1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 1: and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised. 3 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: On September, the streets of Geneva bustled with their normal 4 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 1: Sunday fare. Families strolled down the waterfront along the western 5 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: bank of Lake Geneva, ready to spend the afternoon lounging 6 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,559 Speaker 1: on park benches that overlooked the snowy caps of the Alps. 7 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,919 Speaker 1: In the distance. Among the crowd, two women were walking 8 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: down the Quadumant Blanc to board a steamship set for 9 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: the nearby Swiss city of montrou from Afar. Nothing about 10 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: the pair was particularly remarkable. They were well dressed, one 11 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: in a light, modest dress, while the other was draped 12 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:07,119 Speaker 1: dramatically in black fabric from head to toe, the soul 13 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: exception being the white parasol that she held low above 14 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: her head. But as the two women ascended the gangplank, 15 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: muffled whispers and subtle pointing fingers began pointing out the 16 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: cracks in their otherwise unremarkable facade. The taller of the 17 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: two women, the one in black, held her fan tight 18 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: enough for her knuckles to strain against the fabric. Her dress, 19 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: while undoubtedly expensive, was speckled with dust only somewhat hastily 20 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: wiped away. Her companion in the light colored dress talked 21 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: to her in hushed tones, scanning her body with an 22 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: expression of deep concern. As the ship left the port, 23 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: the whispers continued to spread across the deck, like smoke 24 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: trapped under glass. Tendrils slowly expanded until they clouded everything 25 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: else in sight. Did you see what happened down there? 26 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: That man came out of nowhere? He pushed that woman 27 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: in the fancy black dress to the ground. Who would 28 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 1: do such a thing? But all of the whisper stopped 29 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: when the woman in black collapsed on the ship's deck. 30 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: A moment of deafening silence gave way to a flurry 31 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: of panicked bodies, searching desperately for aid, but the ship 32 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: had already cast off into the harbor, and there was 33 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:35,079 Speaker 1: no doctor on board. With shaking hands, the woman's companion 34 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: in white quickly cut open the woman's corset to help 35 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: her breathe, only to pull back in horror when she 36 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:46,959 Speaker 1: found a small brown stain spreading across the woman's chest. 37 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: For Going any last attempts at anonymity. The woman in white, 38 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: the Countess are, called for the captain and demanded that 39 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: he turned the ship back to port. When as for 40 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: a reason why, the prominent noble lady told the captain 41 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: with all the remaining poise she had, that Elizabeth, the 42 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: Empress of Austria, had been stabbed. Officially, the Empress was 43 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: not in Geneva at all. She had been traveling under 44 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: the pseudonym Countess von Hohenems during her excursions for the 45 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: sake of privacy as well as safety. There had been 46 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: increased reports of assassination attempts on European monarchs in recent years, 47 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: and since the Empress refused to travel with a guard, 48 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: a gnome de geer was necessary for her travels. However, 49 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: just the previous day, a newspaper in Geneva had caught 50 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: wind of the ruse and published the Empress's whereabouts in 51 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: an article that found its way into the hands of 52 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: an Italian anarchist named Luigi Licheni. The following day, the 53 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: man sat stationed outside the Empress's hotel, a needle file 54 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: hidden in the right sleeve of his coat as he 55 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: waited for his moment to strike back aboard the ship. 56 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: The crew hastily scrambled to assemble a stretcher out of 57 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: spare oars and sails, while the captain slowly turned the 58 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: ship back to shore. On the deck floor, Elizabeth briefly 59 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: breached through the surface of consciousness and reached for her 60 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: lady in waiting. Are you in pain, the countess asked, no, 61 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: The Empress replied weakly. The attack had been so sudden, 62 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: the assailant vanishing so quickly, that Elizabeth had been unaware 63 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: that she had been stabbed at all. The autopsy would 64 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 1: later reveal Lucheni's weapon had pierced clear through the Empress's heart, 65 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: and although her famously tight corset had staunched the bleeding 66 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,840 Speaker 1: long enough for the Empress to board the ship without 67 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: constant pressure on the wound, her heart began pumping blood 68 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:04,840 Speaker 1: freely into her chest. From where she lay, Elizabeth stared 69 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 1: up at the sky, the same sky she used to 70 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,919 Speaker 1: spend hours playing under as a child, the sky she's 71 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: so often wished she could run under instead of being 72 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: trapped behind palace walls, And as her heart beat its 73 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 1: way ever closer to death, she used her last moments 74 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 1: of consciousness to ask a simple question, a question she 75 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: had no doubt asked herself countless times throughout her life. 76 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: What has happened? I'm Dana Schwartz and this is noble Blood. 77 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: One quick warning just before we begin. This episode does 78 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: delve into a discussion about eating disorders, and so if 79 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: you're specifically sensitive to that sort of content, this might 80 00:05:52,120 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: not be the episode for you. Embrace Eliza Bith of Austria, 81 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: who was known to her friends and family as Ceci, 82 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: never wanted to make history. She was born Elizabeth Amlay 83 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 1: Eugenie on Christmas Eve eighteen thirty seven to her parents, 84 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: Princess Ludvika of Bavaria and Duke Maximilian Joseph. Princess Ludvika 85 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: was the sixth child of her father, the King of 86 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: Bavaria's second marriage, while Duke Maximilian was only a member 87 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: of a junior branch of the royal House of Wittelsbach 88 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:35,479 Speaker 1: and so Ceci was born as a child into a 89 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: family with no formal ties to daily court life. That 90 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 1: normally would have allowed her to live a life without 91 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: the pressures of court, but her father took that casualness 92 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: one step further. In history texts, the characterizations of Duke 93 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 1: Maximilian range from childlike to eccentric, but to summarize him 94 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: in the simplest of terms, the Duke to play the 95 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:03,919 Speaker 1: part of the cool dad. He had a love of 96 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: circuses and Bavarian folk music, and according to a self 97 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: published account of his time traveling in Egypt, he had 98 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: apparently ordered his servants to yodel while climbing the Great 99 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: Pyramids as if they were traversing through the Swiss Alps. 100 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:22,640 Speaker 1: When the Duke was home, he would often sneak his 101 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: children out of their lessons so they could play with 102 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: the local peasant children around Postenhoffen Castle, and so Ceci 103 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:34,280 Speaker 1: and her siblings spent their summers riding horses, swimming and 104 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: hiking across the Bavarian countryside, like a troop of Von 105 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 1: Trapped children, minus the Nazis and leader hosen made of curtains. Unfortunately, though, 106 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: this is about the time I should remind you that 107 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: this is a podcast called Noble Blood, and from here 108 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: Cecy's life begins to take some dark turns. But to 109 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 1: fully appreciate cc story, we need to zoom out a 110 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 1: little bit and understand the context for what Europe was 111 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: going through in the middle of the nineteenth century. Now, 112 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 1: it would be impossible for me to summarize the events 113 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: leading up to the mass political upheavals in eighteen forty eight, 114 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: all across Europe a series of collective and individual events 115 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: on a dozen different fronts. They are often lumped together 116 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: in Encyclopedia entries under the Revolutions of eighteen forty eight, 117 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: but for the purposes of this episode, here's what you 118 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: need to know. In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, 119 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 1: most of the jobs of the peasant working classes became obsolete. 