![]() ![]() The matter of the succession was taken in hand by his dynamic mother, who preferred to see one of her own nieces on the Austrian throne rather than a stranger. And then, after Franz Josef had been five years on the throne, the future of the dynasty made it imperative that he should acquire a wife and consort. Ferdinand’s brother, Archduke Franz Karl, who was next in line, waived his own claim to the crown in favour of his son – at his wife Sophie’s insistence. Only in the family atmosphere of the Kaiservilla in Ischl did she feel at home.įranz Josef succeeded to the imperial throne of Austria on 2 December 1848, at the age of 18, after his childless uncle Ferdinand had abdicated in the wake of the revolutions in Austria and Hungary during that year. She never became reconciled to the protocol-ridden formality of life at the imperial court in Vienna. This affected her whole attitude to her future status as Empress of Austria. To the end of her life Elisabeth looked back on her youth - on the freedom and closeness to nature she had enjoyed in her childhood - as a paradise lost. They spoke in Bavarian dialect, they were good swimmers and hardened mountaineers, and they could ride like circus acrobats almost as soon as they could walk. They spent the winters in Munich and the summers in Possenhofen Castle beside Lake Starnberg, where they mixed and played with the peasant children with no class inhibitions. Then, on Christmas Eve 1837, Ludovika again gave birth to a girl, who was baptised Elisabeth Amalia Eugenie.ĭuke Max let his eight children grow up naturally. Their eldest children, Ludwig and Helene, were born in Munich. ![]() One of Archduchess Sophie's sisters, Ludovika, had married Duke Maximilian in Bavaria (his exact title), another member of the royal Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty. Meantime, however, a princess was growing up in the neighbouring kingdom of Bavaria. The young Archduke Franz Josef was destined to be Emperor of Austria from the moment he was born, and he was brought up and educated accordingly. ![]() Eine Heirat wird geplant A Marriage is Arranged ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |