1 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. In last week's classic, Empress Elizabeth of Austria, 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:09,720 Speaker 1: better known as Cecy, came up as Ludwig, the Second 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: of Bavaria's cousin and best friend. So we're gonna go 4 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: back to the classic episode about her today, which talks 5 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,319 Speaker 1: about the Empress herself, why she was so beloved, and 6 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: the gruesome end of her murderer. This episode is from 7 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: November from past hosts Sarah and Deblina, So enjoy. Welcome 8 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 1: to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of 9 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome to 10 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm Deblina choker Boarding. 11 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: And I'm sure everyone who's listened to the podcast for 12 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,559 Speaker 1: a while knows that one of my favorite subjects ever 13 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: is Ludvig, the second of Bavaria. He just to recap 14 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: for you, since I don't talk about him enough. He's 15 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: a Wagner super fan. He built all of those Disney castles, 16 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,400 Speaker 1: which are really more the inspiration for Disney castles than anything, 17 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: and he died a very mysterious death, which is always 18 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: good for a podcast subject at least. But after that 19 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: episode on Ludvig Aired, a lot of listeners started writing 20 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: in to suggest that we cover another member of the 21 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: Vittelsbach family, Lydvig's cousin and his best friend, the Empress 22 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: Elizabeth of Austria, who was better known as Empress Ceci. 23 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: And Cecy's really considered a prime example of Vittelsbach eccentricity, 24 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: but she's also considered, interestingly enough, a prime representative of 25 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,839 Speaker 1: the family. She married into the Habsburgs, And that's pretty 26 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: ironic because Cecy wasn't really a very good Hapsburg at all. No, 27 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: she wasn't. She was headstrong, introverted, and she preferred Corfu 28 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: to Vienna. She believed monarchical government was obsolete, and worst 29 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 1: of all, for Habsburg matriarch, she was more interested in 30 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: tight laced corsets than having lots of babies. Yet she's 31 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: often considered the favorite Habsburg and even the original people's princess, 32 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: because she was so popular with her subjects. And you'll 33 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 1: notice a lot of Princess Diana similarities here. At the 34 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: one anniversary of her death, obviously a long time after 35 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,960 Speaker 1: the end of the Austro Hungarian Empire, you could find 36 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: her lovely picture on mugs and kitchy souvenirs, and there's 37 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: even a CCI museum in Vienna. Mattel even made a 38 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: CC barbie for the European market. So we've got to ask, 39 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: what is it about this Habsburg empress and this Vittlesbock 40 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: oddball essentially that continues to fascinate people enough to make 41 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: a barbie out of her. So Cecy's life story is 42 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: often told with this sort of fairy princess kind of spin, 43 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: and a lot of that started because of these movies 44 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: that came out in the nineteen fifties that really presented 45 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: her as the perfect fairy tale young princess who has 46 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: an idyllic childhood, meets her prince, lives happily ever after. Um, 47 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: but if you stop at h teen, that really does 48 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: kind of fit her her actual life story. She was 49 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: born Elizabeth amily Eugenie at a castle on Lake Starnberg 50 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: on Christmas Eve eighteen thirty seven, and she was the 51 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:17,079 Speaker 1: daughter of the Bavarian Duke Maximilian Joseph and Princess Lodovica, 52 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: who was the vittles Buck daughter of the Bavarian king. 53 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: And she I know that sounds like an illustrious background, 54 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 1: and it is, but she grew up in a more 55 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: rural setting than you'd expect. She grew up horseback riding, 56 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: hunting with her father, mountain climbing, doing charity work like 57 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: visiting peasants, all again kind of princess e sort of 58 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: sounding things. And she really was a country sort of 59 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: princess with this relaxed, loving family, a lot of siblings, 60 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: and a very close environment she grew up in. But 61 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: she was also really pretty. She was considered to be 62 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: the most beautiful princess in Europe in fact, so it's 63 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: no surprise that in August eighteen fifty three, her twenty 64 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: three year old cousin, Franz Joseph, fell in love with her. 65 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: And now Franz Joseph had become Emperor of Austria at 66 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: age eighteen after his uncle abdicated and his father was 67 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: skipped over to reboot the monarchy with a new youthful leader. 