Trudy Gold
The Empress Elizabeth: The Princess Diana of the 19th Century?
Trudy Gold - The Empress Elizabeth: The Princess Diana of the 19th Century
- Good morning to you from dark London. It’s nine o'clock your time, five ours. Five o'clock ours. I just find this really bizarre.
I know.
Do we have any- Do we have any students in Australia? That would be .
[Wendy] We actually do. We do, but the time change is difficult.
That must be extraordinarily difficult for them?
[Wendy] But we do, actually. It depends on the time.
Yeah, yeah.
[Wendy] Have you been watching the tennis at all?
No, I’ve been watching politics, which is not smart. It is not smart to watch the news at the moment.
[Wendy] I know.
We have a big scandal. A bookshop in London had “The Protocols” in its window with a little note saying, “Some people believe this is a forgery”, and it’s just had to come down. So can you imagine in a window, in a big book shop, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, some people believe it’s a forgery? You despair sometimes.
[Wendy] Absolutely. Some people, that’s incredible.
Yeah. But anyway, it’s gone down. It’s going down. I think so many organisations protested. But I’m getting information from a lot of our students that there’s pretty tough things going on. Anyway, you tell me when you’re ready, Wendy.
[Wendy] I am, Trudy, whenever you’re ready. Why don’t you start?
Okay. All right.
Thank you.
Well, good morning/afternoon/evening, everyone. After Williams’ extraordinarily good presentation yesterday, not only was it a good presentation, he took an incredibly difficult period of history dealing with the 1848 revolutions, and made it effortless. That is a master at work. I’ve got the easy option, because today, I’m going to look at the woman who became the wife of Franz Joseph, the Empress Elisabeth, an absolute beauty. Her dates are 1837 to 1898. She is the stuff of legends. I called her the Princess Diana of the 19th century, and she made Princess Diana seem like a bourgeois, because her life is absolutely extraordinary. I first became aware of Sisi when my parents, as a special treat, used to take me to a restaurant in Soho called the Gay Hussar. Those of you who know London, or live in London, the Gay Hussar, unfortunately, is no longer with us. It was one of the landmarks of London. It was one of those restaurants that a lot of the politicos went to and the writers. And it was full of pictures of the Empress City, because, of course, it was a Hungarian restaurant. And she becomes empress with her husband, Franz Joseph, of the Jewel Crown. So basically, she was an absolute icon. The first time I visited Vienna, I could not believe how much Sisi kitsch there was. In any tourist shop, there are tea towels, there are badges, there are any, if you think of the kind of paraphernalia that is attached to the Royal Family in England today, it’s 10 times that for Sisi.
So really, who was this extraordinary woman, who had so much adulation? Is in film, and I’m going to show you later on a couple of clips from films, stills from films, where she features. But I’m going to make a very bold statement. Basically, she came from a dysfunctional family, and was really at the centre of what is… Many of you know this already, but as we went through the story of Vienna and the Jews of Austria, and the Jews of the Habsburg Empire, one of the most dysfunctional empires in the world, and at its head was this incredibly dysfunctional family. So who was Elisabeth, the Empress Elisabeth? Well, you can see from that picture, she was an absolute raving beauty. Evidently, her hair, she could sit on. She becomes an incredibly vain creature, but more about that later. She was born in Munich in 1837. I’m going to preempt myself. She was assassinated in Geneva in 1898. She was born Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, 24th of December, 1837, a Christmas present, if you’d like. She was the third child and second daughter of Duke Maximilian Joseph and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. Her mother was the half-sister of the King of Bavaria. So before we get onto Elisabeth and Franz Joseph, I want to talk a little bit about her family. So can we see the first picture, please? There are her father… That’s her father, Duke Max of Bavaria, and her mother-in-law, who was also her aunt, Archduchess Sophie, mother of Emperor Franz Joseph. It’s important to remember that all these families are totally interrelated. What it does to the families is actually quite horrific, actually, because we’re going to see, unfortunately, that the consequence of all this inter-mating is going to be quite dire. Now… So let’s look a little bit at the rulers of Bavaria. Let’s start with Bavaria. So she’s the half-sister. Her mother is the half-sister of Ludwig, the first king of Bavaria. Now, who was he? Now, those of you who have visited Munich, he’s actually quite an important figure. Certainly for the tourist industry today. When he married Therese of Sax-Hildburgh, and again, a cousin, in 1810, this was the occasion of the first ever Oktoberfest, which is so much the drinking festival that’s held every year in Munich.
Those of you, when I said, if you travel to Munich, one of the things they do in October is they go to the beer halls and they drink steins, which is a sort of three pint mug, and they’re all carousing. It’s a very, very strange custom. But that was the first beer festival was when Ludwig of Bavaria married his wife. Now, he was a womaniser. He was a total womaniser and the arts. He was interested in mediaeval German history, and he had lots of pageants going back to the Teutonic Knights, et cetera, et cetera. He supported the fight for Greek independence. And after it was created, his second son actually became King of Greece. You’ve got to remember, after the independence of many of these countries, they were looking around for rulers, and quite often, they turned to Germany. Don’t forget, in the German and Habsburg lands, just how many princes and kings there were. 360 separate states, of which Munich was one of the most important. The two most important states in Germany at this time were Catholic Bavaria in the south, where, of course, Elisabeth is born, and Prussia in the north. Now, when I said he had great enthusiasm for women, those of you who visit Munich, will go to the Gallery of Beauties. It’s an extraordinary art gallery, which is filled with women he either admired or slept with. For example, he had an affair with the English adventurous, an incredible woman called Jane Digby. In the 19th century, these extraordinary women, upper-middle class aristocratic women, who really robed Europe. She finished up living with the Bedouin. When she was 70, she was married to an Arab sheikh , who was in his 30. He was a lover. And also, probably his most famous lover was the Irish adventurist, the dancer, who went by the name of Lola Montez.
