Life
Within two months of the marriage, Elisabeth was obviously pregnant. On 5 March 1855, the soon-to-be eighteen-year-old Empress of Austria delivered a daughter who was christened the same day Sophie Friederike Dorothea Maria Josepha, after Franz Joseph's mother. The infant was christened such without Elisabeth even knowing. On both her mother and her father's side, Sophie descended from King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, as her parents were first cousins. On her father's side, she descended from the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II. During the next year, Elisabeth presented Franz Joseph with another daughter, Archduchess Gisela, a younger sister to Sophie. Even though they were both girls and did not need to be educated for duties a monarch would be obliged to fulfil, both infants right after being baptised were taken away from Elisabeth by Princess Sophie of Bavaria (who was both Elisabeth's aunt and mother-in-law) on account of the Empress being to young to raise two children. Elisabeth later commented:
| “ | She took my children from me straight away. I was only allowed to see them when Sophie gave her consent. She was always present when I went to visit the children. Eventually I could only concede to her and only seldom went up to see them | ” |
No matter how long Elisabeth begged Franz Joseph to discuss the matter with his mother, her cries went unheard. Eventually, Franz Joseph did discuss the problem with his mother and Elisabeth eventually began to openly express her wishes to her mother-in-law and even took the little girls with her as she travelled.
Read more about this topic: Archduchess Sophie Of Austria
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