68 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: But in eighteen fifty three assassination attempt made it imperative 69 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: that he get a family going, and so his mother, Sophie, 70 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,159 Speaker 1: decided she wanted to keep things in the family. She 71 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: really wanted to set Franz Joseph up with her sister, 72 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: Ludovika's daughter Helene, and invited the ladies to summer getaway. 73 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: It seemed like it would be a good match. Helene 74 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: was extremely religious, she was dutiful, probably would have made 75 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 1: a good match for hard working Franz Joseph. But Ludovica 76 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: fatefully brought along her younger daughter too, so Elizabeth was there, 77 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: and Franz Joseph fell for her instead of Helene. Yeah, 78 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: and they ended up announcing their engagement before they even 79 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 1: left the little country retreat. And Ceci is supposed to 80 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,719 Speaker 1: have said at least some of the following foreboding gems. 81 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: I mean, you can, I guess, pick whichever one you 82 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,479 Speaker 1: like the best. She is supposed to have said, I 83 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: am so fond of the emperor. If only he were 84 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 1: not an emperor. That doesn't sound very good. Uh, one 85 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,479 Speaker 1: doesn't turn down an emperor again, kind of scary sounding. 86 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: And oh, if only he were a tailor, which that's 87 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: just kind of funny. That one does sound pretty funny. 88 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: I don't know if we should dig it too lightly, though, 89 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: because cec did, of course, later become one of the 90 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,840 Speaker 1: most famous clients of the legendary couturier Charles Frederick Worth, 91 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: so she did like clothes. Maybe a tailor would have 92 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: been a good match. But whatever she specifically said, it 93 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: seems likely that fifteen year old Cecy knew that she 94 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,160 Speaker 1: was going to have a really hard time being Empress 95 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: of Austria, and trouble really started almost immediately for them. 96 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,040 Speaker 1: Even the couple's honeymoon was cut short since Franz Joseph 97 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: would have to ride back to Vienna every morning to 98 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:50,719 Speaker 1: deal with the Crimean war, so it was sort of 99 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: a choppy honeymoon, I guess, with him going back and forth. 100 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:56,840 Speaker 1: Once installed at court, Cecy did her best to perform 101 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,840 Speaker 1: her duties, but she found the formality they're compared to 102 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: very just terrible. At the time, to be in the 103 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: top tier at court, you had to prove unbroken descent 104 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: from sixteen ancestors and the upper nobility, eight paternal and 105 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: eight maternal lapses or marriages into the lesser nobility or 106 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 1: middle classes were only acceptable if they occurred before the 107 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: great great grandparents generation. So just to show you how 108 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 1: strict that's just getting into court, you can imagine the 109 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 1: kind of rules that regulate court once you're really there. 110 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: So CEC did make attempts to loosen up the etiquette 111 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,039 Speaker 1: a little bit, try to modernize it some, but she 112 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:36,840 Speaker 1: was only met with disapproval from her mother in law, 113 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:41,200 Speaker 1: the arch Duchess Sophie, who also started to censure her 114 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,480 Speaker 1: daughter in law about her constant horseback riding. She would 115 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: take lots of horseback riding lessons and the fact that 116 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,720 Speaker 1: she'd go out riding without chaperones, which her mother in 117 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:53,440 Speaker 1: law thought was kind of unseemly but also a little 118 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,880 Speaker 1: bit dangerous. So cc you know, this young teenager starts 119 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: to get pretty stressed out, not just from being away 120 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: from home now, but because of stressful court life in 121 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,600 Speaker 1: Vienna and all this pressure from her mother in law 122 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: about how to act, and eventually she starts to get 123 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: sort of sick. She'd have these panics about going down long, 124 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: steep stairs, and she'd have coughing fits, and she'd suffer 125 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: from what people considered classic vittles Bock melancholy. If you've 126 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: listened to the Ludwig episode, you know all about that. 127 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: And things really only got worse when her first baby 128 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: arrived only ten months after the wedding. She named her 129 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: Sophie after friends Joseph's mother, and that was a name 130 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: that fit because the baby basically belonged to the Archduchess. 131 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: CC was not allowed to play any part in its 132 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: care and education and was truly upset about that. And 133 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: she wasn't involved in the upbringing of her next daughter either, Gazella. 