And that was the end, really. That was the final spark that led to the revolution in Bavaria. His son, Max, was very, very popular, interested in business, and really, he was the one who really, if you like, stabilised the kingdom. However, he stabilised the kingdom to leave it to the man who really became the closest friend of the Empress Elisabeth. I’m trying to give you her background before we actually get into her life. So can we please see the next picture of Ludwig? Yes, King Ludwig of Bavaria. So he is Elisabeth’s cousin, and he’s going to be her closest friend. Again, if you visit Munich, one of the great sites of that area are, of course, the fairytale castles. So you had a crazy father, if I may, well, an erratic father, a grandfather, then a stable character, and then he has two sons, and his son Ludwig becomes King of Bavarian in 1867. Now, he was extraordinarily good looking. He, later on, was going to waste the Bavarian treasury on his fairytale castles, one of which is, of course, the scene from the Disney cartoon. It’s based on one of his castles. And really, it is worth going. And I’ve mentioned him in another context when I looked at the character of Wagner, because Wagner was, for a long time, his idol. Later on, they parted company. He hated his views. But he actually dressed his castle to the themes of Wagnerian operas. He becomes more and more fractured, more and more disengaged. He was homosexual at a time when it was not acceptable, and he does become engaged, actually, to Elisabeth’s younger sister, but it’s broken off.
And I have to say, it was his castle building that really ruined the Bavarian economy, and made it possible for Bismarck, really, to become… It was one of the main reasons why Bismarck found it so easy to create Germany in Prussian mould. His brother, tragically, he never has children. His brother, he had many, many lovers, male lovers. And I think the woman he loved most was Elisabeth. The problem with Ludwig, as he got older, he became more and more disassociated. He so much loathed the company of ordinary folk that he would even have his food pulled up on a trolley, so that staff didn’t actually have to be in the same room as him. And when he went to the opera, quite often, he would go there alone. He’d have his own special performances. He didn’t like the company of other people. Later on, he’s deposed, and there’s a very strange mystery. He dies in a lake, on the shores of a lake, where, on the other side of the lake, his beloved cousin, Sisi, is visiting. Was he trying to get to her? Was he murdered? Because who dies with him? His psychiatrist. But it’s a mystery story. But I wanted to bring him into the picture, because he was very much one of the closest confidants, and friends, and really, soul brother of Elisabeth. They wrote hundreds of notes to each other. She called herself the seagull. He called himself her eagle. And this is probably one of the most important relationships of his life. Now, what happens is, as a child… Can we go onto the next picture, please? Okay, you’re going to… That’s her with Franz Joseph. As a child, she very much ran wild in the countryside. Her father was actually the brother of the king. So consequently, he didn’t have any of the onerous duties. He was a bit of a bohemian. He spent his… Obviously, there are little sparks in a time of absolutism. He had eight children. She lives with her other brothers and sisters. They run wild. She wrote later on, that each of the children at Christmas had their own Christmas trees. She was a tomboy. She loved riding.
She was a wild, free thing. She adored her father. She didn’t like her mother so much. And her mother, in a way, a bit of a tragic figure, because she thought her marriage was beneath her. Why? Because her sisters had all married into the real aristocracy, or the crowned heads of Europe. And her sister, Sofia, who you saw in the last picture, was, in fact, married to the man who became emperor of Austria and the father of Franz Joseph. Anyway, she is looking for… When Franz Joseph takes the throne in 1848 after the revolutions, which William has begun to talk about, so Franz Joseph… I’m doing the tittle tattle, and William did the history yesterday. So Franz Joseph takes the throne aged 18. His mother is really the power behind the throne. She’s an incredibly strong woman. And, of course, he must have an heir. He must have a spare. So that means he has to find a virgin wife from the right blood, who can become the empress of this incredibly disparate, dysfunctional Habsburg territories, which we’ve already talked about. So who does she turn to? She turns to her sister. Her sister is, of course, Elisabeth’s mother. And consequently, she turns to her sister, and they go off to find a wife. The problem was, she didn’t have Elisabeth in mind. She had her older sister, who was far more pliant. But Franz Joseph takes one look at this gorgeous creature. He falls madly in love with her, and he stands up to his mother, and he basically says, “This is the one for me”. So when Elisabeth is 15-years-old, this child, really, this child bride from this wild background, running wild with her brothers and sisters in the forests around Munich, a wonderful horse woman, not bright, but never particularly schooled, is brought into the austere atmosphere of the Hofburg, and, of course, in the Schönbrunn Palace. It’s almost impossible to imagine what it must have been like.
She must have felt like a caged bird, because the pressure was on. She marries Franz Joseph. Even the consummation, the court knows immediately. She has a daughter within a year. Her mother-in-law, who is really running the court, takes the daughter away. She isn’t even allowed to name the child herself. So she’s really like a bird in a cage in the palace, and she completely hates it. Franz Joseph was always in love with her. I think this has to be said. He was totally enthralled by her. But she, herself, what she really wants to do is to get away from the Hofburg. So she has another daughter a year later. So she has two small children, who you see in that picture. Of course, there’s a lot of state occasions in the incredibly stuffy court where she has to dress up. Her mad passion is riding. They want to confine her, because the Empress of Austria, of course, has to be the state figure. I think that’s why, in some ways, don’t go too overboard on this, but in many ways, we can draw parallels with Princess Diana, a woman who, in many ways, was ill-fitted to the kind of life that she was going to have at the centre of the British Empire, or the British monarchy, just as this Empress Elisabeth… Just think about it. By the time she’s 16-years-old, she is the empress of one of the most important empires in the world, and you can just imagine what court life must have been like, the number of ambassadors they would have to see. Her mother-in-law made her study more languages. She was bright, but as I said before, she was unschooled. One of the things she did become very interested in, actually, was Hungary, of course, and this is very much going to be to the advantage of the state, because, in the end, the dual monarchy that is created. And Elisabeth, she also had great empathy. When she went out in the streets on these parades, the population would be wild for her. And when they went on royal tours to the various parts of the empire, just think, he rules over parts of Italy, he rules Hungary, he rules the Czech lands, he rules the Slovak lands, and how does the Emperor keep peace?
