When the Emperor Has His Silver Wedding

Franz Joseph II (1830-1916) married Elisabeth of Bavaria (1837-1898) in 1854. They celebrated their silver wedding in 1879.

Franz Joseph II was absolute monarch until 1860. In the following years, under pressure of circumstances (he lost the war), he gave his people a constitution. Yet Austria was left with many absolutist and still feudal survivals. When the Kaiser decided to issue a commemorative coin, he simply issued it.

But today I want to write a few words about Elizabeth, who was commonly called Sisi. It will be a story about how wealth and power do not automatically bring happiness.

Elizabeth lived a wonderful childhood. She came from the ducal branch of the otherwise ancient royal family of Wittelsbach. Her father, the Duke, was a free thinker. And so little Elisabeth learned to swim, ride a horse... She studied and did everything she wanted.

He and the Austrian Emperor fell in love at first sight. And there was a wedding. And there was trouble.

The emperor was not the smartest. He considered himself the first official of the empire. He clung to all the ceremonies and customs. Elizabeth inherited her father's liberality. Elizabeth began to fall out with her mother-in-law. Especially in the matter of child-rearing.

The Empress gave birth to four children in succession. The death of her two-year-old daughter was a huge blow to her and her marriage. Even worse was the suicide of her son at the age of 31.

The Emperor was still working. He was preoccupied with unimportant trifles. He loved his wife, but he didn't understand her world, and the empire was more important to him.

Elizabeth became increasingly estranged from him. Eventually, they stopped living together. Officially, though, everything worked. The Emperor was still financially generous and Elizabeth devoted herself to travel.

In the old Wittelsbach family, of course, there was occasional madness. All these families have been exchanging bridegrooms and brides with each other for more than a millennium. Elisabeth's brother and cousin were clearly not normal. Elizabeth also exhibited strange behaviour.

Elizabeth fell in love with her slenderness and with her looks in general. In later years, she let a pound of beef stand overnight in clean water. In the morning, she drank the water. That was her diet for the day. Today, we'd probably classify that as an eating disorder.

Her hair was literally her fetish. She had all sorts of rituals associated with it. She didn't hesitate to beat her maids if they couldn't do as she pleased.

Her death was also very strange. She was murdered by an Italian anarchist who plunged a sharpened file into her heart. She was 61 years old.

2 Gulden, 1879, diameter 36 mm, weight 24.69 g of silver, purity 900/1000. Exactly 477.090 of these coins were minted.

This coin was identical to the then circulating coin except for the coin image. I show the two coins side by side for comparison.

However, the common coin is 20 years younger. This is the year of mintage that I have in the best condition.

Thank you for reading and for any support.