HBICs of history » Elisabeth of Bavaria

Sisi was born as daughter of Duke Maximilian and Duchess Ludovika in Bavaria. In 1853, she met her cousin Emporer Franz Joseph, who was going to marry Sisi’s sister Helene. He fell in love with Sisi immediately and decided to marry her instead. The marriage did not work out: Sisi was  independent and unprepared for the strict protocol at court; The Viennese aristocracy was making fun of her and her mother in law Sophie took over the control of her life. In 1867 she was crowned Queen of Hungary. Sisi was obsessed with her beauty and her perfect figure and taking care of her body, resulting in anorexia. Her very liberal ideas, her call for a republic structure and her effort for the poor and troublesome made her very popular with the Austrian people. 

In 1870 she decided to withdraw from public life and tried to live the life of a private person. On the 10th of September, while she was walking through Geneva, she was assassinated by a young Italian anarchist.

(via tyenesand)