Well, one of the things he has to do to keep his people quiet in this terrible age of nationalism, from his point of view, you’d go on royal tours. And it was tragic, that on one of these royal tours, she doesn’t take the children with her, her eldest daughter died, and that leaves a huge hole in her heart. This is when they’re in Hungary. Hungary goes absolutely wild for her. And basically, that’s going to play a very big part in her life. As she develops, she really, really resents the world she’s living in, and she goes more into herself. She becomes obsessed with beauty, and her beauty. Can we turn to the next slide, please, Judi? Now, if you look very carefully at that slide, you will see, in that beautiful bedroom, do you see the exercise equipment at the back? And remember, this is the middle of the 19th century. She was so far in advance of her time in terms of physical fitness. She becomes an absolute demon for exercise. She exercises two, three times a day. She’s now got the confidence to spend her time riding. That’s where she can be free. Not only that, she becomes totally obsessed with her appearance. She had hair that went down to her bottom. Do you know how long… It would take a whole day to wash it. One day a fortnight was spent just looking after her hair. She becomes obsessed with her weight. She never went above about 110 pounds. She insisted that she had to keep her waist incredibly tiny. And evidently, at its best, it was 16 inches. Can you imagine the pain of being… Those of you who want the fun side of this, remember Scarlet O'Hara in “Gone With the Wind”? Can you imagine the pain of actually being pulled into that incredible corset? So she spends time thinking about her appearance, her skin, her hair, exercise, and also, she had a very, very unhealthy relationship with food. She was, today, we would call her bulimic.
She would have to attend all these feasts. How do you keep the weight off in all these feasts? And so you’ve got this wild, free bird trying very hard to, if you like, live some sort of life, and more and more, she runs away. But finally, they produce an heir. Can we see the next slide, please? Finally, the longed for heir, Rudolf, is born. And you will see from his dates, he’s only going to live to 30-years-old, and I’m going to talk a lot about that in a minute. The longed for heir, 101 gun salute, the heir to the Habsburg Empire, the Prince, the Crown Prince, the much wanted one. Something else about Elisabeth, she also took up fencing. She was, really, in many ways, she was a brave kind of woman. Today, I think we would call her rather reckless. Now, in terms of her tours in Hungary, she runs away from Franz Joseph as often as she can, particularly now that she has given him the heir, Sometimes, she’s away from Vienna for over a year. As I said, he’s hopelessly in love with her. And in Hungary, think about everything that happens before the lead up to the creation of the jewel crown. Can we see the next picture, please, if you don’t mind, Judi? And there you have Gyula Andrassy, who becomes the Prime Minister of Hungary. Now, he becomes a very close friend of Elisabeth. The rumour mungors thought that he was her lover. Certainly, she spent a lot of time with him, and he really was the brave and the free. He came from the Hungarian aristocracy. His father was a liberal at a time when it was very dangerous to be so. He followed in his father’s footsteps. He publishes articles that are highly critical. He’s elected to the Hungarian Diet. He’s involved in the wars that… And he’s sent to Constantinople by the Hungarian revolutionary government of 1848. He’s on the side of the rebels. What he was sent for, he’s a brilliant diplomat, he was sent to secure Ottoman neutrality. Just think, the Habsburg Empire borders the lands of the Ottomans.
And after the Battle of Világos, which secures the end of the 1848 Revolution, he had a price on his head. He was actually condemned to death in absentia. And an effigy was hung of him was hung by the Austrian government. And what he did was, he went to London, he went to Paris, he studied politics, and he doesn’t return to his native land until 1858. He was always a supporter of Ferenc Deák, who was the real father of Hungarian patriotism. And finally, as William talked about yesterday, when the problem was solved, well, between Austria and Hungary, he was chosen of as Vice President of the Diet, and was one of the drafters of the Austrian-Hungarian Compromise, which had put an end to the military dictatorship. Now, Elisabeth, Queen of Hungary, when she visited Hungary, he makes… When Franz Joseph, when they signed this concordia, Franz Joseph and Elisabeth become king and queen of Hungary. Prior to that, whenever she visited Hungary, she was very careful to wear Hungarian national dress. They were very, very close. She’d learnt Hungarian. After 1858, he often came to the Habsburg court. She’d first met him in 1866. They had an incredibly close correspondent, a long loving correspondent. Was she his lover? There’s a question mark about it. It’s very, very unlikely. But the point was, when… She was very much in favour of the compromise, and she put all her influence to bear on Franz Joseph. And, of course, after his mother’s death, she was influential, because he was madly in love with her. But basically, after his death, she was heartbroken. When he dies, she said, “I have lost one of my dearest friends, perhaps my greatest friend”. So the other side of Elisabeth, almost the liberal side of Elisabeth is, it’s absolutely fascinating. Now, on her travels, she spent a lot of time in England. Why?
Because she loved hunting. And there’s some wonderful photos of her hunting. Can we see them, please? Yes, there she is. Look how gorgeous she is in her hunting gear. There’s another one. Look at her shape. By this time, she is in her late 40s. What a wonderful, wonderful figure. And the man who showed her around England… Because remember, the Empress of the Habsburg Empire comes to England riding. She goes from stately home to stately home. She actually buys herself a home in London. And it’s rather interesting, there’s a clue to her habits, because there was a separate staircase from her bedroom to the kitchen. Remember, I’ve already mentioned that, today, we would call her bulimic. So she would go down, obviously, late at night, having disgorged after the banquet she was forced to attend as the Empress of Austria, how free can the Empress of Austria really be? And she tried to keep it secret. How do we know these kind of things? From the notes of servants, really. And a lot of research has been done on her, because as I said, she really, even to this day, she is still the icon of Vienna. If you go to Austria, believe me, go into any tourist shop, it is absolutely extraordinary. Now, as she got older, the demanding beauty routine became even more intense. And, though, but she didn’t just… I said, look, she had to wash her hair, and it took all day for her servants to do it. But she used her time to learn languages. She’d learnt Hungarian. She’d learnt Greek. She’d also, if you think about it, the Greek War of Independence, the myth and the romance of Greece, she had tutors for all these languages. In order to keep her figure, she slept on a very heavy iron bedstead without a pillow. We know that she had cold showers in the morning and olive oil baths in the evening. And she didn’t sleep much. So what did she do in bed?