134 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 1: But she really fell into a new level of depression 135 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:59,239 Speaker 1: when baby Sophie died in eighteen fifty seven. Um Cec 136 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: stopped eating. She turned to these fasting cures, where she'd 137 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: live on light meals of milk or eggs or what 138 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: sounds really terrible, raw beef juice served as a soup. 139 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: UM just trying to deal with her her depression in 140 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: in this way, and these mood related fast were just 141 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: the beginning for CC. Today, many historians looking back at 142 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 1: her habits believe that she suffered from anorexia and also 143 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: exercised to excess. She'd ride for hours or in later 144 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: years ago on these long brisk walks. She took up 145 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: fencing and had gymnasiums installed in all of her palaces 146 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: so that she could work out whenever she wanted. If 147 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: her weight crept above fifty kilows or about one and 148 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: ten pounds and she was five eight, so just keep 149 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,199 Speaker 1: that she was really really tall for the time. She'd 150 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: start a hunger cure until she lost the weight, and 151 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 1: she'd weigh herself as many as three times a day. 152 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: Occasionally she'd eat a lot, but that was rare. In 153 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy eight, for example, she was reported to have 154 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,559 Speaker 1: feasted on a meal of a hen and Italian and salad, 155 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: champagne and cake. In one she bought an English country 156 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 1: house and had a spiral staircase put in from her 157 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,560 Speaker 1: living room to the kitchen I guess, presumably to sneak 158 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: down down as yeah, And I mean, I just think 159 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,680 Speaker 1: that the fact that these two events are actually of 160 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,319 Speaker 1: note in her dietary history gives us a real sense 161 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:24,080 Speaker 1: of her her daily meals. I mean hand the salad, 162 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: champagne and cake that doesn't sound like that much. Also 163 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:30,839 Speaker 1: fast thing, however, wasn't nearly as troubling to her family 164 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:33,959 Speaker 1: as her habit of tight lacing corsets. And of course 165 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,679 Speaker 1: that was the style for the time, but CC really 166 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: took it beyond the style into really kind of outrageous territory. 167 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: Her goal waste was fifty centimes. That's nineteen inches. Again, 168 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: she is five ft eight, so super tiny, and her 169 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: pregnancies really really bothered her because obviously nineteen inch waste 170 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: is exact opposite of being pregnant. And after a third pregnancy, 171 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,680 Speaker 1: which she really spent trying to hide her figure, which 172 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 1: she saw as kind of grotesque, she finally had a 173 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: son and heir named Rudolph, which meant that she could 174 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 1: stop having kids. She had done her her wifely duty 175 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:17,439 Speaker 1: at last. Yeah, and she didn't just stop having kids, 176 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: she also really stopped trying to be the empress that 177 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: her mother in law had wanted her to be. She'd 178 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: sleep only a few hours and stay up all night 179 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: reading and writing romantic poetry. There's an article in History 180 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,719 Speaker 1: Today by Walter Vandreiken and Ron van Death and they 181 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 1: call this her secret diary that she would write in. 182 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 1: She also took up smoking, and she eventually learned English, French, Hungarian, 183 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 1: and modern Greek. She has a lot of time to study, 184 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 1: as we're going to talk about in a little bit. 185 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 1: By eighteen sixty, she also got an easy way out 186 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: of her official role. Suffering from anemia, exhaustion, and a 187 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 1: lung complaints, Cecy's doctor prescribed a curative trip to Madeira. 188 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: This meant that she could leave Vienna with a good reason, 189 00:10:57,320 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: so sweet it's an excuse to get out of town. 190 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: And after six months in Madeira she was entirely recovered 191 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 1: and returned home, only to have all of the symptoms, 192 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: all of the bad health come back after just four 193 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:15,040 Speaker 1: days in Vienna. So I think we're seeing some psychosomatic 194 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:18,320 Speaker 1: things going on here um And this really started a 195 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: pattern of leaving for exotic locales like Greece or Venice 196 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: or home or Spotsina going and seeing her family in Bavaria, 197 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: are going to Austrian spas, and then popping back into 198 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: Vienna only occasionally. She was away for almost two entire 199 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: years between eighteen sixty two and eighteen sixty four, and 200 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 1: on her way back to Vienna an unannounced trip back 201 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:45,079 Speaker 1: to Vienna, she threw up in her carriage four times. 