni sporting a huge "told ya I was hardcore" grin on his face after being arrested for killing Sisi.

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by Anonymousreply 160September 21, 2019 6:44 PM

Was anyone else disappointed we only got to see 40 of over 2600 rooms at Schonbrunn Palace?

by Anonymousreply 161September 21, 2019 7:55 PM

I've seen so many adaptations of Sisi's story, on stage and in print, and in all of them her beloved youngest child Rudolf is conspicuously presented as a layabout womaniser with no respect for his family and alternately an effeminate Mama's boy tortured by some indefinite angst. Was he bisexual, or just a fuckboy who inherited Mommy's depression?

by Anonymousreply 162September 22, 2019 11:23 AM

[quote]She was an obsessive animal hunter, one of her less endearing features.

All mildly athletic royals are. They have literally nothing else to do.

by Anonymousreply 163September 22, 2019 2:12 PM

R158 Ah, the mystery which is Creed. "Due to a lack of traceable historical evidence, there has been some skepticism on the authenticity of Creed's historical background. As shown by collectors and historians, no Creed perfume existing before 1975 has been found."

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by Anonymousreply 164September 22, 2019 3:18 PM

She was instrumental in establishing the Dual Monarchy as a way to appease the nationalist sentiments of the Hungarians and stabilizing the Empire. Her tours of Hungary were popular and she also had her children tutored in the Magyar language.

by Anonymousreply 165September 22, 2019 5:11 PM

I like King Felipe VI of Bourbon and Greece, simply for having served successfully in the Spanish Army, Navy, and Air Force. We’re stuck with Lt. Bonespurs.

[italic] From September 1985 to July 1988, His Majesty trained at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza, where he pledged allegiance to the Flag on 11 October 1985. He continued his military training at the Military Naval School in Marín, and at the General Air Force Academy in San Javier, successively, and was given the commissions of Infantry Lieutenant, Navy Sub-Lieutenant, and Air Force Lieutenant. He is a helicopter pilot, with instrument flightrating in the 402nd Army Air Force Squadron. He earned Helicopter Pilot Wings from the Army and the Navy. [/italic]

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by Anonymousreply 166September 22, 2019 6:46 PM

The production of The Mayerling that the Royal Ballet did earlier this year was fucking stunning!

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by Anonymousreply 167September 22, 2019 7:41 PM

Went down a rabbit hole and found this on Reddit, posted last month...

I am translating my great uncle's autobiography from German to English and I learned he was privy to juicy information about the Mayerling Incident (the murder-suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf and his lover) that I'm unable to corroborate online. Are there resources for situations like this?

From several sources out of the train of followers Suite Papa heard the truth about Mayerling, because of which it becomes understandable that the Kaiser said, “Every rumor is better than the truth.” Rudolf bid farewell to the Baroness Vetschera, with whom he had associated for quite some time, who wanted to become empress, in the upper room of the palace. In despair over this in this significant moment, she cut everything off with a secretly hidden knife. Scream with pain he believed in was possible to attach and heal up “the thing”. But the hemorrhage advanced and therefore he shot the girl and himself. This explanation was entrusted to him (Papa) under the greatest seal of silence at that time. That this presented the truth could be realized because several gentlemen, independent of each other told the same story. -- TLDR: Crown Prince Rudolf may have had his willy cut off by his mistress.

Anyone heard this story before.

original thread here

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by Anonymousreply 168September 22, 2019 7:53 PM

R168, I’ve never heard that. Rudolf was already married; Vetsera wasn’t clever and ambitious like Anne Boleyn, she seemed happy to be his mistress. It was her body that was buried in secret, while he got a full state funeral. The suicide pact story still makes the most sense.

by Anonymousreply 169September 22, 2019 9:31 PM

"She was an obsessive animal hunter, one of her less endearing features."

"All mildly athletic royals are. They have literally nothing else to do. "

That's one of the reasons I always rather liked Princess Anne of Great Britain, she loved horses and instead of fox hunting with the aristos like a normal royal, she went into serious equestrian competition. She was good enough to be on the 1976 British Olympic team, too, for a while there she left the royal bubble and competed against anyone who could afford a really good horse!

Of course horse people are their own prosperous little bubble, and BTW back in 1976 I had a relative who was part of that bubble. She said "Oh, everyone knows that Princess Anne isn't all that good, she can just afford the best dressage horses on Earth".

by Anonymousreply 170September 22, 2019 10:27 PM

The 2009 period drama was DIE BESTEN despite being total Frauen-fare. The sumptuous costumes & stunning sets; the handsome actors playing Franz Joseph & Maximilian; the tasteful but sweeping cinematography; the swooning score over the general drama of it all. I binged the whole thing in a weekend (it's 180m). It sugar-coats the Empress' entire lifestory but hey, print the legend right? I like that it made a point to show her as the rebel at a court full of frigid simple elitists.

Sissi basically starting a coup to save gayling Rudolf from military school was the plot highlight, but her fucking Franz in a wet estate garden war aus tolle.

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by Anonymousreply 171September 22, 2019 10:51 PM

Ryan Murphy needs to make a new Feud about the Mayerling Incident.

by Anonymousreply 172October 12, 2020 6:05 AM

She looked like Sean Young.

by Anonymousreply 173October 12, 2020 6:15 AM

I adore the Sisi movies! Romy Schneider is divine. I will never forgive Alain Delon for his treatment of her.

Anyone know why the films spell it as Sissi?

by Anonymousreply 174October 12, 2020 6:38 AM

Pia Dowes singing a song from the musical "Elisabeth".

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by Anonymousreply 175October 12, 2020 7:47 AM

Queen Victoria's diaries and papers were full of stinging and sometimes cruel observations about her fellow monarchs. She was not known to have written anything bad about the Empress.

by Anonymousreply 176October 12, 2020 7:53 AM

Romy Schneider, Alain Delon and Burt Lancaster on the set of The Leopard with Visconti.

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by Anonymousreply 177October 12, 2020 9:33 AM

Romy in the portrait dress

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by Anonymousreply 178October 25, 2020 5:10 AM
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