120 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: Artisans were replaced with machinery, and poverty, combined with urbanization, 121 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,199 Speaker 1: made tensions between the upper class, who wanted to preserve 122 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: their power and didn't want to be reminded that poor 123 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: people still existed, and the lower class, who wanted to 124 00:08:56,679 --> 00:09:00,080 Speaker 1: be given basic human rights and be represented by a 125 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: government who actually cared for their well being, rose to 126 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:07,200 Speaker 1: a boiling point. All of this was occurring in a 127 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: climate in which the old ideas of the divine rights 128 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:14,479 Speaker 1: of the monarchy were beginning to seem a little obsolete. 129 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:20,719 Speaker 1: The legal and symbolic power of kings across Europe was dwindling. 130 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 1: Naturally in response, to the demands of the working class. 131 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: The Austrian government restricted freedom of speech, gatherings of university fraternities, 132 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:36,480 Speaker 1: and then demanded absolute loyalty to the Austrian government. As 133 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: you can probably imagine, this didn't go well with the 134 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: working class, and after a series of appointments and resignations 135 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: following the resignation of the Foreign Minister Prince Metirik, Emperor 136 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: Ferdinand the First of Austria was forced to abdicate the throne. 137 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: The next in line for the throne was a man 138 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:01,959 Speaker 1: named Archduke Franz Carl, who, at the urging of his wife, 139 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: would renounce his claim to the throne so that their son, 140 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:10,320 Speaker 1: Friend Joseph, would become the new Emperor of Austria. Let 141 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 1: me say that one more time. Archduke Franz Carl gave 142 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,959 Speaker 1: up the opportunity to be the Emperor of Austria because 143 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 1: his wife, Archduchess Sophie told him that he should take 144 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: a step back and let their son ascend to the throne. 145 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:30,359 Speaker 1: Convincing her husband to renounce his title maybe the easiest 146 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: way to characterize what type of person that the Archduchess was. 147 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,960 Speaker 1: Sophie knew that her husband would be a poor ruler. 148 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: But more than that, she knew that even though she 149 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: would technically be the Empress, she would be giving up 150 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: all of the power that she actually had over the 151 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: Empire in exchange for a symbolic crown. But if her 152 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,440 Speaker 1: son were appointed, she would miss out on the title 153 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: of empress, But behind the scenes, her eighteen year old 154 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 1: emperor's son would be asking her counsel on all of 155 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:06,439 Speaker 1: the important government matters. Sophie would hold more power pulling 156 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: the strings than being the party throwing marionette, and so 157 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:17,240 Speaker 1: the young Emperor and his mother ascended the Austrian throne. 158 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: By eighteen fifty three, five years later, the Hungarian uprisings 159 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:28,079 Speaker 1: had been long since quelled thanks to assistance from Russia, 160 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:32,679 Speaker 1: but the approval of the young Emperor remained staggeringly low. 161 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: His indecision and ultimate refusal to offer aid to Russia 162 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 1: amidst the outbreak of the Crimean War left him in 163 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: murky territory internationally and on the home front, the working 164 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:49,440 Speaker 1: people of Hungary had not forgotten their grievances against the 165 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: emperor just because a few years had passed. All in all, 166 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 1: it was obvious that Emperor Franz Carl needed a pr makeover, 167 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: and even that the young emperor was twenty three years 168 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,960 Speaker 1: old and still single, the easiest way to fix his 169 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 1: image would be turning to an answer that still bolsters 170 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:14,920 Speaker 1: royal approval ratings today, they would have a royal wedding. 171 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:22,599 Speaker 1: After careful consideration, the Archduchess Sophie decided that aligning Austria 172 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,640 Speaker 1: with another connection to Bavaria was the right step forward 173 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 1: for the Empire. That connection in question would take the 174 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 1: form of her sister Ludovica and Ludvika's eldest daughter Helene. 175 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:40,679 Speaker 1: And this is how we find our way back to Cecy, 176 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: who in August eighteen fifty three found herself packed into 177 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 1: a carriage between her older sister and her mother and 178 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:53,040 Speaker 1: route to Austria's imperial summer residence in body Chel to 179 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:58,640 Speaker 1: confirm the engagement between Helene and Emperor Franz Carl. With 180 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:01,479 Speaker 1: her older sister in age to the man in charge, 181 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 1: the young Elizabeth, then fifteen years old, was being brought 182 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,200 Speaker 1: along to be presented as a possible match for the 183 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 1: Emperor's younger brother, Archduke Carl Ludwig. After all, why not 184 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,320 Speaker 1: try to marry two of your daughters into royalty instead 185 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 1: of just the one, but that plan would quickly dissolve 186 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: into chaos the moment that Emperor Franz Joseph caught a 187 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:32,480 Speaker 1: sight of young cc From here, historians have a few 188 00:13:32,559 --> 00:13:38,199 Speaker 1: differing opinions as to what exactly happened next. Some historians 189 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 1: described the meeting of Franz Joseph and the young Duchess 190 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:47,839 Speaker 1: Elizabeth as an almost disneyesque fairytale romance. The way this 191 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 1: version goes, the young Emperor spot a beautiful young woman 192 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 1: running freely in a meadow, having stopped her carriage to 193 00:13:56,120 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: pick wild flowers. The Emperor sees this girl, her long, 194 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:05,679 Speaker 1: dark blonde hair running in soft waves down past her shoulders, 195 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,720 Speaker 1: and he falls instantly in love, only to then come 196 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: to realize later that the young woman was actually the 197 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: younger sister of his would be betrothed all along. In 198 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: another telling, Princess Ludovica suffered from a terrible migraine that 199 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: delayed their journey, a headache made worse by the fact 200 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 1: that when they did finally arrive in Friends Joseph's court, 201 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 1: albeit a bit tardy, their luggage had not, meaning that 202 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: they had to meet the Emperor wearing what they had 203 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: traveled in. That would have been bad enough, but the 204 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 1: trio was dressed all in mourning for an aunt who 205 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: had recently passed away, And so the three women met 206 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: the Emperor while wearing black conservative dresses, certainly not the 207 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 1: gowns that were specifically made to impress royalty. And while 208 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: the black maid, Helene, with her dark brown air, look 209 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: pale almost to the point of being sickly, Elizabeth's dark 210 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: blonde hair and youthful complexion was said to have glowed 211 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:13,240 Speaker 1: in comparison. But regardless of which of the versions of 212 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: the first meeting between Franz Joseph and Cecy actually happened, 213 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: the results were indisputable. Elizabeth, the younger sister, was the 214 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: Emperor's clear choice for a bride. Sophie, the Emperor's mother, 215 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: recounted an exchange with her son in her diary. She 216 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: