Sissy —the unconventional empress
Although she became Empress of Austria, Elizabeth of Wittelsbach (known by her nickname Sissy) was known throughout Europe for not behaving in the way a conventional empress should. Her life came to a tragic end when she was murdered in Geneva in 1898. She was born on Christmas Eve 1837 in Munich, the daughter of the Duke Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria and his wife Ludovika. Her father was a rather jovial and eccentric aristocrat, something of a poet, very…