202 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: So she did not like living in the capital city. 203 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: I think it's safe to assume no, she did, but 204 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: she liked keeping her lifestyle the way it was. In 205 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: order to get fresh dairy products on her rambles, which 206 00:11:56,679 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 1: she loved, she'd only drink milk from her own animals. 207 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: She would essentially she'd bring along goats and sheep with her, 208 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,920 Speaker 1: so essentially travel sized cows, you know what I mean. Basically, 209 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,120 Speaker 1: I think her her dairy obsession is kind of interesting. 210 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: I read one thing about how at some of her 211 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:20,079 Speaker 1: estates in Vienna she had full ranges of cow breeds 212 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: to choose from, and the cook at the confectionery would 213 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: actually specify which cow he wanted milk or cream or 214 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: butter from, because they had different flavors and different tastes. 215 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:43,080 Speaker 1: We have to wonder what Franz Joseph thought of his 216 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:45,199 Speaker 1: wife being gone all the time. I mean, after all, 217 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 1: this was a love match, so presumably he had some 218 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: affection for her. Not to mention, she's the consort, so 219 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: she has a lot of official roles um. Even though 220 00:12:55,520 --> 00:13:00,119 Speaker 1: they were frequently separated from the eighteen sixties onward fronts 221 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:02,839 Speaker 1: Off really did stay deeply in love with his wife. 222 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,559 Speaker 1: They write a lot of letters to each other. He 223 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: would build these palaces for her and her far off 224 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: vacation spots or sometimes close to home, trying to trying 225 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: to urge her to at least be near him in 226 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:18,640 Speaker 1: Vienna or make it easier for him to visit. He 227 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: built a Pompey inspired Palace and Crafu, and this forest 228 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:27,119 Speaker 1: villa outside of Vienna to give her a lot of privacy, 229 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 1: had it decorated with frescoes from Elizabeth's favorite play, which 230 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: was A midsummer Night's Stream and It's funny. She acknowledged 231 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,679 Speaker 1: the Midsummer Night's Dream reference, but she didn't stay there 232 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,080 Speaker 1: very much, and when she did, she'd sleep on a 233 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 1: mattress on the floor near a window so she could 234 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 1: see the sky out the window. Franz Joseph wasn't totally 235 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: selfless in this, though he did want a second son 236 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,080 Speaker 1: to secure his line, though Cecy's doctors said that her 237 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: health couldn't permit a fourth pregnancy. Oddly enough, it was 238 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:59,320 Speaker 1: her growing interest in politics that finally convinced her to 239 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 1: have a fourth child. As we mentioned, CC wasn't the 240 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:06,480 Speaker 1: best representative of monarchy, at least from the Habsburg perspective. 241 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,679 Speaker 1: She thought that it was an outdated institution. But she 242 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:13,560 Speaker 1: was really interested in Hungarian politics, an interest that might 243 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,719 Speaker 1: have been stoked by her possible lover, Count you La 244 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: and Rassi eventually prime Minister of Hungary and uh, we're 245 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: not going to go into that too. Much, because there's 246 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,960 Speaker 1: just not that much information on them except that they 247 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,240 Speaker 1: were good friends and they both obviously had a strong 248 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: interest in Hungary. But in eighteen sixty seven, the Austro 249 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: Hungarian Compromise made Franz Joseph the Emperor of Austria and 250 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 1: the King of Hungary and by extension, Elizabeth Empress Um 251 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: and it divided the monarchy into two halves, and each 252 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: half had its own constitution in Parliament, but they were 253 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 1: ruled by one leader and one ministry. And because of 254 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 1: her interest in Hungary and its culture, she had another 255 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: villa built there. She'd take her kids to Budapest all 256 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:03,880 Speaker 1: the time. CC became immensely popular in Hungary. She decided 257 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: to eventually repay that love of the people by having 258 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: a patriotic Hungarian baby, so one that would be born 259 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: in Hungary, one that would symbolize the alliance between the 260 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:19,360 Speaker 1: two countries. So CC and Franz Joseph. When I had 261 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: and had one more child, Marie Valerie, and she was 262 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: born in Budapest April eighteen sixty eight, and this time 263 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:29,560 Speaker 1: I mean she she was the Hungarian baby, but she 264 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: was also finally Cecy's baby. She got to raise her 265 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: and be in charge of her, her upbringing and her education. 