Empress Sissi Born: Habsburg Rebel and Icon
Elisabeth of Bavaria married Emperor Franz Joseph I at sixteen and became the most celebrated empress in Habsburg history, admired across Europe for her beauty and independent spirit. Her restless travels, obsessive exercise regimen, and defiance of court protocol made her a proto-modern celebrity, while her 1898 assassination by an anarchist in Geneva shocked the continent.
December 24, 1837
189 years ago
What Else Happened on December 24
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