![]() Her heaviest cross is abiding her powerful mother-in-law, who disdained her daughter-in-law’s folksy yearning to connect with average people, whom she is neither to touch or look in the eye. The Empress must adapt to the rarefied universe of the palace, where a team of ladies in waiting help her dress and bathe, and where she may not wear any pair of shoes twice. She was a Bavarian free spirit also named Elizabeth but known as “Sisi,” who is the focus of the Netflix series. Like Elizabeth II, Franz Joseph I married a spouse he loved who was also his cousin. He, at least in his early years, led the government by appointing his own imperial council. She represented her nation, but elected governments with prime ministers actually governed. Britain during her early reign decolonized its global empire while adapting to a more limited great power role subordinate to America. The relative order and peace established by the post-Napoleonic Concert of Europe was giving way to revolutions, nationalisms, and imperial wars.įranz Joseph I, like Elizabeth II, was very young when he became monarch amid post-war chaos. From the storied palace in Vienna, Franz Joseph I governed much of Central Europe and the Balkans, contending against Russia, the Ottomons, Prussia and France. The Hapsburgs were an ancient dynasty, dating back nearly a thousand years, ruling the Holy Roman Empire, sometimes Spain, and other parcels of Europe determined by the latest war. He ruled the Austrian Empire, created after Napoleon’s defeat, and later to become a duel monarchy called Austria-Hungary. In the 1850s, after the revolutions are defeated, and before later constitutions with parliaments and stipulated rights, the Hapsburg monarch had vast power. His feckless father was bypassed in favor of the son, under the stern tutelage of his savvy and ruthless mother. He replaced his abdicating uncle after the 1848 liberal revolutions against autocratic monarchies shook much of Europe. The rebels are hanged without mercy.įranz Joseph I reigned nearly as long as Elizabeth but with more geopolitical consequences. Treason must be suppressed with steely resolve. His mother admonishes her young queasy son not to tremble before his people. Jarringly, the opening scene of The Empress is the Emperor with his imperious mother attending the public execution of seditionists against their power. ![]() The Hapsburgs had real political authority in the tinderbox of Europe across explosive decades. She fulfilled her duties with dignity, amid soap opera spectacles by much of her family. But she had virtually no political power, signing pro forma documents, appearing on postage stamps and regally performing at state functions. She was a global celebrity who was watched closely across her 70 year reign. Elizabeth II was a twentieth century ceremonial monarch. If you loved The Crown, you’ll equally binge watch The Empress, another Netflix royal drama, but focused on the Hapsburgs in the mid-19th century.
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