Biography of ,,Sissi,, and empreror Franz Jozeph

Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie von Wittelsbach - ,,Sissi“ was born on December 24, 1837 in Munich as a second daughter of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria and his wife Ludovika of Bavaria. She grew up with her siblings in Munich and at Possenhofen, on Starnbergersee (Lake Starnberg), which she loved.

Elizabeth was shy and introverted person as a child.  She grew up in the large family with their strict mother and their overly eccentric father. 

   She was different than her older sister Helene, who was an admirable young woman with manners and grace. Elizabeth was a rowdy and wanton. She rolled in the grass, got dirty, played in the forests around Possenhofen and spent hours riding on her horses. Elizabeth didn´t keep a diary but instead of that she wrote poems to express herself. Although Elizabeth had a strong relationship with her brothers and sisters, she had no real friends.   She had got rabbits, guinea pigs, canaries, dogs, hamsters and lambs and any more. Elizabeth adored her father. She shared her father's love of the circus, the "lower classes", long walks, horseback riding, and the zither. Her mother was pre- occupied with  her sister Helene.

   When was Elisabeth  still very young, she fell in love with a boy who frequently visited the family's castle in Munich. She was in love and when her mother found her poems and lovesick expressions written down about him, the boy was banished from the castle and Elisabeth had never seen him again. Elisabeth had another adventure in love when her family visited the family of her Aunt Sophie. Karl Ludwig, Elisabeth's cousin, was very fond of Elisabeth and admired her canaries and her drawings. He was only 5 years older than she. Karl presented her with gifts such as candies and roses. At this time Ludovica had plans that perhaps the two would make a good couple. On July of 1853, Ludovica received a very flattering letter from her sister, the Archduchess of Austria, Sophie. Sophie was looking for a husband for the 22-year-old Emperor of Austria, Franz Josef. Remembering Helene's wonderful example of a refined young woman. Sophie had requested that Helene would come to the royal family's palace at Bad Ischl, Austria

  Franz Joseph was a member of the famous Imperial family of Habsburg (Germany, Austria and Hungary also called the Danubian Monarchy). He is predestined to inherit the throne.  And at the age of 22 he falls in love with the very beautiful young Elizabeth of the German noble family Von Wittelsbach