had asked, don't you think that Helene is clever? That 217 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: she has a beautiful and slender figure. Obviously she was 218 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: desperately trying to salvage what was left of the planned engagement. Well, yes, 219 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: a little grave and quiet, certainly pleasant and nice, yes, 220 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: But cc the Emberor's tone brightened after just speaking her name. Cecy. 221 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: Such loveliness, such exuberance like a little girl's, and yet 222 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: so sweet. Predictably, arch Duchess Sophie was livid. She had 223 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:11,240 Speaker 1: arranged a perfectly suitable marriage with Helene, the obedient daughter 224 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,800 Speaker 1: of her timid sister, who was almost guaranteed to do 225 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:20,240 Speaker 1: anything the Archduchess asked of her. But Elizabeth. Elizabeth was young, 226 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: only fifteen. She had not been given the proper schooling 227 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: to be an empress. She was a headstrong, freethinking young 228 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: woman who rode horses instead of attending lessons. She did 229 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: not fit into the carefully carved space Sophie had whittled 230 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: into her master plan for her son's reign in the 231 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:47,640 Speaker 1: years to come. Cc and the Archduchess would rarely agree 232 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: on anything, but in this decision they were both equally troubled. 233 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:55,720 Speaker 1: Elizabeth could not imagine what the Emperor had seen in 234 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: her that would make him choose her over her sister, 235 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: But beyond that, she could see the writing on the wall, ironically, 236 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:07,800 Speaker 1: the same thing Archduchess Sophie herself had realized when she 237 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,640 Speaker 1: convinced her husband to see the throne to their son. 238 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: Becoming an empress was in honor, to be sure, but 239 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,159 Speaker 1: not the life that a smart woman would choose for 240 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 1: herself if her goal was happiness. To her aunt and 241 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: future mother in law, Sophie Cecy lamented quote, I love 242 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 1: the Emperor so much if only you were not the Emperor. 243 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 1: The young Elizabeth knew that in accepting Franz Joseph's proposal, 244 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: she was accepting an entirely new way of life, one 245 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,199 Speaker 1: without the anonymity or freedom that she had been allowed 246 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:51,320 Speaker 1: during her childhood in Possenhofen. But ultimately there was no choice. 247 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 1: In the words of her mother, who I imagine was 248 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: just relieved that one of her daughters had proved suitable, 249 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:04,480 Speaker 1: one does not send the Emperor of Austria packing. If 250 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,159 Speaker 1: there was a honeymoon phase for the happy couple, it 251 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:12,040 Speaker 1: didn't last long. Almost immediately Elizabeth was put into lessons, 252 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:16,399 Speaker 1: each second of her day meticulously planned and accounted for 253 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: as she was quickly brought into the fold of Austrian aristocracy. 254 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: In the movie version, this would be the moment that 255 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:28,119 Speaker 1: we get a quick montage sequence cutting between her awkwardly 256 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:31,159 Speaker 1: balancing books on her head and earning a light slap 257 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 1: on her wrist for using the wrong spoon during a 258 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:38,439 Speaker 1: salad course. But unfortunately for Elizabeth, her life was not 259 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:43,399 Speaker 1: a coming of age romantic comedy. Instead, her lessons consisted 260 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,479 Speaker 1: of unlearning the parts of her childhood that she had 261 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: valued the most. She was no longer allowed to associate 262 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 1: with peasants or servants, no longer allowed to ride freely 263 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:58,480 Speaker 1: across the grounds. She was taught the latest dances in court, and, 264 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,880 Speaker 1: after a not so subtle remark made by the Archduchess, 265 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,879 Speaker 1: her new mother in law, a tutorial on how to 266 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:11,360 Speaker 1: properly brush her teeth. Friends. Joseph, her new husband, remained 267 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,439 Speaker 1: head over heels for his new bride, but he had 268 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 1: an empire to run, and Elizabeth found herself increasingly alone 269 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,200 Speaker 1: in a palace that felt more like a museum than 270 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:27,120 Speaker 1: a home. The Archduchess hounded her every move, forbidding her 271 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 1: to confide in anyone about her homesickness or her growing depression. 272 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:36,800 Speaker 1: After all, no one could know that the sovereign was unhappy. 273 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 1: In a poem dated just weeks after their wedding, seventeen 274 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: year old Elizabeth wrote, quote, oh had I but never 275 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:50,199 Speaker 1: left the path that would have led me to freedom, 276 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:54,160 Speaker 1: I have awakened in a dungeon with chains on my hands. 277 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,200 Speaker 1: She became resentful of her new family. She was treated 278 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:01,320 Speaker 1: more like a child old than a spouse. When it 279 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:05,520 Speaker 1: came to diplomatic matters. She was otherwise ignored unless she 280 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:10,919 Speaker 1: needed to be paraded around court. Cecy's depression only worsened 281 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: upon the realization of another complication. Barely a month after 282 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:22,720 Speaker 1: the wedding, she was pregnant. The country was overjoyed, a 283 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: new air, a new hope for Austria, But as Elizabeth's 284 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:32,880 Speaker 1: stomach grew, the light inside her diminished. As difficult as 285 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 1: the early months of pregnancy typically are for any new mother, 286 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:40,879 Speaker 1: Cecy had the compounded stress of representing a nation to 287 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:45,000 Speaker 1: add to the morning sickness. The more she began to show, 288 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:50,440 Speaker 1: the more Archduchess Sophie forcibly paraded Elizabeth to the public. 289 00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:54,880 Speaker 1: Having seemingly lost the freedom even to control her own body, 290 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,119 Speaker 1: Elizabeth grew exasperated with her mother in law, complaining to 291 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,400 Speaker 1: a lady in way quote, she dragged me out into 292 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: the garden and declared that it was my duty to 293 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: show off my stomach so that people could see that 294 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:11,919 Speaker 1: I really was pregnant. It was awful. Instead, it seemed 295 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,760 Speaker 1: to me a blessing to be alone and able to weep. 296 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:19,879 Speaker 1: The commoners continued to love the humble young Empress, but 297 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: among the aristocracy, Austria Shining Star was losing her luster. 298 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,679 Speaker 1: But they had once thought of as charming, devolved into 299 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:34,119 Speaker 1: ill mannered or even simple minded, as the court lost 300 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:39,120 Speaker 1: patience with each of Elizabeth's social blunders. Producing an heir 301 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:42,639 Speaker 1: to the throne may have given Elizabeth some political sway 302 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: over those in court, but in March eighteen fifty CC 303 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 1: gave birth to a daughter. The child had barely left 304 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,840 Speaker 1: her body before Elizabeth was cast aside. Again. Elizabeth was 305 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: even denied the right to name her own child. The 306 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:04,119 Speaker 1: responsibility was instead taken up by arch Duchess Sophie, who, 307 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: after careful consideration, named the little baby Sophie. To absolutely 308 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 1: no one's surprised the arch Duchess didn't end her control 309 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:21,800 Speaker 1: there before little Sophie was even born. Elizabeth's mother in 310 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: law had arranged for the nursery to be placed directly 311 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 1: adjacent to her apartments, so that if the Empress wanted 312 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: to visit her own daughter, she would have to do 313 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:35,880 Speaker 1: so through her mother in law. Just a little over 314 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,960 Speaker 1: a year later, Elizabeth gave birth to her second daughter, Gisella, 315 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: and for the second time the heads at court saw 316 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:48,800 Speaker 1: a daughter and it turned away in disappointment. The desperation 317 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: for an heir to the Austrian throne was great, and 318 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:57,560 Speaker 1: Elizabeth was feeling the burden tenfold. It's rumored that after 319 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:01,879 Speaker 1: the birth of Gisella, a pam flit mysteriously made it 320 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: onto CC's bedside table, outlining the importance of providing an 321 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:11,080 Speaker 1: heir to the nation and the perilous position that she 322 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,680 Speaker 1: would be in if she were unable to perform her duties. 