The Accidental Empress

Set in the mid-nineteenth-century Habsburg Empire, the novel follows Elisabeth "Sisi," a spirited 15-year-old Bavarian duchess who unexpectedly becomes Empress of Austria after winning the heart of a man intended for her elder sister.

The story opens with a prologue set in Budapest on June 8, 1867, as Sisi prepares for a grand public ceremony. Attendants fuss over her gown of white and silver brocade while she wonders whether the man at the door will be the emperor or someone else, someone whose thought makes her blush more than her husband does. This frame returns in the novel's finale, when the coronation scene is rendered in full.

The main narrative begins in the summer of 1853 at Possenhofen Castle in Bavaria, where Sisi lives a carefree life. Her father, Duke Maximilian, is a jovial but negligent drunk, while her mother, Duchess Ludovika, manages the household alone. When Ludovika announces that her sister, Archduchess Sophie of Austria, has selected Sisi's elder sister Helene to marry Emperor Franz Joseph, Helene reacts with horror, confessing she would rather enter a nunnery. Sisi, thrilled at the prospect of adventure, is invited along to support Helene at the imperial court.

The Wittelsbachs, Sisi's Bavarian ducal family, arrive at the imperial summer retreat at Bad Ischl in drab mourning clothes after their luggage is lost en route. Sophie, who effectively rules Austria through her son, scrutinizes her nieces. Helene freezes under interrogation while Sisi charms her aunt with wit and flattery. Sisi catches the eye of a handsome young officer beside Sophie, whom she assumes is a military aide; Sophie reveals that the officer is Emperor Franz Joseph himself. Over the following days, Franz's preference for Sisi becomes unmistakable. He takes her riding alone into the mountains, where their conversation flows easily and their chemistry intensifies. At his birthday cotillion, Franz performs a flower-dropping ceremony at Sisi's feet, publicly signaling his choice of bride. Sisi flees the hall in tears, torn between love for Franz and guilt toward Helene.

Helene tells Sisi with calm resolve that Franz clearly loves Sisi and confesses relief at being freed from the engagement. Sophie is furious, calling Sisi wild and unfit, and privately asks her to decline Franz's proposal. Sisi refuses. After a day-long battle between mother and son, Sophie capitulates, and the wedding is set for the following April.

Months of frantic preparation follow as tutors drill Sisi in languages, history, and court protocol while dentists straighten her teeth and seamstresses stitch an entire trousseau. The wedding at Augustinerkirche is a spectacle with more than 1,000 guests and 70 bishops. Sisi panics during the Kissing of the Hand ceremony when she cannot remember a noblewoman's name and flees the room. On the wedding night, Franz is tender but does not consummate the marriage for three nights. When the marriage is finally consummated, Sophie announces at a communal breakfast that the bedsheets have been examined and presents Sisi with a Morgengabe, a traditional "morning gift" of money, humiliating the young bride.

The honeymoon at Laxenburg Castle proves equally disappointing. Franz rides to Vienna before dawn each day, and Sophie follows uninvited, filling Sisi's days with rigid supervision. When Sisi discovers she is pregnant, her joy is dampened by the realization that Sophie's confidante, Countess Sophie Esterházy, has been checking her bedsheets, and the entire palace already knows.

Sisi gives birth to a daughter in March 1855. Sophie immediately takes the infant, names her Sophie over Sisi's choice, baptizes her without Sisi present, and installs her in a nursery adjacent to her own bedroom. A second daughter, Gisela, follows in July 1856, and Sophie claims her as well. An anonymous letter warns that a queen who fails to produce sons is "merely a foreigner in the State." Meanwhile, at the opera, Sisi encounters Count Julius Andrássy, a Hungarian nobleman recently returned from exile, who boldly approaches Franz to invite him to Budapest for diplomatic negotiations.

Sisi persuades Franz to take her and the girls to Budapest, arguing that the young imperial family will win Hungarian hearts. In Budapest, Sisi flourishes: She wears Hungarian national costume, learns the language, and bonds deeply with her daughters. The family is happier than ever. But both little girls fall ill with fever. Gisela recovers, but Princess Sophie dies in Sisi's arms at Buda Castle.

Sisi returns to Vienna shattered. Sophie blames her for taking the children to Hungary. Sisi withdraws entirely, keeping her curtains drawn for months and visiting her daughter's tomb daily. At a New Year's dinner, she suspects a red-haired actress named Frau Roll of being Franz's mistress. That night, partly out of jealousy, she allows Franz back into her bed and conceives a third child. Ludovika arrives from Bavaria, nurses Sisi through a dangerous fever, and confronts Sophie, commanding her to allow Sisi daily visits with Gisela. Sisi gives birth to Crown Prince Rudolf in August 1858, but after Ludovika departs, Sophie seizes control of both children. Sisi overhears two doctors reveal that Franz has transmitted a venereal disease to her, likely contracted from Frau Roll. Devastated, Sisi resolves to leave court.

Sisi spends four years traveling to Madeira, Greece, and Corfu before returning to Schönbrunn in 1862 a transformed woman, self-possessed and deliberate in keeping a small, loyal household. Her children barely know her. That evening she encounters Andrássy in the palace halls, and their friendship deepens through regular correspondence rich with Goethe quotations and political discussion. Sisi finds in Andrássy the intellectual partnership Franz never provided.

When Austria goes to war with Prussia in 1866 and suffers a devastating defeat at the Battle of Königgrätz, Sisi throws herself into visiting wounded soldiers. Chancellor Friedrich Beust, a Saxon minister whom Franz has brought to court, recruits Sisi to persuade Franz to compromise with Hungary. Sisi accompanies Franz to public events, advocating for Hungarian autonomy and arguing that granting Hungary a separate parliament while retaining Franz as king would preserve the empire for Rudolf. Franz agrees to invite Andrássy and Deák, a leading Hungarian political figure, for negotiations.

When negotiations stall, Sisi finds Andrássy alone at the Gloriette, the hilltop pavilion at Schönbrunn. She asks him to kiss her; he refuses, unwilling to endanger her marriage. She returns to the palace and goes instead to Franz's bedroom, where she sleeps with him for the first time in years. The next morning, Franz agrees to the dual monarchy. Sisi arrives in Budapest for the coronation in June 1867 carrying Franz's child, conceived that single night. When she reveals her pregnancy, Andrássy is devastated and accuses her of deception. She insists the night was a sacrifice for the Hungarian cause they both championed.

Sisi speaks to Franz with unprecedented candor, acknowledging they have both contributed to their marriage's failure, and asks to raise the child in Hungary if it is a girl. Franz agrees. In the early hours before the coronation, Sisi goes to Andrássy's room, confesses her love, and they consummate their relationship.

The novel closes on June 8, 1867, as Sisi and Franz process to the Cathedral of St. Matthew for the coronation. Andrássy places the holy crown on Franz's head and a diamond tiara on Sisi's chestnut curls. Sisi places her palm on her belly, where her fourth child grows, and resolves to seize the second chance before her. She will be a good queen, a loving mother, and, at last, the ruler not only of this land but of her own life.