She would write copious letters, and also, poetry. She was a huge admirer of Heinrich Heine. More about that later. And can we go on to the next character? Now, that’s Bey Middleton. He was an English adventurer. He was a great, great horseman. He didn’t come from the senior aristocracy. He was upper-middle class. But because he was so good at riding to hounds, he was the man who was chosen to squire the Empress Elisabeth. And there were many rumours, they spent so much time together, was he a lover? He did marry. But ironically, there were all sorts of rumours about him. And he is actually believed to be the father of the woman, Clementine Hozier, who, of course, later on, married Winston Churchill. Fascinating, the byways of history. As I said, William had the tough job this week. I’m taking you into, if you like, the gossip of history. Anyway, he comes back to Austria because of an appalling tragedy. Can we see the next slide, please? Prince Rudolf. Principal Rudolf, of course, the heir to the Austrian throne, he has to marry, and he marries Princess Sophie of Belgium. Again, what an extraordinarily strange family. They were Saxe-Coburgs. Belgium had broken away from Holland in 1831. It was signalled by a riot in the opera, believe it or not. She was the sister of Leopold II of Belgium, the man who, of course, used the Belgian Congo as his private fiefdom, and so many millions of Congolese died in the most appalling… In fact, we can talk about a genocide in the Congo. So her aunt had married the brother of Franz Joseph. So they’re doubly related. And he had gone to Mexico to become the King of Mexico. So this is Franz Joseph’s brother, Maximilian, married to her aunt, Carlota. Think of all this intermarriage. This is a German family, the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family. And, of course, from that branch also comes Prince Albert. Her uncle, Maximilian, goes off to Mexico with his wife, Carlota.
It was an adventure really organised by Napoleon III of France. He wants a throne. He goes to Mexico. And what happens is, of course, there is a revolution, and he is executed. His wife, Carlota, never recovered, and actually died 30 years later in an asylum. And the doctors who looked after her, by the way, were the people who were sent for to deal with Ludwig II. So he marries Sophia. It is a terribly, terribly unhappy marriage. Rudolf, in many ways, was like his mother. His instincts were liberal. He also fought against the rigidity of the Habsburg palace. He’d had all sorts of tutors in his youth. He didn’t see that much of his mother, but he did adore her. But it was a very complicated relationship. He’s forced into this marriage. It was a terribly unhappy marriage. They had a daughter, but then she could have no more children, because he’d given her gonorrhoea. No cure in those days. The magic bullet had not yet been invented. Salvarsan for syphilis. And, of course, later on, penicillin, et cetera, for gonorrhoea. Didn’t happen. It was the disease of Europe. So what does that tell us about him? Yes, he was liberal. He was also quite friendly with a lot of Jewish intellectuals. One of his closest friends, Moritz Szeps, was, in fact, the editor of one of Hungary’s leading, beg your pardon, Vienna’s leading liberal newspapers. Many people saw him as the great hope of Austria, this young man, but there was the other side to that young man. That young man also spent an incredible amount of time carousing. He was a regular at the Café Sacher. The Café Sacher… We’ve talked a lot about Vienna as the century develops After 1873, when the stock market crashed, the liberalism, really… It was the last gasps of liberalism, acute nationalism, absolute despotism, against the backdrop of Vienna becoming one of the most popular cities in the world. And what did the young aristocrats do? Death and decay. Decadence of Vienna.
Don’t forget what Karl Kraus said of Vienna. “It’s an experimental station on the way to the end of the world.” And young Prince Rudolf, who, his father was an authoritarian. Franz Joseph was an extraordinary fellow. He would get up at five o'clock every morning. He’d be at his desk working away. He wasn’t very bright, he wasn’t very imaginative, but he was incredibly dutiful. And he would beaver away in the Habsburg looking at every bit of legislation, trying to hold the empire together, and his heir, his only son, what was his only son like? He was a liberal. He sided with liberal causes. He was, in many ways, the icon of the liberals. But the other side, in this desperately unhappy marriage, and the fact that he didn’t really have a proper role in the Habsburg Empire. Yes, he’d be sort of taken out for military parades, he’d be on show in all these kind of events, going from different parts of the empire, but what was his real role? Because of his liberalism, he was kept out of government. So consequently, he turned to, what many people would call, decadence, debauchery, and decay. And you’d find him at places like the Café Sacher. Upstairs, there was this incredible, licentious sort of parlour, which was presided over by incredibly beautiful women. Gypsy women would dance. And it was drugs, and it was drink, and it was anything that you want to possibly imagine. So on one level, he’s a liberal. On the other level, he’s a libertine. And his wife can no longer have children. She comes from a very unstable family. So does he. The marriage is more and more unhappy. And we also know that he often turned his thoughts to suicide. And what happens is… Can we see the next picture? That is Marie Vetsera. Marie Vetsera came from the minor aristocracy.
Her aunt had actually been one of Rudolf’s mistresses. Now, you can either take the romantic story, or you can take the real story. And I’m going to show you clips from films, because the films tend to take the really romantic story of Marie Vetsera. She was a 17-year-old adventurist, really. It appears that Rudolf had, more or less, given up any hope of having any halfway decent life, and his thoughts had turned more and more to suicide, and he was looking for a partner to commit suicide with. And this young girl, who must have been completely bedazzled by becoming the mistress, one of many, of the Empress’ son, she accompanies him to a hunting lodge in Mayerling, one of his hunting lodges. And having spent the evening carousing, the story is, we now know the facts, the story is, that they went upstairs to retire, and he shot her, killed her, before… It was a suicide pact. Before turning the gun on himself, and he committed suicide. Now, can you imagine, the heir to the Austrian throne has committed suicide? This is the big scandal of the 19th century in Austria. They had to hush it up. Maria Vetsera was taken away, because, of course, you can’t have a suicide! This is Catholic Austria! On one level, there might be the liberalism, and all the interesting avant-garde that’s developing, but it’s Catholic conservative Austria. She is buried in a monastery nearby. He, of course, the great state funeral. So consequently, his mother, though, it broke, Elisabeth. Elisabeth comes back, of course, for the funeral. And from then on, she only wore black. So the story of Marie Vetsera, and of, course Rudolf, when I show you some I suppose… No, I’m not going to show you footage today. I’m going to show you stills from a few films about Mayerling, because the hunting lodge at Mayerling is going to become made into a film. It’s been made into opera. It’s been made into a ballet. And in the film, and in the ballet, it’s seen as a great tragic story of star-crossed lovers. I’m afraid, that having read and read on it, I don’t see it that way at all. I see it as an incredibly selfish, spoiled man who didn’t want to die on his own, who chose to… So persuaded this young girl, she was just 18 when she was killed, to go with him.