323 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 1: It was never confirmed where the pamphlet came from, but 324 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 1: all signs pointed to a certain mother in law, the 325 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:26,120 Speaker 1: woman who held the key to see C's children's nursery. 326 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: Emperor Franz Joseph, being accustomed to his mother's specific breed 327 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:37,439 Speaker 1: of tyranny, didn't see any issues in any of Elizabeth's grievances. 328 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,160 Speaker 1: Cecy had been brought up in a world where status 329 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 1: had remained an abstract concept. But to Franz Joseph, whose 330 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,119 Speaker 1: mother had raised him to be ready to lead a 331 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 1: nation by the age of eighteen. Titles and power were 332 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:56,160 Speaker 1: in all too reel part of his world. They were 333 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: his world, the very structure that held his reality a 334 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:04,960 Speaker 1: oft Cecy's complaints were as abstract to him as wanting 335 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: to spend childhood summers befriending local peasant children around posting 336 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,400 Speaker 1: off in castle. So rather than offer any real solutions, 337 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: Emperor Franz Joseph reminded his wife of duties that she 338 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: could be fulfilling for the country. In one letter, he wrote, quote, 339 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 1: I beg you for the love you bear me. Pull 340 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: yourself together, show yourself in the city, sometimes visit institutions. 341 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: You have no idea what a great help you can 342 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:36,080 Speaker 1: be to me in this way. It will put heart 343 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: into the people in Vienna and keep up the good 344 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:43,880 Speaker 1: spirit I require so urgently and so c. C. Did. 345 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,120 Speaker 1: The Austrian public fell more in love with their empress 346 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,160 Speaker 1: as she used her free time to visit the hospitals 347 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:55,360 Speaker 1: of wounded soldiers and donate to institutions for the mentally ill. 348 00:24:56,160 --> 00:25:00,680 Speaker 1: The court quietly disapproved of her new social ventures, as 349 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:04,160 Speaker 1: they all but eliminated her distance from the peasant classes, 350 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,159 Speaker 1: but their scrutiny did not burn as badly as it 351 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: had from within the palace walls. It was also during 352 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:15,879 Speaker 1: this period, though, that Elizabeth's obsession over her appearance would 353 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,800 Speaker 1: begin to take a clear hold over her life. Cecy 354 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:25,280 Speaker 1: had always been slender, accentuated further by her height five eight, 355 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,920 Speaker 1: especially tall for a woman at the time, but after 356 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:33,120 Speaker 1: the birth of her first child, Elizabeth began to regularly 357 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:37,920 Speaker 1: practice what she called quote starvation cures to bring her 358 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:42,119 Speaker 1: weight down to what she considered a normal quote unquote 359 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:48,480 Speaker 1: one hundred and ten pounds. In addition to her extreme 360 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:53,000 Speaker 1: diet and exercise during the periods in between her pregnancies, 361 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:57,880 Speaker 1: Elizabeth also took up the practice of tight lacing, which, 362 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,600 Speaker 1: as it sounds, can sit of tying the laces of 363 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: her corset so tightly that the Empress would be short 364 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:09,200 Speaker 1: of breath. The term anorexia as we know it would 365 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 1: not be coined until eighteen seventy three, but Elizabeth's consistent 366 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 1: fasting and almost compulsive need to exercise has often led 367 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: to posthumous diagnoses that would indirectly come to similar conclusions. 368 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:30,080 Speaker 1: In one instance, her quote starvation diet exacerbated her already 369 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:35,200 Speaker 1: declining health until she was diagnosed with quote green sickness 370 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:40,880 Speaker 1: otherwise known as anemia, which left her constantly exhausted. One 371 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,919 Speaker 1: physician would note, quote in the otherwise healthy woman, I 372 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: found fairly pronounced swelling, especially in the ankles. He would 373 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:53,119 Speaker 1: go on to describe her condition as something rare for 374 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 1: a woman of her position, as it had not become 375 00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:01,040 Speaker 1: quote regrettably notorious until the war. He called it a 376 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:07,120 Speaker 1: deema of hunger. From such a young age, Cecy faced 377 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:11,240 Speaker 1: scrutiny of her body on a global scale. After all, 378 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: at the age of fifteen, her life was forever changed 379 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: after the Emperor of Austria was moved more by her 380 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,879 Speaker 1: beauty than that of her sister. As soon as she 381 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,199 Speaker 1: moved into the Imperial Palace in Vienna, all of the 382 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:28,000 Speaker 1: freedoms Cecy had grown up and joying were suddenly taken 383 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 1: away from her, and she was reinforced over and over 384 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: again by those around her with the idea that she 385 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,639 Speaker 1: served the nation not with her thoughts or ideas, but 386 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 1: with her beauty, how she appeared to the people. And 387 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 1: again not to provide a posthumous diagnosis or psychoanalysis, because 388 00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,679 Speaker 1: I find that largely unhelpful but personally, I can imagine 389 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,359 Speaker 1: that the Empress found small comfort in her ability to 390 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:00,359 Speaker 1: control one tiny piece of her existence when she was 391 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:06,600 Speaker 1: so powerless everywhere else in her life. Elizabeth's obsession with quote, 392 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:12,439 Speaker 1: health and beauty would unfortunately only compound over time, But 393 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:15,160 Speaker 1: after it became evident that she was pregnant with her 394 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,880 Speaker 1: third child, she was forced to stop her excessive diets 395 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 1: and tight lacing, at least for the time being. To 396 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: her family, this pregnancy was welcome in more ways than one. 397 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:31,159 Speaker 1: In a letter from CC's mother to the Archduchess, Ludvika 398 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:35,800 Speaker 1: confided that, in regards to CC's tight lacing quote, c 399 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,920 Speaker 1: C has now become so reasonable and conscientious about lacing 400 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: and tight clothes, a matter that always worried and bothered me. 401 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: I myself believe that it can have an effect on 402 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 1: one's mood. For an uncomfortable feeling like constant embarrassment may 403 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: truly put one out of sorts. In eighteen fifty eight, 404 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 1: Elizabeth finally gave the Empire and her mother in law 405 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:07,160 Speaker 1: the air they had so long desired, Prince Rudolph of Austria, 406 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,840 Speaker 1: and although the child was born healthy, the birth took 407 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:15,560 Speaker 1: a difficult toll on the Empress's body. Deprived of the 408 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:20,280 Speaker 1: opportunity to breastfeed thanks to the Archduchess, who insisted that 409 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:23,480 Speaker 1: it was only suitable for royalty to use wet nurses, 410 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: Elizabeth suffered from terrible fevers that caused chronic headaches and fatigue. 411 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: The recovery from the birth was so traumatic that the 412 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: royal doctors discouraged Elizabeth from having any more children for 413 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:41,640 Speaker 1: the sake of her own health. Following the death of 414 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 1: her first daughter, who succumbed to a fever at the 415 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,320 Speaker 1: age of two, and the subsequent postpartum illness after the 416 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:53,960 Speaker 1: birth of Prince Rudolph, Elizabeth's mental and physical health began 417 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:59,600 Speaker 1: to deteriorate rapidly. Her refusal to eat only exacerbated her 418 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: illness us, and after exhausting all of the other options, 419 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 1: Cecy was sent to Madeira as a last hail mary 420 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:12,600 Speaker 1: attempt to alleviate her symptoms, though to almost everyone's shock, 421 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: upon landing on foreign soil, the Empress's condition actually began 422 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:23,560 Speaker 1: to improve. The fever stopped, her color returned, and Elizabeth's 423 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,680 Speaker 1: general demeanor was brighter than it had been in years. 