266 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 1: The death of the Archduchess Sophie in eighteen seventy two 267 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 1: gave CC even more freedom to do as she pleased. 268 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: She started entering writing competitions as far off as England 269 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: and Ireland, and she'd be seen in public for only 270 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,160 Speaker 1: the biggest events like the World Exhibition in Vienna and 271 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 1: the wedding of her daughter Gizella or Franz Joseph Silver Jubilee, 272 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: so things like that barely ever in Vienna right when 273 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 1: she travel she'd go incognito. So it's probably strange, then, 274 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: for someone who's so interested in being unknown to simultaneously 275 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: be so interested in her looks. We've already talked about 276 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: CC's extreme dieting and her exercising, but she's also associated 277 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,840 Speaker 1: with something that's become known as her cult of beauty. 278 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: She almost idolized her own beauty, or at least became 279 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:22,840 Speaker 1: a slave to it, trying to live up to her 280 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: own reputation. She'd be sewn into those figure hugging clothes 281 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: that we talked about to show off her tiny waist. 282 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: She'd take icy cold showers in the morning and warm 283 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: olive oil baths every evening, and she'd wear night masks 284 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,120 Speaker 1: of raw veal and strawberries for her skin, which again 285 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,080 Speaker 1: sounds kind of I don't strawberry sounds nice, raw veal 286 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: not so much. She also had a lot of hair. 287 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: It was dark blonde when she was younger, chestnut colored 288 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: when she was older, and it was not only really long, 289 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: but really thick. If you look at any portraits of her, 290 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 1: pictures of her, you'll see her with this particular her 291 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:02,960 Speaker 1: hairstyle kind of curled in the front and then just 292 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,800 Speaker 1: piles and piles and piles of braids and all of 293 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: that hair took three hours of attention every single day. 294 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: This is when she would study languages and philosophy and 295 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: literature and history. And her hairdresser, who would come on 296 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:20,159 Speaker 1: all of those travels, just like the goats and the sheep, 297 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 1: would wash her hair in what we're called essences every 298 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: three weeks, and that day was just totally set aside 299 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,440 Speaker 1: for hair care, so she really could say, I'm sorry, 300 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: can't go out and washing my hair. Um. For special occasions, 301 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: she would really adorn herself and try to draw even 302 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 1: more attention to her beautiful hair. She'd wear this set 303 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: of seven specially made diamond and pearl stars, and um 304 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: those kind of became associated with Elizabeth to CC's stars. 305 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:57,119 Speaker 1: They're sometimes called. She'd give them as tokens to family 306 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,159 Speaker 1: members and ladies in waiting, kind of like a a 307 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,679 Speaker 1: calling card almost, and even her minimal use of makeup 308 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,160 Speaker 1: played into her own cult of beauty. She wanted to 309 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,600 Speaker 1: differentiate herself, her own natural looks, that is, from the 310 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,639 Speaker 1: painted ladies that she saw around her. From the eighteen 311 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,119 Speaker 1: sixties onwards, she started to collect photos in Venice. In 312 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two she started an album specifically about beauties 313 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: and broke it up into different collections like Beauties from 314 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:27,640 Speaker 1: the East, historical beauties, dancers and skimpy outfits. Things like that. 315 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: It's hard to think of c. C as entirely vain, 316 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 1: though she took a strong interest in the poor and 317 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 1: in particular the mentally ill, just like her cousin Ludwig 318 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 1: the Second. In eighteen seventy one, her husband actually asked 319 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:41,960 Speaker 1: her what she'd like for her Saints Day, and she 320 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 1: said she wanted a tiger cub and a medallion, but 321 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: quote a fully equipped lunatic asylum would please me. Most. Yeah, 322 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: I mean, just sounding so strange, and it's important to remember, 323 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: you know, when we when we talk about all these 324 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:59,120 Speaker 1: sort of eccentric things that she does and her own 325 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:02,640 Speaker 1: cult of beauty, just how popular she really was. I mean, 326 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,639 Speaker 1: people loved her. We talked a little bit about how 327 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,240 Speaker 1: much the Hungarians loved her