The Big Picture
The Empress
on Netflix offers a fresh take on the love story between Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Emperor Franz Joseph.
The show mixes historical background with fiction to provide a compelling love story that captivates audiences.
While not entirely historically accurate,
The Empress
provides a nuanced portrayal of Elisabeth’s struggles at the Viennese Court.
The 6-part Netflix series The Empress tells the poetic story of the early life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Prior to its release, the most well-known film adaptation of Elisabeth’s life had been the 1950s Sissi trilogy, with charming Romy Schneider as the leading actress. Seven decades later, The Empress offers a fresh take on the great love story between Elisabeth and Franz Joseph – equally strong and dramatic from its very beginning.
The Empress’ is focused on the fateful meeting between the young Bavarian Duchess Elisabeth (Devrim Lingnau) and the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I (Philip Froissant). As is often the case with period dramas, The Empress mixes historical background with fiction, not trying to provide ultimate historical accuracy, but rather giving a compelling love story that captivates the hearts and minds of the audience. But who was the real Elisabeth, and what struggles did she have to endure at the Viennese Court to become the legendary Empress of Austria, admired worldwide even a century and a half later?
The Empress
When rebellious Elisabeth falls for Emperor Franz and becomes his unlikely bride, she enters a world of tensions and intrigue at the Viennese court.
Release Date September 29, 2022
Creator Katharina Eyssen
Main Genre Historical
Seasons 1
What Is Reality vs. Fiction With Empress Sisi?
Image via Netflix
The third child and second daughter of Duke Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria and his wife Ludovika, Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie – also known as Sissi (alternative spelling Sisi) – was, indeed, a charming and freedom-loving girl who lived secluded with her family in Possenhofen Castle and dreamed of happiness and true love. Meanwhile, at the Viennese Court, Franz Joseph’s authoritarian mother – Archduchess Sophie (Melika Foroutan) – considered a prominent alliance for her son. The hastiness to find a wife for the 22-year-old monarch was partially sparked by the recent attempt at his assassination (on 18 February 1853), which would leave Austria without a direct male heir.
Notably, the royal Bavarian House of Wittelsbach was not Sophie’s first choice, however. The young emperor Franz Joseph was quite picky: he liked neither Princess Anna of Prussia nor Princess Sidonie of Saxony. That led his mother to reach out to her sister – Duchess Ludovika of Bavaria – and arrange an engagement between Franz Joseph and Ludovika’s eldest daughter – Helene (Elisa Schlott). On August 15, 1853, burning with impatience to see the promised beautiful bride, Franz Joseph rushed to the small Austrian town of Bad Ischl, where Duchess Ludovika was supposed to arrive with her daughter to celebrate Franz Joseph’s birthday. Little did the young emperor know that on that trip, his aunt would also take her youngest daughter – 15-year-old Elisabeth – who would steal Franz Joseph’s heart in the blink of an eye.
How Much of ‘The Empress’ Is True to Real Historical Events?
Image via Netflix
The answer is — to a certain degree. The celebration in Bad Ischl was not, in fact, the first time Franz Joseph met his cousins. Technically, the first meeting between Elisabeth and Franz Joseph happened in June 1848 when Duchess Ludovika with children visited her sister, Archduchess Sophie, in Innsbruck. Back then, Elisabeth was too young to spark the interest of the future emperor, who was too busy dealing with revolutionary events that threatened to collapse the monarchy. The romanticized version of their encounter depicted in The Empress – in the woods – is one of many myths circling Elisabeth and her life. Even the bold “two cotillions in a row” move Franz Joseph allowed himself at the ball, inviting Elisabeth one dance after another (which was a telltale sign of an upcoming engagement), was discussed between Franz and his mother prior to the ball.
The engagement proposal itself was made in a much more formal way – through Archduchess Sophie, who approached her sister and arranged the agreement between the families to marry Elisabeth and Franz Joseph. In the series, Helene feels distraught when she finds out that her sister will be the one to get married instead of herself, even cutting her hair and straining her relationship with her younger sibling. Although the two eventually reconcile ahead of the royal wedding, Elisabeth decides to marry her sister off to a man in Bohemia instead of keeping her at court with her. This decision was due to the fact that she was afraid that Helene and Franz would eventually develop feelings for each other.
Soon after the wedding, Elisabeth found out that the fairy tale was merely an illusion. From the first days of enthronement, the young and free-spirited empress felt suffocated by the strict etiquette and court orders, while her arbitrarily controlling mother-in-law immediately started to make a “real” empress out of her niece. However, Elisabeth’s confrontations with Archduchess Sophie and her husband’s brother Maximilian (Johannes Nussbaum), allegedly eager to seize the throne (as seen on several occasions onscreen), were not as one-sided as they are often portrayed in the empress’ biographies. In fact, Elisabeth often broke court rules after she ascended to power, resorting to smoking, riding horses, and even doing gymnastics. Most of these habits aren’t shown (except for horseback riding) in the Netflix series, which focuses on the royal’s rebelliousness in other ways. The protagonist in the period drama is fond of the common people and sympathizes with their urge for freedom since she sees her title and duties as a roadblock in her quest for liberty. A key moment in the show that demonstrates her eagerness to help the poor is in Episode 5, when she visits a factory where staff are working in terrible conditions and realizes how her extravagant lifestyle is far from the reality of the population that she rules over.