424 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:30,800 Speaker 1: She spent her free time reading and writing, learning to 425 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: play new instruments, and taking up more than one new language. 426 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,720 Speaker 1: She also wrote frequently to her family, including to the 427 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: ex fiance of her younger sister, that man King Ludwig 428 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:47,040 Speaker 1: the Second you might remember from our episode The Swan King. 429 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: Even though the marriage had fallen through between Ludwig and 430 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:56,920 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's sister, most likely because of Ludwig's interest exclusively in 431 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:01,120 Speaker 1: the opposite sex. Ludwig and Elizabeth were main close friends 432 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:05,000 Speaker 1: throughout their lives, cousins who shared a love of beauty 433 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:09,320 Speaker 1: and who felt comfortable with one another, commiserating in their 434 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 1: desires for a more romantic and artistic way of life, 435 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:16,600 Speaker 1: and talking about the ways they felt trapped within the 436 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:21,560 Speaker 1: walls of their palaces. Perhaps it had been the warm air, 437 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 1: or the proximity to the ocean, or the distance from 438 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,640 Speaker 1: a certain mother in law that had caused the turnaround 439 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,200 Speaker 1: in Elizabeth's health when she was in Madeira. But as 440 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: soon as she returned to Vienna in eighteen sixty one, 441 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:40,240 Speaker 1: she almost immediately fell ill again. The root cause of 442 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:45,280 Speaker 1: her ailments was becoming harder to ignore. The years away 443 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:48,240 Speaker 1: in Madeira had changed her. She was no longer the 444 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: timid teenager who had silently watched her life slipped through 445 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:55,000 Speaker 1: her grasps and into the hands of her mother in law. 446 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:58,920 Speaker 1: When she returned to Vienna, Elizabeth knew that there was 447 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 1: a power that she had. Even the Archduchess could not 448 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:06,720 Speaker 1: argue with that. Elizabeth had performed her duty and provided 449 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:10,479 Speaker 1: an air to the Austrian throne. Now the crown needed 450 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:15,360 Speaker 1: Elizabeth as a symbol for the nation, one that was bright, youthful, 451 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:20,120 Speaker 1: but most importantly beautiful. Elizabeth could not perform her duties 452 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 1: while quite literally withering away in Vienna. Her intense shyness 453 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:28,840 Speaker 1: wanted anything but to be put on public display. But 454 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: her image was also her one ticket out of the 455 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 1: walls of Viennese court, and so, with a passing regret 456 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:39,000 Speaker 1: at the thought of leaving her children, the Empress turned 457 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:42,080 Speaker 1: her back on Vienna, never to call it home again. 458 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:49,320 Speaker 1: If Elizabeth's fixation on beauty had begun as a simple snowball, 459 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,600 Speaker 1: she had by this point escalated it to the point 460 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:57,000 Speaker 1: of bringing down an avalanche. The Empress had an endless 461 00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:02,080 Speaker 1: list of exceedingly intricate beauty regimes that make today's capitalist 462 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:07,600 Speaker 1: regimen of beauty bloggers look like child's play. The hours 463 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:11,360 Speaker 1: of daily exercise never ceased, even at the behest of 464 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: multiple doctors who examined her throughout her life. In each 465 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:19,720 Speaker 1: of her residences, she had the staff builled gymnasiums so 466 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: she would be able to exercise without interruption. As the 467 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 1: Empress grew older, she would require new ladies in waiting, 468 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,760 Speaker 1: ones that were younger, for the ones that grew older 469 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:33,880 Speaker 1: with her could no longer keep up with her rigorous training. 470 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: Her extreme dieting was equally grueling. To maintain her emaciated figure, 471 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 1: the Empress took to only eating dairy products and inspecting 472 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:50,560 Speaker 1: each of the cows she received milk from, requiring them 473 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 1: to travel with her wherever she went. Elizabeth would use 474 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:59,320 Speaker 1: nightly face masks of raw veal and strawberries and take 475 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:02,400 Speaker 1: bath this in warm olive oil to keep her skin 476 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:08,360 Speaker 1: smooth and without wrinkles. Elizabeth's niece Marie Larish described the 477 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:12,920 Speaker 1: process by saying, quote, once the oil was almost boiling 478 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 1: and she barely escaped the dreadful death of many a 479 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:20,279 Speaker 1: Christian martyr. Often she slept with damp clothes over her 480 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:24,440 Speaker 1: hips to maintain her slenderness, and for the same reason, 481 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:28,320 Speaker 1: she often drank a dreadful mixture of five or six 482 00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:33,239 Speaker 1: egg whites with salt. Caesi's hair, which had grown over 483 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,920 Speaker 1: time from a dark blonde to a rich chestnut, was 484 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:42,040 Speaker 1: the crowning glory of the Empress's appearance. Pun intended. It 485 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 1: fell in thick waves, said to have reached all the 486 00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:48,319 Speaker 1: way down to her ankles. She took the idea of 487 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 1: a wash day and truly ran with it. She had 488 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:56,400 Speaker 1: a full day scheduled every month solely dedicated to washing 489 00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:00,600 Speaker 1: her hair, not to mention the daily three hours brushing 490 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:04,920 Speaker 1: and stiling necessary just to maintain it. In between those days. 491 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:09,640 Speaker 1: Elizabeth was so obsessive that she would have her hairdressers 492 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 1: show her the brush that they used after they completed 493 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,960 Speaker 1: their task, and she would inspect how much hair she 494 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: lost each session. One hairdresser took to hiding a strip 495 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:23,880 Speaker 1: of adhesive to the inside of her clothes so that 496 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,279 Speaker 1: she could hide any rogue hairs that fell out as 497 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:32,240 Speaker 1: she went. One of Elizabeth's hired scholars once commented, quote, 498 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,440 Speaker 1: your Majesty wears her hair like a crown instead of 499 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:41,759 Speaker 1: the crown. To this, Elizabeth replied, except that any other 500 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:47,919 Speaker 1: crown is more easily laid aside. Elizabeth's beauty routines took 501 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,720 Speaker 1: up substantial portions of every day, but she didn't simply 502 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:55,239 Speaker 1: sit there and watch the time pass. Instead, she used 503 00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:59,400 Speaker 1: the time to educate herself, hiring scholars and readers to 504 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:04,640 Speaker 1: teach her several new languages, including Hungarian, which proved especially 505 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:09,040 Speaker 1: useful after Austria was defeated by Prussia in the Seven 506 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:14,800 Speaker 1: Weeks War. The loss had reawakened Hungary's desire for independence, 507 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:18,600 Speaker 1: and Emperor Franz Joseph saw that the unrest would not 508 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 1: be quite as easily quelled as it had been when 509 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:25,279 Speaker 1: he had begun to rule. However, this time though, he 510 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:28,960 Speaker 1: had one thing in his arsenal that was new cc. 511 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,680 Speaker 1: If there was one thing that the Hungarian people felt 512 00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:36,440 Speaker 1: more passionately about than their disdain for the Emperor, it 513 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:40,320 Speaker 1: was their love for the Empress, and the feeling was mutual. 514 00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: In the early years of their marriage, the couple had 515 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:48,080 Speaker 1: visited Hungary during peacetime, the Empress had fallen completely in 516 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,840 Speaker 1: love with the Hungarian people and their way of life. 517 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:57,120 Speaker 1: Unlike life in the conservative Viennese court, the Hungarian aristocracy 518 00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:00,960 Speaker 1: was bold, confident in their diamonds added couture in a 519 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:04,520 Speaker 1: way that would have been shunned back in Austria. Elizabeth 520 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:08,719 Speaker 1: was smitten. After that early trip, CC would ask for 521 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,080 Speaker 1: a Hungarian lady in waiting to accompany her on her travels. 