M arried at sixteen to her first cousin the Emperor of
Austria, Elizabeth, always known as Sisi, was a reluctant royal. Her parents had wanted the Emperor to marry Sisi’s older sister, but Sisi’s beauty and shy charm triumphed. But being a teenage Empress was not easy. Sisi hated the mind numbing formality of the Hapsburg court—with thirteen course dinners every night eaten off gold plates. Patronized by her mother in law and senior court officials for her naivete, and lack of education, Sisi spent the first years of her married life unsure and depressed.
B ut in her mid twenties, Sisi realized that the beauty that
had made her Empress could also be her weapon. Like another unhappy princess, Diana Princess of Wales, Sisi discovered that the combination of glamour and royalty was a potent one.
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45 T he emergence of Sisi, as the “most beautiful woman in
Europe” began with the much reproduced portraits by Winterhalter which portrayed her as a fairy queen—with 28 diamond stars in her hair. Sisi’s hair became her trademark. Styling it took two hours a day. In the days before shampoo, she used to wash it with a mixture consisting of a bottle of cognac and a dozen eggs. It would take a whole day. Her skincare regime was equally demanding: at night she would sleep with a layer of raw veal over her face, protected by a leather mask. Sisi installed the first ever bathroom in the Hofburg and she liked to have baths in warm olive oil and goat’s milk. Like celebrities today, Sisi was obsessed with keeping her figure. Her diet consisted of beef tea, champagne and the occasional ice cream. She installed a gym in the palace and would work out every morning. Her routine worked: at the time of her death in 1898 she still had the 19” waist she had as a teenager.
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Credit: F1 ONLINE/SuperStock
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