Elisabeth of Bavaria a.k.a Sissi

Born on Christmas Eve in Munich. Daughter of Duke Maximilian in Bavaria, the family eccentric who played zither and ran a circus troupe. She grew up riding horses and writing poetry in the Bavarian countryside.

Married Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. She was 16. The match was an accident. Franz Joseph had come to meet her older sister Helene but fell for Elisabeth instead.

Her two-year-old daughter Sophie died of typhus while traveling in Hungary. Elisabeth blamed herself and the rigid Habsburg court. She began the pattern of escape that defined the rest of her life.

Crowned Queen of Hungary alongside Franz Joseph in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise. She loved Hungary. Learned the language, befriended Hungarian nationalists, and spent as little time in Vienna as possible.

Her only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, died in an apparent murder-suicide at Mayerling with his mistress Mary Vetsera. He was 30. Elisabeth wore black for the rest of her life.

Traveled constantly. Corfu, England, North Africa, Madeira. She walked for hours daily, maintained a 19-inch waist through extreme dieting, and kept her weight at 110 pounds by refusing most food.

Stabbed by Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni on the Geneva waterfront. He used a sharpened needle file. She walked several steps before collapsing. She was 60.