As previously mentioned, although the Sissi trilogy and The Empress portray the lead couple as in love as can be – at least to an extent, in reality their relationship took a turn after their wedding. After all, the young monarch wasn’t allowed to meet with her husband whenever she wished and her ultimate role was producing an heir to the throne, not getting involved in political affairs. These implications took a toll on Elisabeth and Franz’s marriage, especially because the latter wasn’t that understanding when it came to his wife’s struggle to follow orders and keep up with tradition. The emperor was indeed enamored, but his love wasn’t as mutual as adaptations of their story allude to.
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The Tragedy of ‘The Empress’ Has Just Begun
The Empress’ first season has a dramatic ending that leaves the audience on a cliffhanger. When Elisabeth is determined to head home to Bavaria after a tense conversation with her husband and mother-in-law, she finds out that she is pregnant. Before choosing to leave the palace grounds, the Archduchess gave the main character the option to either stay married to her son and conform to the rules, or have the couple’s marriage annulled so that she could return to her home and live according to her own wishes. Given the pressure that Elisabeth was under to have a male heir, the pregnancy news could change everything between the empress and the emperor once the latter finds out in the show’s next season.
With a Season 2 apparently still in the works at Netflix, there is a lot more of Sissi’s life to explore. The relationship between Elisabeth and her mother-in-law Sophie progressively spiraled down, as the latter was convinced that the young and free-spirited empress could not provide an adequate upbringing for the royal children. In multiple biographies and fiction describing Elisabeth’s life, Sophie is often portrayed as a controlling and power-hungry tyrant, ruthlessly submitting her daughter-in-law to her own will. The reality is more nuanced. Sophie was, indeed, an ambitious woman who placed royal duties above anything else. Elisabeth, on the contrary, was increasingly neglecting her official royal duties and indulging herself in an isolated and whimsical lifestyle. Partly because of her battle with depression (which wasn’t acknowledged back in the day), and partly because it wasn’t common for an empress to have an active role in the upbringing of her children.
From the 1860s on, the Empress spent her time traveling, rarely seeing her husband and hardly ever seeing her children. This behavior was widely condemned among the Austrian nobility, even though Franz Joseph did not try to restrict his wife’s wanderings. In 1857, during one of the trips to Hungary, her eldest daughter – two-year-old Sophie – died of an infection. The death of her first child shocked Sissi so much that she completely handed over the upbringing of her older children (Gisela and Rudolf) to her mother-in-law. Contrary to popular belief, Prince Rudolf’s relationship with his mother was not particularly warm. However, when the 30-year-old prince killed himself in 1889, Elisabeth was shaken to her core and from that day on wore only colors of mourning.
Another prominent character in The Empress – Franz Joseph’s younger brother, the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg – was, indeed, an active figure at the Austrian court. Even though there is no direct evidence of Maximilian’s intentions to overthrow Franz Joseph, the fact that Maximilian was under the influence of the most progressive liberal ideas was a dormant threat to his older brother. The tension was slowly rising between the two brothers, so the Emperor preferred to send Maximilian away, appointing him as a viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia (modern Italy). In the early 1860s, Maximilian was crowned the Emperor of Mexico as a result of supporting French intervention in the country. Soon enough, Maximilian faced opposition from the Mexican Republicans, led by Benito Juárez. After the French Expeditionary Force was withdrawn from Mexico, the Emperor’s fate was sealed – he was captured and subsequently executed, despite the pleas of all European monarchs, US President Andrew Johnson, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and Victor Hugo.
Sissi’s Legacy Lives On, Beyond What Is Shown in ‘The Empress’
Image via Netflix
Elisabeth met her own tragic death in 1898, in Geneva, where she was assassinated by Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni, who stabbed her in the heart while she was boarding a ship. Despite not feeling the stab at first, the empress fell to the ground and was later reported dead of internal bleeding. During her life, the royal never took her personal safety seriously and refused to be guarded during her multiple trips, which eventually led to her untimely demise. After the death of his beloved wife, Emperor Franz Joseph allegedly went silent for several months. A portrait of Elisabeth hung in his study until the end of his life as a true sign of the eternal love these two were bound by from that fateful meeting in Bad Ischl. Their love story altered the history of Europe, starting a cascade of events that eventually led to the beginning of the Great War.
Empress Elisabeth might’ve been a controversial figure, but there is more to her than the tragedy she endured. An accomplished equestrian and a supporter of Austria’s autonomy at a time when Austria-Hungary morphed together, the ruler became a notable and beautiful historical figure. Her story has inspired several books, films, and TV projects (including the Netflix installment), which only goes to show that her legacy remains untarnished. After all, she is still regarded by many as an outstanding woman who, even 150 years later, excites, puzzles, and fascinates the imagination of generations.
All six episodes of The Empress are available to stream on Netflix.
Watch on Netflix