Married at 16 to the emperor of austria, elisabethรขโ‚ฌnicknamed sisiรขโ‚ฌwas a reluctant empress, struggling with royal life and sympathetic to the democratic struggles of the people in her new nation. You might consider sisi (as she is commonly known) the most famous female in habsburg history. She escaped the bindings of reality to become an iconic figure of beauty and legend.

On april 25, 1854, a shy and melancholy bride married into a major european royal house. Trembling and overcome with emotion, 16-year-old elisabeth, known by her childhood nickname sisi, was wed