Kaiser franz joseph kaiser in elisabeth biography

On 24 April 1854 Franz Joseph married his first cousin Elisabeth (1837–1898), who was seven years his junior and the daughter of one of his mother’s sisters.

The romantic circumstances of their first encounter – it was in fact Elisabeth’s elder sister Helene who had been intended as the emperor’s bride – were popularized by the trilogy of ‘Sissi’ films made in the 1950s.
Franz Joseph loved his wife to a degree that bordered on infatuation, an affection that was however rarely returned.

However, although the two were very different in character, over time a sort of friendship from a distance developed, as Elisabeth spent increasing periods away from her husband and the court.
The marriage produced four children:
Sophie Friederike (1855–1857), who died at the age of two from an intestinal infection.
Gisela (1856–1932), also spelled Gisella, grew up together with her brother Rudolf, who was two years younger, under the aegis o