The Rebel Empresses: Elisabeth of Austria and Eugenie of France, Power and Glamour in the Struggle for Europe by Nancy Goldstone
When they married Emperors Franz Joseph and Napoleon III, respectively, Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France became two of the most famous women on the planet. Not only were they both young and beautiful—becoming cultural and fashion icons of their time—but they played a pivotal role in ruling their realms during a tempestuous era characterized by unprecedented political and technological change.
Fearless, adventurous, and independent, Elisabeth and Eugénie represented a new kind of empress—one who rebelled against tradition and anticipated and embraced modern values. Yet both women endured hardship in their private and public lives. Elisabeth was plagued by a mother-in-law who snatched her infant children away and undermined her authority at court. Eugénie’s husband was an infamous philanderer who could not match the military prowess of his namesake. Between them, Elisabeth and Eugénie were personally involved in every major international confrontation in their turbulent century, which witnessed thrilling technological advances, as well as revolutions, assassinations, and wars.
With her characteristic in-depth research and jump-off-the-page writing, Nancy Goldstone brings to life these two remarkable women, as Europe goes through the convulsions that led up to the international landscape we recognize today.
Review: Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this biography in exchange for an honest review!
Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, was married to Emperor
Franz Joseph of Austria (who also happened to be her first cousin). She was
beautiful, headstrong, and in many ways poorly suited for the rigid lifestyle
of an empress. Despite her mother in law’s dominant control over nearly every
matter of her life, Sisi earned the deep love of not only her husband but the
Austrian people. She was not only beautiful, known for her head of luxurious
hair that took hours each day to arrange, but was recognized for her innate
since of fairness and empathy for others.
I was particularly fascinated by Sisi's story. She was never meant to marry Franz Joseph and in fact it was her older sister who had been earmarked for the role. But he fell for the younger sister and would have no other. She refused to conform to societal and royal expectations literally until the day of her death. She was extremely athletic, spending hours a day riding horses, walking, and fencing, but was also interested in poetry and classical literature. She was consumed with preserving her beauty and staving off aging and was determined to maintain her teenage weight of 110 pounds well into middle age. While she had such compassion for others and suffered cruelly at the hands of her mother-in-law who took over the raising of her first two children, she blindly favored her youngest child and ignored the distress of her son before his death.
Eugenie, married to Emperor Louis Napoleon of France, was a deeply trusted advisor and confidant to her husband. Her father inherited the title of Count of Montijo and became one of the richest men in Spain. She was rejected by several men she was interested in, and her future husband had no intent to marry her at first. But wily Eugenie refused to become his lover until he gave in and married her. Despite her husband’s many affairs, he trusted her judgment and made her regent over France multiple times when he was out of the country. She was instrumental in making positive changes to benefit the people of France, such as when she toured an institution housing young children and was moved to tears at the terrible treatment they endured; she immediately had the children removed from the facility. It was fascinating to read about Eugenie's gallant dentist, who facilitated her escape from France after her husband was imprisoned and lost power.
While both were flawed women, I did admire both women for their many philanthropic activities. Both made a practice of visiting hospitals, orphanages, and factories. Because Sisi would hold the hands of the dying and cared little about the background of others but had compassion for all she was "deprecated by the ruling elite and adored by the lower classes and outcasts."
Goldstone’s presentation of the two women reveals deep research presented in a fascinating way. While I was initially dubious about the choice to include both women's story in one volume, this choice to present this book as a dual biography was an inspired choice; while very different in many ways, the women were both ruling empresses in Europe during the same time period and encountered most of the same historical events. In the end of their lives, their stories had many parallels, and they actually spent time together every season in their later years.
This is the third biography by this author I have read, and each seems better than the last. This was well researched and presented in alternating chapters that focused on each woman, although the historical events overlapped so much that they constantly pop in and out of each other's story. I have been wanting to read a biography of Empress Elisabeth for some time and have also never read anything about Empress Eugenie. I learned so much from this book about two reigning empresses that occupied the same time and space as Queen Victoria.
Stars: 5
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