522 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:15,720 Speaker 1: She would also make an effort to learn the language, culture, 523 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:19,799 Speaker 1: and history of the Hungarian people, and in return, the 524 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:23,160 Speaker 1: people of Hungary were more amenable to the compromises that 525 00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:30,640 Speaker 1: would eventually give birth to the Austro Hungarian Empire. In 526 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:34,400 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty seven, it was decided that Hungary would no 527 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:39,439 Speaker 1: longer be ruled by Austria. It would be an independent kingdom, 528 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:42,840 Speaker 1: albeit a kingdom where the king and queen were Franz 529 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:48,279 Speaker 1: Joseph and Elizabeth. After their coronations, Elizabeth allowed herself to 530 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:52,520 Speaker 1: become pregnant for the final time to solidify the compromise 531 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:57,719 Speaker 1: and establish their joint rules securely over both nations. In 532 00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:01,800 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty eight, CC gave birth to her fourth child, 533 00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:07,680 Speaker 1: Marie Valerie, on Hungarian soil. Now thirty years old, Elizabeth 534 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,839 Speaker 1: was no longer beholden to her overbearing mother in law, 535 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:15,040 Speaker 1: and she was finally allowed to raise the child herself, 536 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:21,320 Speaker 1: far away from the Viennese court. Predictably, Elizabeth nearly smothered 537 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,279 Speaker 1: the child with all of the love and affection that 538 00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:27,280 Speaker 1: she had never been able to give her three older children. 539 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:31,879 Speaker 1: The two living elder children of the Empress grew resentful 540 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:35,160 Speaker 1: of their younger sister, who was the obvious favorite of 541 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:40,320 Speaker 1: their mother. Rudolph especially would start to show extreme jealousy 542 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:44,120 Speaker 1: towards his sister, until the young Murrae Valerie became afraid 543 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:49,600 Speaker 1: of her older brother. Altogether, Elizabeth predictably sided with her youngest, 544 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:53,839 Speaker 1: making her elder son hate his little sister all the more. 545 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:59,920 Speaker 1: Despite her lacking relationship with Gizella and Rudolph. In Budapest, 546 00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,880 Speaker 1: Elizabeth was finally getting everything she had always wanted with 547 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:09,080 Speaker 1: Marie Valerie. Unfortunately, for her, the hardest was still yet 548 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:14,160 Speaker 1: to come. If you're a frequent listener of this podcast, 549 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:18,719 Speaker 1: the name Prince Rudolph might sound a little familiar. He 550 00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:21,600 Speaker 1: was the subject of an episode we did on the 551 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 1: Maryling Incident, a murder suicide between Prince Rudolph and his 552 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:30,719 Speaker 1: seventeen year old mistress Mary Vitt Sarah. If you want 553 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:33,600 Speaker 1: to learn more, I highly suggest going back to that 554 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:38,600 Speaker 1: episode for a listen for Elizabeth, the tragedy would forever 555 00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:42,960 Speaker 1: alter the course of her life. The days following the tragedy, 556 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:46,360 Speaker 1: the Empress held herself together as best she could. She 557 00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:50,600 Speaker 1: kept her emotions buried under careful lock and key, a 558 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:55,200 Speaker 1: practice that had been fortified by years of royal trained repression. 559 00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:58,960 Speaker 1: But once the tears began to fall, there was no 560 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:03,399 Speaker 1: stopping them. The Archduchess, her mother in law, had long 561 00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:06,680 Speaker 1: since died by this point, but her talents were still 562 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:12,080 Speaker 1: visible in Elizabeth's spiraling depression. After watching her only son 563 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:15,880 Speaker 1: be interred in the Imperial crypt, she remarked to her 564 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:20,399 Speaker 1: favorite daughter, quote, after now all these people who from 565 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:23,280 Speaker 1: the hour of my arrival here have said so many 566 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,960 Speaker 1: bad things about me, will have the satisfaction after all 567 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:33,239 Speaker 1: of seeing me pass on without leaving a mark on Austria. Unsurprisingly, 568 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:37,640 Speaker 1: the Viennese court found reason to blame Elizabeth for the 569 00:40:37,719 --> 00:40:43,120 Speaker 1: tragic suicide of her son. Some, like Elizabeth herself, blamed 570 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:46,880 Speaker 1: the madness of the Vittelsbach line, while others sought to 571 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:51,919 Speaker 1: scapegoat Elizabeth's travels and her dissociation from court, for they 572 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 1: neglected Rudolph to suffer enough to drive him to suicide 573 00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:00,200 Speaker 1: In the end, the reason didn't matter to Elizabeth. As 574 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,440 Speaker 1: soon as her youngest daughter was married, Elizabeth, free from 575 00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 1: any more familial responsibility, boarded a ship and spent the 576 00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:11,279 Speaker 1: rest of her days attempting to sail herself away from 577 00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:16,240 Speaker 1: a life she no longer wanted to live. The Empress 578 00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:20,400 Speaker 1: would spend the next nine years traveling from port to port, 579 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:26,919 Speaker 1: her worsening depression making her impulsive and borderline self destructive. 580 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:32,120 Speaker 1: In her travels. There were multiple reported incidents of her 581 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:36,560 Speaker 1: attempting to break into random people's homes, prompting the Emperor 582 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:39,480 Speaker 1: to write to his wife after an especially hostile being 583 00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:43,040 Speaker 1: ean niece, where she was almost chased from the establishment 584 00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:46,120 Speaker 1: by the old woman who lived there. Quote, I am 585 00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:49,680 Speaker 1: glad that your niece indigestion has passed so quickly, and 586 00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:51,840 Speaker 1: that you did not also get a beating from the 587 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:55,480 Speaker 1: old witch. But sooner or later, that is exactly what 588 00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:58,879 Speaker 1: will happen, for one does not simply push one's way 589 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:04,480 Speaker 1: uninvited into people's houses. The Empress's behavior didn't end there. 590 00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:08,920 Speaker 1: When the weather would shift at sea, Elizabeth would demand 591 00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:11,920 Speaker 1: to be tied to a chair on the deck amidst 592 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:17,040 Speaker 1: the harsh wind, rain and thunder. I do this like Odysseus, 593 00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:21,800 Speaker 1: she would say, because the waves tempt me. Her erratic 594 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:26,200 Speaker 1: behavior pushed the limits of what even royalty could feasibly 595 00:42:26,239 --> 00:42:29,920 Speaker 1: get away with, but that had probably been her aim. 596 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,720 Speaker 1: For so long. Elizabeth had been told how to dress, 597 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:35,960 Speaker 1: how to behave, how to simply exist in a world 598 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:37,880 Speaker 1: that she had never wanted to be a part of. 599 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:42,239 Speaker 1: Now she had no son, no future for her in Austria. 600 00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:45,560 Speaker 1: She was a woman with nothing to gain, no one 601 00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:50,279 Speaker 1: to please, but more importantly, nothing to lose. Who would 602 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:55,239 Speaker 1: stop her? The answer would come nine years later on 603 00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:59,440 Speaker 1: the Quas de mont Blanc in Geneva, Switzerland, as Luigi 604 00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:03,800 Speaker 1: Lucheni sat outside the Hotel beau Ravage with a heavy 605 00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:07,960 Speaker 1: weight in his right sleeve, waiting for his target to emerge. 606 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:18,040 Speaker 1: At one pm on September, the Empress left the Hotel 607 00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:22,200 Speaker 1: beau Ravage, dressed in all black, as she had every 608 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:26,160 Speaker 1: day since her son's death. She began walking with her 609 00:43:26,239 --> 00:43:30,400 Speaker 1: lady in waiting the Countess stare down towards the ducks 610 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:34,800 Speaker 1: to board their ship to Montroux. Despite the desperate please 611 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:39,160 Speaker 1: from the Swiss police, Elizabeth refused to travel with a guard. 612 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:43,840 Speaker 1: Her persistent shyness made her wary of causing a commotion 613 00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:48,920 Speaker 1: with added security, but even so, some historians remark that 614 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:53,000 Speaker 1: she simply felt she had nothing to lose. The former 615 00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:58,840 Speaker 1: Empress Eugenie of France perhaps best described CC's final years quote, 616 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,760 Speaker 1: it was as if one were going driving with a ghost, 617 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:07,960 Speaker 1: for her spirit seemed to dwell in another world. Spotting 618 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,440 Speaker 1: the two women, lu Chennie pushed his way through the crowd. 