Death by Fame: A Life of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria

264 Pages·1999·33.98 MB·English

by  Andrew Sinclair

OF ElilSABETH
A lilFE
EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA
AmDREW^ SlMCIiAIR
WANTED TO KILL A ROYALTY,"
I
theassassinwouldlatertellhisquestioners. "Itdid
not matter which one." In 1898 Luigi Lucheni
fatally stabbed Elisabeth, Empress ofAustria, on
Lake Geneva as she prepared to board a steamer
from theMont Blancpier. Herlifehadbeenoneof
both profound sadness and inspiring perseverance;
andinitscourseshesetthestylefortheroyal rebels
who would follow her, particularly the late Diana,
PrincessofWales.Whilestillachild,Elisabethwas
marriedtotheHapsburgprinceFranzJosef,heirto
theAustrianEmpire. Shegavehimthreechildren;
one ofwhom, Crown Prince Rudolf, would later
commit suicide at Mayerling. Finding theatmos-
phere ofthe Austro-Hungarian court stifling, the
increasingly erratic empress traveled incessantly.
Abandoning her husband to the attentions of
theViennesecomicactress KatharinaSchratt,Elisa-
beth went on errands of mercy to the docks and
slums of London and Liverpool, Barcelona and
Naples, SmyrnaandMarseilles. Shewas thedespair
of local police, who could not protect her, even
though she wore disguises. She supported indepen-
dence movements in Ireland, where she hunted
superblyalongsideherclosecompanion,theEnglish
cavalryman "Bay" Middleton; and also in Hungary,
an integral part of her husband's deteriorating
empire.ObsessedbytheGreekidealofphysicalper-
fection, she traveled through the great cities of
BaVESEfiE mURON UBRARY
BEL-TIB NEW BOOKS
Bio Elisabeth
Sinclair, Andrew
EDleiastahbebtyh,famEempr:esaslioffe of
Austria
31111018360402
DATE DUE
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MAR 69'Z0(35
Cat.#55137001 PrintedinUSA

Death by Fame
Also by
Andrew
Sinclair
Prohibition: TheEra ofExcess (1962)
The BetterHalf: The Emancipation oftheAmerican Woman (1965)
TheLast ofthe Best: TheAristocracy ofEurope in the Twentieth Century (1969)
Dylan Thomas: Poet ofHisPeople (1975)
A
Jack: Biography ofJack London (1977)
A
John Ford: Biography (1979)
Corsair: The Life ofJ. PierpontMorgan (1981)
The Other Victoria (1985)
WarLike a Wasp: The Last Decade ofthe Forties (1989)
FrancisBacon: HisLifeand Violent Times (1993)
Artsand Cultures: The History oftheFifty Years ofthe
Arts CouncilofGreatBritain (1996)
Fame
Death
by
A
Life of Elisabeth, Empress ofAustria
Andrew
Sinclair
W
St. Martin'sPress NewYork
DEATH BYFAME. Copyright© 1998 byAndrew Sinclair. All rights reserved. Printed
in the United States ofAmerica. No part ofthis bookmaybe used orreproducedin
anymannerwhatsoeverwithoutwritten permission exceptin the case ofbriefquota-
tions embodiedin critical articles orreviews. Forinformation, address St. Martin's
Press, 175 FifthAvenue, NewYork, N.Y. 10010.
LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sinclair,Andrew.
Death byfame : a life ofElisabeth, Empress ofAustria/Andrew Sinclair.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-312-19852-3
1. EHsabeth, Empress, con—sort ofFr—anzJoseph I, Emperor ofAustria,
1837-1898. 2. Empresses ^Austria Biography. I. Title.
DB88.S55 1999
943.6'044'092—dc21
[B]
98-50901
CIP
Firstpublished in GreatBritain byConstable and CompanyLimited
FirstU.S. Edition: April 1999
109 8 765 43 2 1
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