And, of course, she was completely dishonoured, whereas, he was still the beloved Crown Prince. Anyway, can we go onto the next picture? That is Katherina Schratt. Elisabeth, you can imagine, after the death of her beloved son… They’d had one more daughter, by the way. There’d been a reconciliation, and the youngest daughter was born in 1868. Whereas she was very remote from her first three children, the youngest daughter, Marie, was almost over-loved. But she comes back to Vienna for the funeral, of course, but then she’s on her road again. She has a beautiful villa on Corfu, and she becomes an incredibly restless woman. Really, the villa in Corfu, where she had a statue of the poet, Heinrich Heine. She read everything that he had ever written. She wrote a lot of poetry. Don’t forget, she loses, of course, not does she just lose her beloved son, she loses Andrássy, so she’s becoming more and more isolated, and she wanders Europe. She wanders Europe. But kindness. She knows the Emperor still adores her. So what she does, basically, is find him a mistress. And if you have a look at that face, there’s quite a lot of similarity in that face than with the Empress Elisabeth, isn’t there? That is Katherina Schratt. She was a very famous stage actress. She becomes the mistress with the wife’s blessing, chosen by the wife of Franz Joseph, and she really sticks with him right to the end. And as he becomes more and more elderly, they have tea together, or they have breakfast together, in his very ordered life. So he’s already lost his son. And I should mention, the year that Rudolf dies, Elisabeth also loses her mother and her sister. So it’s a terrible year of grief.
Can we see a picture of Franz Joseph at the end? Yeah, you see, he’s going to live to see all the loss. And finally, what happens is, that he lives to see the death of his wife. And what happens is, in her wanderings around Europe, she is in Geneva when she is attacked by an Italian anarchist. He’s looking for someone to kill, and she is killed by him. And we have a short little clip of a film on that, if you don’t mind, Judi? I must thank Judi for always working this technology for me. Mmm, thank you very much, Judi. So that just gives you a notion of just how seriously important… There were so many statues of Sissi. And, of course, she comes home. Her body is brought home for a state funeral. It breaks Franz Joseph, but he continues. He’s got his mistress. He’s got his routine. And he’s lost his beloved son, so the heir becomes his nephew. And it’s actually the killing of the nephew by an anarchist, again, a Serbian anarchist this time, in 1914, it’s called “the bullet that killed millions of men”, because that, of course, was the start of the First World War. So one of the last poems that she wrote… She used to try and write in the field very much in the style of Heine. Oh, it’s so sweet. “O'er thee, like thine own sea birds I’ll circle without rest For the earth holds no corner To build a lasting nest.” This was her tragedy, really. As I said, I see her, really, as the caged bird, a woman who should never have become the empress of Austria. He would’ve been far better to have married her sister, who was dutiful, and would’ve been a nice bourgeois wife. But he fell in love with his incredibly, beautifully, wild creature that he could never tame.
And as a result, it was tragedy for all of them. And also, I think it has to be said, the way the family were brought up, and the tragic death of Rudolf, because maybe I was a little bit too harsh on him in my analysis, but in many ways, did he have a chance either? Did any of these characters have a chance? And yet, she is still the great icon of Vienna, and, of course, at the centre of many films. Can we see some of the stills, please, if you don’t mind, Judi? Now that is from “Sissi” in 1954. This is six hours, a six hour film. It was made by… It was actually made by Austrian television. Here, you see the beautiful Romy Schneider playing Sissi as a young girl. And with her, of course, is Franz Joseph, played by a very young Helmut Berger. That’s a very famous one of 1954. There’ve been many bad versions. In fact, Austrian television, at the moment, is making another one. They were making it… I checked it out. It’s being made in… It was to be made in 2021. I don’t know if it’s been held up by Covid. But there’s been a lot of films. My favourite, although, it’s bad… Can I show you what my favourite is? Can we come to the… “Mayerling”, now, there you see the real couple. There, you see Rudolf with Maria Vetsera. This is Omar Sharif, the wonderful Egyptian actor who came to fame in both “Lawrence of Arabia” and in “Funny Girl”, with the beautiful Catherine Deneuve. And, of course, in “Mayerling” of 1968, it is a love story. It is a thwarted love story between Marie Vetsera and Rudolf. You know, I love the character of Omar Sharif. When he played in “Funny Girl”, his films were banned in Egypt, because he kissed Barbara Streisand, who, of course, is Jewish. But, of course, his role in “Lawrence of Arabia”… I’m not saying that this is a good film, but it’s worth a wallow. If you want a real wallow of a film, here’s a wallow. And the Empress Elisabeth is played, of course, by Ava Gardner. It’s one of her later roles, because I would suggest to you, that Ava Gardner, in her heyday, of course, she’d been married many times, but I suppose her great love was Frank Sinatra, but in her heyday, those of you who love movies, watch “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman” with her and James Mason.
Watch some of her early films. She was one of the most glorious creatures. In many way, a perfect character to play the Empress Elisabeth, because I think there was that wildness, that I can’t be tamed feeling, about Ava Gardner. But there she is in “Mayerling” playing the Empress Elisabeth. So to sum up, because, obviously, next week, we’re going back to serious politics again, and I’m going to be looking at the role of the Jew in Vienna, and then look at the growth of racial madness. I think it was important for you to understand the family that was actually at the centre of them. And there are so many interesting books, a lot of fantasies, and as I said, there’s even an opera and a ballet about Mayerling. Is it such a romantic story? I see it as a tragedy of a young girl who is seduced by a man who should have known better. But anyway, that’s my thoughts on it. So let’s have a look at the questions. So thank you very much. Should we see if we’ve got some questions?