619 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:15,400 Speaker 1: Once within reach of the Empress, he wasted no time 620 00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:19,240 Speaker 1: pushing her parasol the way to confirm her identity. Then 621 00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:24,960 Speaker 1: he plunged his makeshift dagger directly into Elizabeth's heart. A 622 00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:28,360 Speaker 1: collective shock rippled through the crowd as the Empress fell 623 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:32,640 Speaker 1: to the ground. Onlookers attempted to help the women. The 624 00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:35,920 Speaker 1: porter from their hotel even came out to check on them, 625 00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:38,560 Speaker 1: urging the women to return to their rooms so the 626 00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:42,160 Speaker 1: Empress could be examined by a doctor. But by this 627 00:44:42,239 --> 00:44:45,800 Speaker 1: time Cecy had already managed to get back to her feet. 628 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:48,880 Speaker 1: She had assumed a madman had just shoved her to 629 00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:52,440 Speaker 1: the ground, and desperate to minimize the amount of people 630 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:56,520 Speaker 1: who could recognize her, Elizabeth simply thanked the scattered by 631 00:44:56,600 --> 00:45:00,360 Speaker 1: standards and let the countess lead her back down towards 632 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:04,440 Speaker 1: the docks. It wouldn't be until Elizabeth collapsed on the 633 00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:07,680 Speaker 1: deck of the steamship that the countess would realize the 634 00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:12,080 Speaker 1: severity of the Empress's injuries. By the time the crew 635 00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:15,600 Speaker 1: managed to assemble their makeshift stretcher and carry her back 636 00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:19,400 Speaker 1: to the hotel, it was already too late. When the 637 00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:24,080 Speaker 1: doctor slid her vein, there was no blood. Elizabeth, the 638 00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:30,239 Speaker 1: Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, was dead. How 639 00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:33,280 Speaker 1: can you kill a woman who has never hurt anyone? 640 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,760 Speaker 1: Those were the words Franz Joseph would repeat to himself 641 00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:40,800 Speaker 1: in the days following his wife's murder. The Emperor's first 642 00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:45,319 Speaker 1: reaction to Elizabeth's death had been grief. He sat stunned 643 00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:49,480 Speaker 1: as the news washed over him. Aids attempted to relay 644 00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:53,120 Speaker 1: the information. There was a telegram from her lady in 645 00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:58,320 Speaker 1: waiting details on the transport of the body in autopsy, 646 00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:03,200 Speaker 1: and that is when grief warped into confusion. That confusion 647 00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:07,800 Speaker 1: then morphed into bitter relief, for in the years since 648 00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:12,440 Speaker 1: their son's death, Franz Joseph was no stranger to Elizabeth's 649 00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:16,120 Speaker 1: despondent view on life, which is why he was so 650 00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:19,319 Speaker 1: surprised to learn that his wife had not taken her 651 00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:22,719 Speaker 1: own life, but rather that someone had taken it from her. 652 00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:28,719 Speaker 1: His Empress his Cecy had been assassinated. That brief relief 653 00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:31,600 Speaker 1: that his wife was free now from the pain and 654 00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:36,560 Speaker 1: torture that she felt, boiled off quickly. Anger was all 655 00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:39,279 Speaker 1: that was left. How can you kill a woman who 656 00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:43,759 Speaker 1: has never hurt anyone? Only forty eight hours prior, the 657 00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:47,360 Speaker 1: young anarchist Luceni had not planned to kill the Empress 658 00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:50,840 Speaker 1: at all. In fact, he had only traveled to Geneva 659 00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:54,440 Speaker 1: because he had planned on killing the Duke of Orleans, 660 00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:57,600 Speaker 1: only to find that the Duke had left before Luccenni 661 00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:01,759 Speaker 1: had even arrived. It was only after newspapers picked up 662 00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:05,839 Speaker 1: on the Empress's whereabouts in Geneva that he decided to 663 00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:10,000 Speaker 1: alter his plans. The man was caught quickly after fleeing 664 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:13,880 Speaker 1: the scenes, showing no remorse for his actions. I am 665 00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:17,279 Speaker 1: an anarchist by conviction, he told the Swiss police. I 666 00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,320 Speaker 1: came to Geneva to kill a sovereign, with the abject 667 00:47:20,400 --> 00:47:23,279 Speaker 1: of giving an example to those who suffer, and those 668 00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,480 Speaker 1: who do nothing to improve their social position. It did 669 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:29,040 Speaker 1: not matter to me who the sovereign was whom I 670 00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:32,239 Speaker 1: should kill. It was not a woman I struck, but 671 00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:35,839 Speaker 1: an empress. It was a crown that I had in view. 672 00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:41,240 Speaker 1: He had requested the death penalty at his sentencing, but Switzerland, 673 00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:46,240 Speaker 1: having outlawed capital punishment, sentenced Luceni instead to life in prison. 674 00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:49,680 Speaker 1: He would hang himself in his cell eleven years later. 675 00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:53,760 Speaker 1: He spared no thought for the woman behind the title, 676 00:47:54,239 --> 00:47:57,880 Speaker 1: nor had he seen the frail ghost drifting beneath the parasol. 677 00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:03,959 Speaker 1: But then again, neither had Austria. When the Empress's body 678 00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:08,359 Speaker 1: arrived in Vienna five days later, arguments immediately followed over 679 00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:12,879 Speaker 1: the inscription on the coffin The original text read Elizabeth 680 00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:17,200 Speaker 1: Empress of Austria, which caused an outcry from the citizens 681 00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:20,799 Speaker 1: of Hungary, until the plaque was changed to read Elizabeth, 682 00:48:21,160 --> 00:48:25,360 Speaker 1: Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. Even in death, 683 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:28,520 Speaker 1: her life was still measured in the ways it affected others. 684 00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:34,000 Speaker 1: Before her death, Elizabeth had told Murray Valerie quote, and 685 00:48:34,040 --> 00:48:36,400 Speaker 1: when it came time for me to die, lay me 686 00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:40,760 Speaker 1: down at the ocean's shore. Of course, this last wish 687 00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:43,840 Speaker 1: was never carried out. Her body was laid to rest 688 00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:47,160 Speaker 1: in the Imperial Crypt, just as her sons had been 689 00:48:47,440 --> 00:48:56,000 Speaker 1: nine years earlier. In December, Franz Joseph celebrated the fifty 690 00:48:56,080 --> 00:49:00,279 Speaker 1: year jubilee of his reign, though celebrate might be the 691 00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:04,040 Speaker 1: wrong word. The country was still mourning the loss of 692 00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:07,640 Speaker 1: their empress, but their grief was also reserved for what 693 00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:12,000 Speaker 1: her death meant for Austria itself. The death of Prince 694 00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:15,600 Speaker 1: Rudolph marked the beginning of the end of the Austria 695 00:49:15,719 --> 00:49:20,319 Speaker 1: Hungarian Empire. The country was left without an heir, and 696 00:49:20,560 --> 00:49:25,560 Speaker 1: after the assassination of Elizabeth, their unshakable emperor was left 697 00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:31,120 Speaker 1: with another crack in his already crumbling foundation. The end 698 00:49:31,239 --> 00:49:35,560 Speaker 1: of the empire was within their sights, and Elizabeth's death 699 00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:39,840 Speaker 1: was just another nail in its coffin. The actual woman 700 00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:44,480 Speaker 1: inside the crypt was of little import In the years 701 00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:47,520 Speaker 1: to come. Elizabeth's death would be used as fuel to 702 00:49:47,640 --> 00:49:51,800 Speaker 1: fire propaganda during World War One. In a piece published 703 00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:56,440 Speaker 1: under the headline Revenge for Elizabeth, the author rights to 704 00:49:56,480 --> 00:50:01,279 Speaker 1: the Austrian forces being sent to the Italian front. Austria's 705 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:05,080 Speaker 1: warriors feel the strength within them to defeat and smash 706 00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:09,600 Speaker 1: with iron hand the raised hand of the murderer. It 707 00:50:09,719 --> 00:50:13,680 Speaker 1: is Lucenese spirit which leads the army of our enemy. 708 00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:19,640 Speaker 1: May Elizabeth Spirit lead our spirit? From more propaganda to 709 00:50:19,840 --> 00:50:24,680 Speaker 1: Hollywood blockbusters. Portrayals of Elizabeth typically fall in one of 710 00:50:24,719 --> 00:50:29,120 Speaker 1: two categories. The first is the Empress as a regal 711 00:50:29,239 --> 00:50:33,920 Speaker 1: sovereign unfairly taken before her time after giving nothing but 712 00:50:34,120 --> 00:50:38,160 Speaker 1: love and tolerance in her rule. This version of the 713 00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:41,959 Speaker 1: Empress found its way into war propaganda, but also into 714 00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:46,200 Speaker 1: government affairs, such as the Order of Elizabeth, which Franz 715 00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:50,200 Speaker 1: Joseph created following her death to award women for acts 716 00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:54,880 Speaker 1: of religious and charitable work. The second version of Empress 717 00:50:54,920 --> 00:51:00,359 Speaker 1: Elizabeth is the legacy of CC. It's more mythologized version 718 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:04,640 Speaker 1: of her life then inaccurate historical account. People portraying her 719 00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:09,080 Speaker 1: as a victim of circumstance, the tragic byproduct of a 720 00:51:09,120 --> 00:51:12,400 Speaker 1: system that took a bright young woman and tried to 721 00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:15,560 Speaker 1: shape her into what the Crown wanted. In that way, 722 00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:21,120 Speaker 1: people often equate Elizabeth with Princess Diana, the people's princess 723 00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:24,879 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century. I think it's a fair comparison. 