It had all the elements to make it one of the most beautiful love stories in history, yet the story of Sissi and Francisco José was dominated by rigid protocol and political interests. A love corseted by the obligations and morals of the time that prevented Sissi from knowing true love.
The crush of Sissi and Francisco José
- Sissi was no ordinary princess. Being the younger of two sisters, all her eyes were on her sister Helena, as well as all her efforts to make her an educated lady worthy of a prince, a king or even an emperor. That’s why Sissi grew up with a less rigid upbringing than her sister, freer from her, and that suited her restless and hyperactive nature very well.
- That is why everyone was uneasy when that afternoon, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, changed the sentimental plans of the entire family. It was planned that the emperor would meet Helena, that they would like each other, and that they would marry. That’s how it was planned. However, at the presentation of the families, Francisco José fell madly in love with the little sister, Sissi, thus disrupting all the plans. He was lucky that the crush was reciprocated by that very young, almost girl, Sissi who was amazed by that fairy tale love story that she expected.
- Indeed, Sissi and Francisco José were very much in love. Indeed, they were the ideal couple that aroused all the envy of European royalty. They were just perfect and they adored each other. What more could they ask for? Well, perhaps they could ask that Sissi’s mother-in-law not interfere in the affairs of the marriage, that she not take custody of her children from Sissi, that Franz Josef’s obligations not be so exhausting, that Franz Josef’s beliefs not be so stiff All that and much more they could ask for.
A corseted love
- Sissi did not conform to the rigidity of the imperial court, nor did she easily bend to her mother-in-law’s wishes. Sissí was a woman ahead of her time, restless, active, participatory and supportive. In addition, her ingenuity and her desire to live, to know, to experiment were incompatible with the dry, insubstantial, empty character of her husband, who was totally absorbed by the obligations of the empire without anything else being able to or I would like to interest
- Thus, the princess, already empress Sissi was losing splendor. She tried to transform her relationship, leading a more liberal lifestyle, with her away from the court and accepting her husband’s lovers without scandal. If the love disappointment of that storybook love story that turned out to be a fraud was tarnishing Sissi’s shine, her family misfortunes were literally turning it off.
- The death of one of her daughters and the supposed suicide of her son, the heir, caused in Sissi an almost pathological rejection of palace affairs. He put miles of distance between her and her husband and, paradoxically, that helped them bond like never before. Although they did not see each other, in her love letters they found comfort, complicity and that romanticism that they had never enjoyed when they were together.