because she was interested in 328 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: their culture and their cause. But the Austrians really came 329 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: around to or two when she took care of the 330 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:17,359 Speaker 1: wounded during or after a battle, and people just really 331 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:22,680 Speaker 1: gravitated toward her. But CC's life of eccentric rambling took 332 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:26,800 Speaker 1: a dark turn when in January, her son, Crown Prince 333 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: Rudolph killed himself in this bizarre murder suicide with his 334 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:34,080 Speaker 1: seventeen year old mistress. And we got to talk about 335 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: Rudolph for just a minute here. He was also kind 336 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: of an odd ball. He believed that his father's views 337 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,399 Speaker 1: were really old fashioned, and like his mother Cecy, he 338 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,440 Speaker 1: wanted a looser court, kind of a more liberal government. 339 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: And he actually went as far as to write articles 340 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: for a leading liberal newspaper under a pseudonym, which sounds 341 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,480 Speaker 1: pretty I mean, I wonder how he got that role 342 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:00,239 Speaker 1: if he admitted who he was and then said, use 343 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: my name. But um, that's a pretty radical thing for 344 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:06,200 Speaker 1: the crown prince to be doing. And he also socialized 345 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: with people. We we talked about how strict that court 346 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:12,199 Speaker 1: etiquette was. He socialized with people who were outside of 347 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,200 Speaker 1: his class. He had a lot of Jewish intellectual friends, 348 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:19,159 Speaker 1: and all of this, instead of making him kind of 349 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,120 Speaker 1: the New Guard maybe as he was hoping, really made 350 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,679 Speaker 1: him an outcast with his father and with the aristocracy 351 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:28,080 Speaker 1: as a whole. And as a result, he was allowed 352 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:30,840 Speaker 1: no part in government and married off to a Belgian 353 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 1: princess and clearly deeply unhappy and disturbed, and so he 354 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:39,119 Speaker 1: entered into a suicidal pact with the teenage Baroness Marie Vetzra. 355 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: And it's possible he first asked one of his other 356 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:46,160 Speaker 1: mistresses to take part in the pact but was refused. So, yeah, 357 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,520 Speaker 1: just don't get any ideas that they were some kind 358 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: of star cross lovers. It seems like he really just 359 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:55,040 Speaker 1: wanted to just the one who agreed. Yeah, exactly. So 360 00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:58,040 Speaker 1: the resulting deaths were called Marling incident, and they were 361 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,719 Speaker 1: a huge scandal, and the emperor tried to cover up 362 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: all the facts of the case, and there was some 363 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,200 Speaker 1: conspiracy theory surrounding us, right, yeah, I mean the main 364 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:10,000 Speaker 1: one is that Rudolf didn't first kill his lover and 365 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:13,639 Speaker 1: then commit suicide, but was in fact murdered, and the 366 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,200 Speaker 1: young baroness was murdered as well to make it look 367 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,159 Speaker 1: like it was a murder suicide. That's the main theory, 368 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: but there are lots of them. So regardless of how 369 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:26,800 Speaker 1: it happened, c c was truly devastated by her son's death. 370 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,639 Speaker 1: She took to wearing mourning for the rest of her life. 371 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: And just to give you some context to Rudolf's death 372 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,920 Speaker 1: wasn't just one unhappy event in her life. It came 373 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,679 Speaker 1: right in the middle of a string of family tragedies. 374 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:42,960 Speaker 1: And the first you're familiar with because we talked about 375 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:47,520 Speaker 1: it pretty recently in our Emperor Maximilian of Mexico episode. 376 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,159 Speaker 1: He was, of course her brother in law and was 377 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: executed in eighteen sixty seven. After that, his wife, Carlo Cha, 378 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 1: was driven mad. Another one we've talked about before in 379 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: six CC's beloved cousin Ludwig the Second drown or died 380 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:08,760 Speaker 1: under some kind of mysterious circumstances then in eighteen ninety six, 381 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 1: another brother in law, Carl Ludwig, died from a parasite 382 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: after drinking from the river Jordan's. And then the last 383 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:20,359 Speaker 1: blow really came in eighteen seven when CC's sister Sophie, 384 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,679 Speaker 1: who was once a fiance of Ludvig's, died in a 385 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:29,480 Speaker 1: fire at um a Paris charity bazaar. So even before 386 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:31,880 Speaker 1: some of those later events happened, even after the death 387 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 1: of Rudolph, Cecy was afraid that she was going to 388 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:37,639 Speaker 1: go crazy from all of the grief in her life, 389 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,640 Speaker 1: go mad, and according to that History Today article we mentioned, 390 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: she stopped writing poetry. She kind of encouraged her husband 391 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 1: in his relationship with the actress Katerina Schrot and uh 392 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,879 Speaker 1: she went on to become his main companion. Really for 393 00:22:53,920 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: the rest of his life. Ceci kept on traveling to 394 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: going to all of those spots far away near visiting Bavaria, 395 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 1: just constantly on the move. As we mentioned, Cecy would 396 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,360 Speaker 1: usually go incognito on these travels, staying under an assumed name. 397 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,400 Speaker 1: But in while she was on a trip to Geneva 398 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,680 Speaker 1: to visit the Baroness Julie Rothschild, the hotel owner recognized her, 399 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 1: and so news that she was in town wound up 400 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,680 Speaker 1: in the paper. This was perfect timing for a twenty 401 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 1: year old anarchist named Luigi Luccini who was looking to 402 00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: kill someone important. His original target had been Prince Henri 403 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,639 Speaker 1: di or Leone, who was supposed to visit Geneva, but 404 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 1: the prince never showed up, and so when Luccini saw 405 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: the Austro Hungarian empress was in town, he decided she'd 406 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:49,359 Speaker 1: make a suitable replacement, especially since she wore all black 407 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,640 Speaker 1: and would be easy to spot. So on September tim 408 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:55,119 Speaker 1: he approached Cecy and her lady in waiting on the 409 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:59,280 Speaker 1: street and stabbed her with a homemade file, And initially 410 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: cc didn't even realized that she had been stabbed because 411 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:05,320 Speaker 1: she wore such thick corset, she thought she'd just been 412 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:08,400 Speaker 1: pushed to the ground, so she got up. She quickly 413 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: walked to the ship on Lake Geneva that she had 414 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 1: been bound for, and at that point she collapsed and 415 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,400 Speaker 1: died soon after. The file turned out to have barely 416 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:22,640 Speaker 1: struck her heart. So the assassin was easily arrested, taken in, 417 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 1: and he explained how he had wanted to kill somebody 418 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:29,400 Speaker 1: powerful and said quote, only he who works may eat, 419 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:32,439 Speaker 1: which turned out to be a really peculiar statement in 420 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:36,119 Speaker 1: light of CC's eating disorders. But he also admitted that 421 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: he really didn't know who she was. He just knew 422 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,360 Speaker 1: that she was somebody important. He had no knowledge of 423 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:46,160 Speaker 1: all of her charitable deeds, her trying to help mentally 424 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 1: ill people and um the poor, all the things that 425 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: made her such a popular figure with a lot of Europe. 426 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:58,160 Speaker 1: And Luccini wanted to be executed as a martyr for 427 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:00,719 Speaker 1: his crime. He asked to be killed old, but he 428 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,119 Speaker 1: really should have picked the place where he committed his 429 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:05,680 Speaker 1: murder a little better, because the death penalty had by 430 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,359 Speaker 1: that point been outlawed in Switzerland, so instead he got 431 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: life in prison, and he hanged himself with a belt 432 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: um many years later in nineteen ten, supposedly after his 433 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 1: memoirs had been confiscated, and of course Franz Joseph was 434 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,439 Speaker 1: deeply upset by what had happened. When he heard that 435 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:26,719 Speaker 1: Ceci had been killed, he's supposed to have said, quote, 436 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: you have no idea how much I loved this woman, 437 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:32,240 Speaker 1: And in light of all his family tragedy, he said, 438 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 1: quote nothing has been spared me in this world. So 439 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,919 Speaker 1: a sad end to the love story of Phronsie and 440 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:44,200 Speaker 1: Cecy here. But there's a very mccab twist to this 441 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:46,240 Speaker 1: story too, and he knew to Bolina is gonna like 442 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:49,920 Speaker 1: it because there is a preserved head waiting at the 443 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,440 Speaker 1: end of this podcast for all of us. So for 444 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:57,679 Speaker 1: eighty seven years after Elizabeth's death, Geneva's morgue contained the 445 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:03,360 Speaker 1: decapitated head of assassin Luigi Luccini, and in the nineteen eighties, 446 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:08,159 Speaker 1: the head, which was preserved in formaldehyde, was sent to Austria. 