724 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:28,040 Speaker 1: But I also think that maybe people don't realize that 725 00:51:28,080 --> 00:51:33,239 Speaker 1: those comparisons also hinge on the most easily consumable narrative 726 00:51:33,360 --> 00:51:38,320 Speaker 1: versions of who those people actually were. The simple fact 727 00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:43,080 Speaker 1: is that most portrayals of Empress Cecy emphasized just how 728 00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:48,279 Speaker 1: much the myth relies on portraying her as an innocent victim. 729 00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:51,399 Speaker 1: The name Cecy itself evokes this idea of a young 730 00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:55,120 Speaker 1: girl full of hopes and dreams, a girl who's surprised 731 00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:57,359 Speaker 1: when she wins the heart of an emperor who's meant 732 00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:01,480 Speaker 1: to marry her sister. The name Elizabeth just doesn't elicit 733 00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:05,600 Speaker 1: the same emotional response. But then again, Elizabeth did not 734 00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:09,400 Speaker 1: exist for the entertainment of others. Her life can't be 735 00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:12,880 Speaker 1: wrapped up in a neat, little beau because she wasn't 736 00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:17,320 Speaker 1: the perfect sovereign, nor was she the humble, compassionate woman 737 00:52:17,360 --> 00:52:21,000 Speaker 1: of the people that she's often painted as. The truth is, 738 00:52:21,560 --> 00:52:25,640 Speaker 1: Elizabeth was a complex woman. She married an emperor at 739 00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:29,040 Speaker 1: sixteen and had three kids. Before the age of twenty one. 740 00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:34,440 Speaker 1: She was alone in a strange and overbearing, restrictive formal court. 741 00:52:35,040 --> 00:52:38,719 Speaker 1: She lost two of her children, but she also had 742 00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:41,920 Speaker 1: a genuine love for nature, for the places she visited, 743 00:52:42,280 --> 00:52:46,360 Speaker 1: and for the languages and cultures she immersed herself in. 744 00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:49,399 Speaker 1: In the final years of her life, she existed more 745 00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:52,960 Speaker 1: than she lived. She was drifting from port to port, 746 00:52:53,200 --> 00:52:56,879 Speaker 1: chasing the open air as it found her. After her death, 747 00:52:56,920 --> 00:53:00,640 Speaker 1: her daughter Marie Valerie found a small comfort amidst the 748 00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:04,920 Speaker 1: cruel chaos, saying quote, now it has happened as she 749 00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:10,080 Speaker 1: always wished it to happen, quickly, painlessly, without medical treatment, 750 00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:13,840 Speaker 1: without long, fearful days of worry for her dear loved ones. 751 00:53:15,560 --> 00:53:19,279 Speaker 1: On the deck of the steamship on Lake Geneva, Elizabeth 752 00:53:19,360 --> 00:53:23,680 Speaker 1: spent her final conscious moments staring at the open expanse 753 00:53:23,840 --> 00:53:27,200 Speaker 1: of the bright blue sky above her. But even as 754 00:53:27,239 --> 00:53:30,920 Speaker 1: the sky began to fade, the sound of waves, which 755 00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:34,480 Speaker 1: she had long associated with home, lulled her to sleep. 756 00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:44,440 Speaker 1: That's the tragic story of Empress Elizabeth of Austria. But 757 00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:47,480 Speaker 1: keep listening after a brief sponsor break, to hear a 758 00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:52,080 Speaker 1: little bit more about how Cecy's legacy continues to persist today. 759 00:53:59,800 --> 00:54:03,000 Speaker 1: In the one hundred and twenty years since Elizabeth's death, 760 00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:06,840 Speaker 1: there have been countless adaptations of the Empress's story across 761 00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:11,239 Speaker 1: stage and screen, but perhaps none quite as peculiar as 762 00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:16,000 Speaker 1: the two thousand fourteen short film for Chanel by Carl Lagerfeld, 763 00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:23,600 Speaker 1: titled Reincarnation. Lagerfeld, who coincidentally was born on September nine, 764 00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:29,520 Speaker 1: thirty three, exactly thirty five years after Elizabeth's assassination, is, 765 00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:34,120 Speaker 1: of course the famous designer and fashion icon associated with Chanel, 766 00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:40,040 Speaker 1: Fendi and strangely detachable collars. The short film centers around 767 00:54:40,080 --> 00:54:44,160 Speaker 1: the most famous portrait of Empress Cecy, painted by Xavier 768 00:54:44,200 --> 00:54:48,440 Speaker 1: Winterhunter in eighteen sixty five. It's a painting where diamond 769 00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:52,759 Speaker 1: stars adorned the Empress's intricately plated brown hair and her 770 00:54:52,840 --> 00:54:58,520 Speaker 1: voluminous star adorned white ballgown. Lagerfeld uses this portrait of 771 00:54:58,600 --> 00:55:02,720 Speaker 1: CC and the matching venture Halter portrait of Franz Joseph 772 00:55:03,200 --> 00:55:07,120 Speaker 1: with his iconic imperial beard and in full military regalia 773 00:55:07,600 --> 00:55:10,880 Speaker 1: as vehicles to tell the origin story of one of 774 00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:14,920 Speaker 1: Coco Chanel's designs through the lens of a lowly bellhop 775 00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:18,360 Speaker 1: and bar maiden employed in an Austrian hotel in the 776 00:55:18,440 --> 00:55:22,840 Speaker 1: early nineteen fifties. The opening shots of the film have 777 00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:26,360 Speaker 1: the portraits hanging in the lobby of the hotel. Only 778 00:55:26,440 --> 00:55:30,719 Speaker 1: inside the frames the faces are actually Pharrell Williams and 779 00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:35,560 Speaker 1: karadel Avine, who are dressed and posed identically as their 780 00:55:35,600 --> 00:55:40,000 Speaker 1: historical counterparts. As the hotel bustles to life, we see 781 00:55:40,080 --> 00:55:45,680 Speaker 1: Kara Quote reincarnated as a mischievous nineteen fifties bar maiden, 782 00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:51,439 Speaker 1: and Farrell reincarnated as a much more subdued bellhop who 783 00:55:51,480 --> 00:55:54,160 Speaker 1: spends the majority of the first act of the movie 784 00:55:54,360 --> 00:55:58,800 Speaker 1: pressing an elevator button and not showing emotion. It's only 785 00:55:58,840 --> 00:56:01,520 Speaker 1: when the film Reach is its second act that we 786 00:56:01,600 --> 00:56:05,359 Speaker 1: see the characters inside the portraits come to life. As 787 00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:09,480 Speaker 1: the clock strikes midnight, the portraits themselves suddenly lose their 788 00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:13,920 Speaker 1: subjects to the hotel lobby. The film proceeds to waltz 789 00:56:13,920 --> 00:56:17,839 Speaker 1: around the room, Cecie's flowing white gown fanning out from 790 00:56:17,880 --> 00:56:21,120 Speaker 1: her frame with each twirl, as shots cut to Farrell 791 00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:25,280 Speaker 1: singing along to this song he wrote especially for the film, 792 00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:31,720 Speaker 1: titled ce ce the World Get It See See Coco Chanel. 793 00:56:32,480 --> 00:56:35,719 Speaker 1: The lyrics are a play on Chanel's iconic logo with 794 00:56:36,160 --> 00:56:40,320 Speaker 1: the interlocking CS. He sings, could she be the girl 795 00:56:40,400 --> 00:56:44,000 Speaker 1: to help me see See the world, while a blonde 796 00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:48,440 Speaker 1: child in the background chants slightly menacingly, in my opinion, 797 00:56:48,960 --> 00:56:52,800 Speaker 1: see cee over and over again, in rhythm with the music. 798 00:56:53,960 --> 00:56:58,200 Speaker 1: What's interesting about the film, in my opinion, is Lagerfeld's 799 00:56:58,280 --> 00:57:01,520 Speaker 1: use of C C in an almost manic pixie dream 800 00:57:01,560 --> 00:57:05,040 Speaker 1: girl away, reducing her down to a character that exists 801 00:57:05,320 --> 00:57:10,040 Speaker 1: solely to push for El's character toward the story. Even 802 00:57:10,080 --> 00:57:13,600 Speaker 1: when Kara gets turned to sing her verse, it's still 803 00:57:13,640 --> 00:57:17,000 Speaker 1: in the third person and she's singing the same lines. 804 00:57:17,720 --> 00:57:21,000 Speaker 1: Could she be the girl to help you see see 805 00:57:21,080 --> 00:57:25,960 Speaker 1: the world? Not could I? But could she? If you 806 00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:28,160 Speaker 1: want to find out how the rest of the film ends, 807 00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:31,240 Speaker 1: you can find it for free on YouTube. But I 808 00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:34,280 Speaker 1: think in the context of telling CC's story and the 809 00:57:34,360 --> 00:57:38,280 Speaker 1: continuation of her legacy, I'll leave you with this parting thought. 810 00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:42,800 Speaker 1: Even as the child chants see c in the background, 811 00:57:43,360 --> 00:57:47,800 Speaker 1: even as Kara del Avine's presence on screen physically dwarfs 812 00:57:47,880 --> 00:57:51,080 Speaker 1: for Els by the sheer size of her gown, in 813 00:57:51,160 --> 00:57:55,760 Speaker 1: the end, CC's name and image are once again being 814 00:57:55,880 --> 00:57:59,439 Speaker 1: used to fit someone else's narrative. It's enough to make 815 00:57:59,440 --> 00:58:02,720 Speaker 1: you wonder would they even notice if the real CC 816 00:58:03,240 --> 00:58:15,240 Speaker 1: wasn't there at all. Noble Blood is a production of 817 00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:18,240 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. 818 00:58:18,680 --> 00:58:22,040 Speaker 1: The show was written and hosted by Dani Schwartz. Executive 819 00:58:22,080 --> 00:58:27,160 Speaker 1: producers include Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The 820 00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:30,280 Speaker 1: show is produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young. 821 00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:33,960 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, 822 00:58:34,240 --> 00:58:36,120 Speaker 1: and you can learn more about the show over at 823 00:58:36,160 --> 00:58:39,080 Speaker 1: Noble blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I 824 00:58:39,200 --> 00:58:42,760 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 825 00:58:43,000 --> 00:58:46,440 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M