Q&A and Comments:
Oh, yes, people are talking about the weather. “A lot of snow.” “It’s sunny in Santa Barbara.” I love to hear this. It really cheers me up a bit, really. “Good morning from New York.” Hi, Joan. Jennifer. Thank you, Wendy. “Sunny in Los Angeles.” “Very white in Toronto.” “Hello from Toronto.” “Sissi was part of our Hungarian legendary persons because of her love for Hungary.” And Judi is wishing you better, Wendy.
Q: “Which bookshop?”
A: Blackwell’s.
“Snow forecast for Jerusalem.” Oh, and Valerie’s saying, “Hooray for the Gay Hussar”. Yeah. Now, let’s see if we got any questions. It really went down at the end. Edith just can’t recover from Covid.
“I hear that the famous Habsburg jaw was a result of the inbreeding.” Yes, Tim, it didn’t come out in that… It came out more in the Spanish Habsburgs. They died out because of it.
Now, this is from Steven, “My maternal grandfather’s maternal grandfather, Emuel Norfeldt, was a Hungarian immigrant to New York, who made good and became the first Jewish alderman of New York in the late 19th century”. “He served in Tammany Hall with Teddy Roosevelt.” “When the Empress was assassinated, Roosevelt, then president, appointed Emuel American Ambassador as his representative at her funeral.” “There were numerous contemporary newspaper reports speculating that Hungary would make him a barron.” “What didn’t happen?” Oh, Steven, that is pretty good yuks, isn’t it? I do love… I love these stories.
Q: “What was the relationship of England and the Austro-Hungarian Empire?” Now, what was English policy in Victorian England?
A: Think about it. It’s divide and rule. In the end, it’s going to be the Triple Entente, and the Entente Cordiale. In the end, Austria, Germany, if you think about it, Austria, and Germany, and the Ottoman Empire are going to range up against Britain, France, and Russia in the First World War.
Oh, I should mention to you, there’s this wonderful series called “Fall of Eagles”, which is the story… It was made for BBC Television in the ‘70s. It’s about 10 hours of it, but it’s wonderful, if you can get hold of it, and it’s the story of the Habsburg dynasty, the Russian dynasty, and the German dynasty, and they were all interrelated. You’ve got to remember that they kept on marrying each other. Now, the British Royal Family, fascinating. The British Royal Family hated… On one level, they were all inter-married. But Edward VII, Victoria’s eldest son, married a Danish princess, and in 1866, Germany went to war with Denmark. So Queen Alexandria loathed the Germans, but on the other hand, the Kaiser was one of Queen Victoria’s grandsons, as was the Tsarina of Russia. So they’re all interrelated. It’s important… And they all socialise with each other.
Q: Ah, Zahava asked, “Are there love letters from Andrássy and Elisabeth?”
A: It depends how you define love. There are affectionate letters.
No, apparently, her waist…This is from Ruth. “Apparently, her waist was 20 inches before she had children, and after three pregnancies, she reduced it to 16.” “Her corsets were made of leather, out.” Yes, I think a psychologist can make a lot of this kind of… I think a lot can be made of the psychology of all of this. She was desperate to be young and beautiful. She hated… She didn’t have a portrait painted after she was 30, and she didn’t like photos. After she was 30, she didn’t like photos.
Yes, Stephanie of Belgium, that’s right! That was the wife of the Emperor Rudolf. I beg your pardon, the Crown Prince Rudolf. That was Stephanie. Her youngest daughter was called Valerie, yes. Yes, that’s interesting.
Marika’s telling us, “The ballet paints Rudolf as a very unsympathetic character, and his lover Maria, as a seductress”. The reality was, his favourite mistress was Mitzy, I can’t remember her surname, the woman who really supervised all the entertainments in the Café Sacher. Marie was just, it would appear, was just one of his many mistresses, a seductress, a 17-year-old girl, and a sophisticated, probably incredibly decadent Crown Prince. I’m not sure. I’m reading the transcript. It’s very hard to keep up. Oh, the transcript, yes. One of the problems, Joan, we have with the transcript is that it does sometimes make some very strange comments. “She was only 18.” “When was she only 18?”
Q: “Is there not a rumour that she had a fatal abortion and bled to death, and that is why he killed?”
A: Pamela, there are a lot of rumours, but it seems, I think, having read quite a lot about it, I think he actually shot her, and then himself.
It wouldn’t have upset a crown prince.
Yes, Jackie Einstein, “Elisabeth was so vain, that after the age of 36, she wouldn’t have a portrait painted”. I believe it was actually after 32. This is from Rosalind.
Trudy, can you imagine the scrips?
[Trudy] Pardon, darling?
[Wendy] Oh, sorry, I’m .
Yes, Wendy? You wanted to say something.
Can you- Yes, I’m saying- Can you imagine the stress that she lived with?
Oh, it was unbelievable. I mean, in a way, I think that’s why she turned to… I mean, she’s a great psychological study. I’m sure that’s why she did so much exercise, horse riding. She was always on the move. I hope I got that over to you enough, that she really, really wanted to be on the move all the time. She was running away from herself.
And impatient.
Becomes even more acute after the death of Rudolf.
Yeah.
It’s a tragic story all round, isn’t it? If you think about it, it’s really quite a tragic story. A lot of people are feeling a lot of sympathy.
Q: Anthony, “How did she acquire the name Sissi?”
A: It was a pet name. Elisabeth, it was a pet name.
Q: “Why were there no bodyguards when Sissi was killed?”
A: You know, that’s interesting. That’s a very, very good question, Arlene. I think that she would go with just her maid. She went anonymously when she was at the hotel. She didn’t check in under the name of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria. He didn’t realise who she was. You see, you got to understand, at the turn of the century, there were all sorts of strange anarchist groups, and their weapon was political assassination.
Q: So this is from Marilyn. “I read, on the day of Sissi’s assassination, that she was strolling with a Rothschild best friend”. “Was she on route by boat to the Rothschild country estate?”