447 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,479 Speaker 1: And there's an a New York Times article from the 448 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:15,520 Speaker 1: eighties um that quotes a doctor old Rich Freik, who 449 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,320 Speaker 1: was the chief of Geneva's Institute of Legal Medicine. He said, 450 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,720 Speaker 1: quote personally, I am happy we are rid of it. 451 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,600 Speaker 1: You could keep it for two hundred or three hundred 452 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,320 Speaker 1: years like that. I had wanted to dispose of it, 453 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 1: perhaps make a mass casting of the face, but the 454 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,919 Speaker 1: Austrians wanted it, perhaps to see a piece of history 455 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:39,480 Speaker 1: of the Austro Hungarian Empire. Gets weirder than that, though, 456 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 1: because just a few years after the swap, it seemed 457 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,640 Speaker 1: like everybody had forgotten how the head got from Geneva 458 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: to Austria in the first place. There's an article I 459 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:53,399 Speaker 1: found from the Lancet in the late nineties, and the 460 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,440 Speaker 1: head was by that point at the Museum of Pathology, 461 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:58,760 Speaker 1: and it was just a total puzzle to everyone how 462 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,119 Speaker 1: it had gotten there. Um. Carl Hlobar, who is the 463 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:06,439 Speaker 1: chairman of the Institute for the History of Medicine, figured, quote, 464 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: the Swiss probably thought, my god, what do we do 465 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,520 Speaker 1: with this? We'll give it to Austria. So I like that. Um. 466 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 1: They kind of assumed that the Swiss didn't want the 467 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: head and figured Austria would, And really Austria did want 468 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,640 Speaker 1: the head. Correct. And I would just like to point 469 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: out that I'm not the only one in the studio 470 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: who's interested in his I know, I think you started. 471 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:33,120 Speaker 1: You started the trend then, So unlike Ned Kelly's head 472 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,679 Speaker 1: that we discussed a few episodes ago, no one wanted 473 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:41,400 Speaker 1: this creepy experimented on head of Luccini. The Pathology Museum 474 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:43,680 Speaker 1: director at the time or curator at the time even 475 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,840 Speaker 1: said that the head was quote of no scientific worth, 476 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 1: and they've been trying to get permission to have it 477 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: interred for years, and that finally happened in two thousands. 478 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:55,280 Speaker 1: And you know why it happened. Why because people kept 479 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:58,040 Speaker 1: on coming to the museum because Emperor CC is still 480 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 1: so popular. People would come, like on the day she 481 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,760 Speaker 1: was assassinated and try to see the head. And one 482 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:07,840 Speaker 1: of the stipulations of the HUD being transferred to Austria 483 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,200 Speaker 1: was that it would not be on public view because 484 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: that's just too gross and creepy. It's it's I mean, 485 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: a head and formaldehyde come on with that. In the 486 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:17,919 Speaker 1: stipulation that they I mean, this is gross and creepy 487 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 1: and you can't do it. Those are That's my interpretation 488 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: of the transfer. So I think closing with that head 489 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:30,560 Speaker 1: pretty much wraps up the story of um CC's murderers death. 490 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: But um I mean I wanted to talk a little 491 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,240 Speaker 1: bit more about who she was and the things that 492 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: made her so unusual for her time. How strange it 493 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 1: is that those things are are common now or or 494 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: not unusual at all. The extreme dieting, the exercising, the 495 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: being obsessed with her hair and aging and losing her beauty, 496 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:56,480 Speaker 1: all things that just a few decades later really wouldn't 497 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: make her stand out at all, wouldn't have been a 498 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: big deal. And yeah, that's a good point, she once 499 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,640 Speaker 1: wrote to her daughter Marie Valerie quote, marriage is a 500 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: nonsensical institution. One is sold off as a fifteen year 501 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,959 Speaker 1: old child, taking an oath that one does not understand, 502 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:15,760 Speaker 1: cannot revoke, and then regrets for thirty years or more. 503 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,480 Speaker 1: I just thought that was an interesting quote to end on, because, 504 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: you know, after we told this whole story about the 505 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:23,959 Speaker 1: love story with Fronz Joseph, it gives you a different 506 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: idea of how she felt when she got married. Thank 507 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:34,720 Speaker 1: you so much for joining us on this Saturday. If 508 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: you have heard an email address or a Facebook you 509 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,560 Speaker 1: are l or something similar over the course of today's episode, 510 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: since it is from the archive that might be out 511 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:46,160 Speaker 1: of date. Now, you can email us at history podcast 512 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 1: at how stuff Works dot com, and you can find 513 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 1: us all over social media at missed in History and 514 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Google podcast, 515 00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, and wherever else you listen 516 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:04,440 Speaker 1: to podcasts. Stuff You Missed in History Class is a 517 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 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