Here’s How Empress Sisi From Netflix’s ‘The Empress’ Eventually Died IRL
Obsessed with The Empress on Netflix and suddenly need to know everything about Empress Elisabeth? Same. And while she had a long and fascinating life, she died relatively young at the age of 60 after being assassinated by an anarchist named Luigi Lucheni while on vacation in Geneva. Her death sent shockwaves throughout Europe, particularly in England where Queen Victoria described the incident as "too dreadful, too cruel."
So, what happened? Sadly, Elisabeth's death was actually pretty random. According to Edward Morgan Allborough de Burgh's 1899 book, Elisabeth: Empress of Austria (published just a year after her murder), Elisabeth was staying at the Hôtel Beau Rivage under the pseudonym Countess von Hohenembs. Why? Apparently she disliked too much fuss and wanted to be as low-key as possible. And while the police tried to station detectives around her hotel during the stay, she actually requested they be removed.
On September 10, 1898, Elisabeth and her lady-in-waiting, Countess Irma Sztáray, were walking to catch a boat and she was stabbed. And the attack itself happened so fast that Elisabeth didn't even realize what had happened.
As a witness recounted in de Burgh's book:
"The Empress was walking, attended by a lady-in-waiting and followed at some distance by a footman, from the Beau Rivage to the landing stage. When she was near the stage of the Quai du Mont Blanc, there came from the opposite direction a young man, accompanied by another, who was distinguished by a heavy grey beard. When quite near Her Majesty, the former suddenly threw himself upon her and stabbed her through the heart. The Empress Elisabeth fell to the ground, but with the assistance of her lady and some passengers who were near she was able to rise again, and walked to the landing-bridge and reached the steamer. But she had hardly arrived there when she seemed to become suddenly ill, and with a weak voice she said, 'What has happened?' and then became unconscious."
At this point Elisabeth was carried to her cabin, when "the ladies about her" observed a "small spot of blood upon her bodice." She was then taken back to her hotel on a stretcher. Frau Mayer, who was married to the hotel's owner, gave an account of what happened next:
"The Empress was lying with a pale face and closed eyes upon her bed. Soon after she arrived in her room she sighed twice deeply: these were the last signs of life. She lay on the stretcher as if asleep and with no outward show of pain."
Elisabeth's lady-in-waiting also gave a statement, saying, "When Her Majesty had regained her consciousness on board the steamer, I asked her, 'Does Your Majesty feel any pain?' and she replied faintly 'No.'"
Elisabeth passed away shortly after, and her autopsy revealed that she died gradually and without much pain. Her assassin was found and apprehended almost immediately. He gave a statement saying, "It was not a woman I struck, but an Empress; it was a crown that I had in view. I acted on my own initiative, without any pressure, and I alone and responsible for the deed."
When Elisabeth's husband Franz Joseph I heard the news he "remained in a kind of stupor for some time," while the rest of Europe's royals were obviously shocked—including Queen Victoria, who wrote a letter to Franz Joseph I saying, "Words fail me in which to express my heartfelt sympathy and my horror. It is too dreadful, too cruel. May God support and protect you!"
It's unclear how far into Elisabeth's life Netflix's The Empress will take us, so it's unclear if these events will be depicted. But it's sad to know things ended like this!
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