A: I’m not sure about that, Marilyn. But, of course, she would’ve mixed with the Rothschilds. She was far more simpatico to Jews than the majority. And as I said, she was a liberal. You know, that’s the other side of her. She and her son, politically, had a lot of sympathies. And as I said, her favourite poet was Heinrich Heine. And you know what’s interesting? After her death, the villa was bought by Kaiser Wilhelm, the villa in Corfu, and he had the statue of Heine knocked down. I mean, he hated Heine, you know, the symbol of the symbol of liberalism, the symbol of international Judaism. Yeah, the Rothschild family were, of course… I mean, the Austrian Rothschilds were one of the richest families in the empire, and she would’ve had more in common with them than she would with her stuffy courtiers. There is another side to Elisabeth. It really depends what side you want to take, doesn’t it? On one level, they are unbelievably spoiled and privileged. If you think of the poverty and the horror of the life in Vienna for the average woman, and then you think of the privilege of Sissi, but it didn’t make her life any less miserable, because she was tied to a man she could not love. She had a completely unfulfilled life, in many ways. So it’s a tragedy, really.
Yes, her sister Sophie died in a fire. Exactly, Jonathan. And that was the year that Rudolf died. So that was a terrible tragedy for… Also a terrible tragedy.
Oh, yes, yes. Of course, people are talking about Omar Sharif, “Doctor Zhivago”, and the other film. Thank you for bringing that up, Valerie. One of Ava Gardner’s greatest films, if you love a great wallow, it’s Humphrey Bogart and Ava Garden, it’s “The Barefoot Contessa”. And yes, “Doctor Zhivago”. Wendy was talking about great films the other day. And honestly, if you haven’t re-watched, I think, “"Doctor Zhivago”, the other one that I think is absolutely wonderful with him and with Peter O'Toole is “Lawrence Arabia”.
Q: “How old was Elisabeth when she died?”
A: Well, she was born in 1837 and she died in 1898. So she didn’t make old bones.
[Wendy] Trudy, I’m jumping off. I just want to thank you for an outstanding presentation.
Okay, wish you better, darling.
Thanks-
I’ll just take a few more. Rose has said-
Thank you.
God bless. “I learned about Sissi from my almost hundred-year-old mother-in-law”. “The old Sea documentary, 'Leopold’s Ghost’.” “I was born in the Congo, and was one of the tiny children who ran with parents to South Africa.” Yes, that is one of the shameful episodes of 19th/20th century history, what happened in the Congo. Absolutely unbelievable! It was his private fiefdom. Sissi was friendly with Bareness Rothschild. I didn’t know that she had kosher food prepared, but I can believe it. Esther is giving us all love from sunny La. Marcel is wishing Wendy a speedy recovery.
Q: “How old was Elisabeth when she died?”
A: Let me work it out for you. 60… 60 to 9… She was 61. Or was she 51? I can’t do math.
61.
This is Brian Conway. “Mayerling” ballet, choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan at the Opera House Covent Garden was my introduction to ballet.“ "Loved it…” Yes, and it’s a beautiful, beautiful ballet. Yes, I agree with you.
Q: But does art have to really represent life?
A: You know, this debate comes up often. What is truth? Look, when I tell you a story, and today, I’ve really told you a story, rather more than analysed history, what have I done? I’ve read a few books, I’ve thought about it. I’ve got quite a lot of background on Austria and Germany and I’ve tried to put it together. But what I give weight to is going to be very much mirrored by my own interests, and the way I’ve been brought up and tutored, and my influences. So it’s a very, very complicated story. You cannot complain that a ballet is written that might not be completely accurate anymore than a film. I mean, “Mayerling” is a wonderful wallow. It’s not attempt… It’s faction. I love that word, faction.
Georgie, “We visited a beautiful castle in Hungary, which was hers”. Yes, yes, she had… You’ve got to remember, they had palaces all over the empire, and she was given, by the Hungarian government, a beautiful palace 20 miles out of Hungary.
Q: “Did she have lovers?”
A: Look, Bay Middleton, Andrássy, there was another chap, were they really her lovers? Look, she didn’t live in a world of complete derism, as we do today. If you think of the Royal Family today, I mean, they can’t do anything without total attention being placed on them.
Q: This is from Odette. “How does an empress not have any bodyguard when walking about town?” “How easy was it to attack?”
A: You see, this is interesting. She was incognito. He just realised who she was. She would’ve hated to have bodyguards. Just imagine, when she’s having to be part of pomp and ceremony, she can’t walk anywhere. To her, to be in Geneva by the sea, by the lake, she loved water. Remember, she was on the other side of the lake in a hotel when her beloved cousin drowned, or was drowned, or killed himself, or was killed. We’ll never know the end of that story either.
Q: “In what way was important to be the subject of an LU lecture?”
A: I’ll tell you why. I’ll tell you exactly why. Because I wanted to show, that at the centre of a dysfunctional empire, there was an incredibly dysfunctional family, and because I’m talking about personal. Thursday is Holocaust Memorial Day. Much of what I teach is completely dark. And once in a while, I want to turn to the other side of the world. So that’s why I do it. And, you know, to be perfectly, ruthlessly honest, you have a switch. If you don’t like it, you can switch off, so. And I’m not being rude. I mean, we-
Yeah, Trudy, you addressed that well said, Trudy.
Yeah, because, honestly, I think, that I’m getting a lot of very positive comments as well. You know, once in a while, I don’t what it’s like where you are, Alan, but it’s cold, it’s grey, and I wanted to give you a bit of sparkle, and take you to the movies, and sort of… And once in a while, I think we need to do that. If you want serious, tune in on Thursday, where I should mention to all of you, we have extraordinary people speaking. Howard Jacobson is joining us, and Dame Janet Suzman is reading, and we have four survivors who will be, not just talking about their experiences, but explaining how they want to be remembered. And please, if you have children or grandchildren who would like to listen, it would be rather marvellous, because, for example, Anita Lasker Wallfisch is joining us. And talking of royalty, her portrait has just been unveiled at the Palace by Prince Charles. He had some survivor’s portraits painted. And she had a nasty fall, and he sent her a bouquet of roses. So, you know, that’s a nice story for you. But that’s why I do it, Alan. Once in a while, I will digress into, what I call, the byways of history.
