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Princess Elisabeth of Austria- Sisi of the Sorrows
The Wittelsbachs had a history of crazy. Both Ludwig I and Ludwig II had their foibles (See posts on both of them here: http://www.historynaked.com/spanish-dancer-king/ and here: http://www.historynaked.com/ludwig-mad-king/ ) However, Ludwig II’s cousin, Elisabeth or Sisi as she was known, had a life more tragic than crazy. On the surface, Sisi had it all- beauty, wealth, a good marriage- but it was all a sham. The lady had a life full of sorrow. Born Her Royal Highness Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie on Christmas Eve 1837, Sisi as she was called by the family was the fourth child of Duke Maximilian in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. As was customary with…
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The Mayerling Incident
Crown Prince Rudolf was the heir to the Habsburg throne and the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph and his beautiful wife Elisabeth, or Sisi. He was in a notoriously bad marriage to Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, daughter of Leopold II. At first, the prince seemed to be in love but Stéphanie suffered under her mother-in-laws scorn. The elegant Sisi referred to Stéphanie as a “clumsy oaf”. Rudolf and his mother were more alike in their ideals than his very conservative father, however, their relationship was not close. Sisi suffered from depression and Rudolf’s care was primarily from Sisi’s formidable mother-in-law. Not much a good example of family life to…
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The Spanish Dancer and the King
In a previous post, we took a look at the life of Ludwig, the Mad King of Bavaria. (Please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/ludwig-mad-king/) He was not the only odd ball in the Wittelsbach family. The grandfather for which he was named had a distinctly overbearing personality and an obsession beautiful actresses. Ludwig came to the throne at the age of thirty-nine and cut a rather unimpressive figure. He was known as a stingy eccentric, who liked to wander the streets of Munich dressed in threadbare clothes and carrying a broken umbrella. As previously mentioned, he loved beautiful women and courted a string of women to whom he wrote reams of bad…
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Ludwig the Mad King
The Wittelsbachs ruled Bavaria and in a landscape of mentally unstable royals, they were a special breed. Ludwig was born into a family rife with eccentricities if not downright psychosis. His aunt Alexandra was convinced she had swallowed an entire grand piano made of glass. That just lets you know what we are dealing with. Ludwig was born to Maximilian II and his wife Princess Marie of Prussia at Nymphenburg Palace. They were a mismatch pair even though they were cousins as Maximilian was Catholic and Marie was Protestant. Marrying cousins is never a great idea, however, in a family rife with mental illness it’s a disaster. When both Ludwig and…