This is from Nicola. “You’ve made a cold day sunny.” Thank you.
Oh, this is Pamela. She’s saying, “Royal Ballet’s "Mayerling” by Kenneth MacMillan’s list score is one of the most amazing ballets ever, especial the final bedroom scene where the double suicide takes place". I’ve never seen it in… I didn’t see it at the Opera House, but there is… But you can actually see it, believe it or not, on YouTube.
This is from Danielle, “The 1954 version of ‘Sissy’, again and again on Swiss television”. “Franz Joseph was played by Karlheinz Böhm, not Helmut Berger.” Thank you very much. Both very good looking men. Karlheinz Böhm was still very present in German TV.
Oh, this is from Jay Burke. “I read that Sissi used a cosmetic with lead in it that ate her skin, that’s why she didn’t have pictures, and she became more remote.” That’s very interesting. “‘Fall of Eagles’ is on YouTube.” Ah, if “Fall of Eagles” is on YouTube, and you want a real wallow, and it’s reasonable history, it’s incredibly well done. It’s got some of Britain’s best, serious actors in it. And as I said, it’s very calm.
Ruth, when you said Zachary Cafe, I said Sacher’s Cafe, Sacher-Torte. Yes, Cafe Sacher, the famous Sacher-Torte. But what happened was, the chef who developed Sacher-Torte went off to another cafe, and opened his own cafe, and there was a huge dispute over who had the right to the name Sacher-Torte.
Was it the man who owned, who’d made the cake, or it was the cafe where it was made? It’s the Cafe Sacher. It’s “Fall of Eagles”, Martin. “Mitzi Kaspar.”
Thank you, Steven. Oh, I do love you all. I don’t have to look things up with all of you. Mitzi Kaspar was the woman who really presided over the upstairs at the Cafe Sacher, and she was his main mistress. “Surely She was so popular and photographed, she would’ve been recognised?” Valerie, they used to wear those big hats with veils, remember? “You skipped over my question because you were interrupted.” Put it in again, Rosalyn. Barbara’s thanking everyone, Judi.
Q: Mimi, “I wondering, had her mother-in-law been more welcoming and understanding, perhaps her life could have turned out differently?”
A: Yes, she was only 15 when she got engaged. 16 when she got married. Yes, she was a child. Obviously, if she’d been prepared… And it’s interesting, ‘cause her mother was her mother-in-law’s sister. So you would’ve think it would’ve been a bit more… It would’ve been… It was not done thoughtfully. You know, they needed a virgin bride. Remember, Sophie wanted her other niece, who was much more pliable, but he fell madly in love with this beautiful woman, and that was it. As I said, he overrode his mother.
Ah, yes, Bernard Victor, “BBC’s series, "Vienna Blood”, gives a good idea of life in Vienna, particularly antisemitism". Yes, I’ve got very good news for you, Bernard. On the 10th of February, Frank Tallis, who wrote “Vienna Blood”, I’m interviewing him. He’s a fantastic chap. He was a former psychiatrist, and he turned his hand to writing “The Liebermann” books, and he’s really interesting. And so he’s coming in on the 10th at seven o'clock.
Oh, this is lovely. “We did a production of the 'Mayerling Affair’ at Northview High in Joburg in 1965.” “Jack Klaff played Rudolf.” Well, yes, he became quite a well-known actor. “And I as the Empress Elisabeth.” Well done! Oh, that’s fantastic!
Q: “Was the ‘Elizabeth Serenade’ composed for Sissi?”
A: I believe it was. Amy, thank you, thank you, thank you. “Sissi was 60 when she was…” Thank you for the mathematician.
Joan, you like hearing about Sissi. You see, we need the light side of life sometimes. Well, it’s not exactly the light side of life. It’s the gossipy side. It’s the story of a person. We need, I believe, for our sanity, we need to get away from the swirling events of history. Oh, Barry, it’s in Vancouver covered in fog. Valerie, thank you.
This is from Eve. “Love your lecture, Trudy.” “Sometimes we need kitsch.” Yes, that’s what I think. Thank you. “These colourful byways of history are fabulous.” Yeah, once in a while, I think, even William will divert into byways. And I know that Patrick is going to give you one on Alma Mahler, the loveliest girl in Vienna. So all of us, once in a while, we do need to… And I believe that Professor Piemer is preparing a lecture on Elvis when we talk about revolutions. Because I think, once in a while, we need the other side of the world.
Oh, this is from Gene. “It’s partly sunny in North Carolina.”
And this is Rosalyn Lupah, “Overbearing fathers and wayward sons, Edward VII.” Yes, the royal families of Europe, absolutely fascinating. But if you think about it, and I think Wendy’s gone, because Wendy’s the one with a degree in psychology, but basically, if you think about what these people are prepared, their whole lives are about, and the way they’re brought up, I just find it absolutely fascinating.
Q: “What was the name of the ballet?”
A: It was called “Mayerling”, Norman.
Oh, Marcia has actually given the you the number for YouTube. So “Fall of Eagles”, really, if you’ve got time on your hands, and I know a lot of us have, really try it, because I find… I’ve got a DVD version of it, and I quite often watch it.
Oh this is from Marion. This is fascinating. “Sissi’s mother in the film was Romy Schneider’s mother who was Hitler’s friend.” Good lord! You know, that’s another deep and dark question, isn’t it? In Hitler’s time, a lot of great stars continued to work in the movies. In occupied France, for example, Maurice Chevalier was he a collaborator? There are so many issues that you have to deal with. I mean, the man who made two of the worst notorious antisemitic documentaries, Von Hippler, he got away with it. Nothing happened to him. He lived his life in Berchtesgaden, a very upper-middle class life.
Ha! Olga is telling us that it’s 17 below in Toronto. I think that’s it, actually, Judi. So I wish you all well, and I will see you tomorrow, and I believe Patrick… I know I’ll see you on Thursday. I believe Patrick is looking at Ringstrasse, Vienna tomorrow.
So Judi, thank you very much, as ever, for getting that film to work. It is beyond me. God bless.
[Judi] No problem. Thank you, everybody. Bye-bye.
Bye.