At 6:30 p.m. on April 24, 1854, the festivities began. The court had gathered in the ceremony apartments. The service called for the emperor and his bride to enter the church together; the assembled court dignitaries, grand masters, superintendents, chamberlains and palace ladies formed their retinue. As soon as everyone was present and arranged in the predefined order, the chief master of ceremonies reported to the emperor's court grand master that the entry into the church could begin. Prince Liechtenstein, who had been waiting with the bridal couple and the imperial family in the private apartments, informed Franz Joseph, and so they headed for the ceremony apartments.
The court saw Elisabeth for the first time in her wedding dress. She was strikingly beautiful, all present agreed. The slender and delicate 16-year-old wore a gown of gorgeous antique moiré silk richly embroidered in gold and silver, cinched at the waist and with a long, heavy train of silk reps, also decorated with gold embroidery. Her hair was combed in the manner of her first portraits in the betrothal months: parted in the center, curled inward at the sides, and gathered at the nape of the neck. A very fine veil attached to a sparkling tiara covered the hair. Around it, as well as on the dress, the maids had added branches of blooming myrtle, as befitting a virgin bride.
After Franz Joseph and Elisabeth had entered the apartments and all present had bowed, the procession was formed and set off for the church. Two court harbingers were at the head, followed by the pages —young aristocrats who performed minor duties in court ceremonies. Then followed the superintendents, chamberlains, grand masters, and finally the highest dignitaries. This succession reflected the court hierarchy —the closer one was to the emperor, the higher one's rank— and was an order observed by all men in the imperial family. After the archdukes, in the center of the procession came the emperor, accompanied by his grand chamberlain, the captain of trabants, and the first adjutant general. Only after the men was it the turn of the women, who closed the procession: behind Franz Joseph walked the bride, whose long train was carried by pages. Elisabeth was accompanied by her mother and Franz Joseph's mother, on her right and left respectively. They were followed by all the archduchesses, then the palace ladies and finally the ladies-in-waiting of the archduchesses. The heart of the bridal procession was then the bride and groom, on whose sides marched six soldiers of the corps of archers with bayonets drawn.
The large procession arrived at the church via the Augustinergang, the Augustinian corridor, without having to parade down the street. This ancient connection provided direct access from the Hofburg to the Augustinian church. And so the imposing bridal procession passed the bodyguards in front of the apartments and crossed through the Augustinian nave, supported by a heavy vault, lit by thousands of candles, lined with precious carpets and richly decorated with floral decorations. In the meantime, all those who, by virtue of their position or origin, were entitled to a seat (admittedly, according to a strict order of rank) had gathered in the church: aristocrats, as well as imperial and royal generals, the officer corps and diplomatic corps, awaited the wedding procession. When the main actor, the emperor, entered the church, trumpets and kettledrums sounded.
The wedding ceremony was performed by Viennese Cardinal Joseph von Rauscher, assisted by seventy archbishops, bishops and pre-sides. Franz Joseph and Elisabeth passed under a canopy, knelt on a stool and prayed in silence. After the cardinal had consecrated the rings, they got up and went to the steps of the high altar, where they exchanged vows. The Hofburg parish then handed the rings to the bride and groom on a gold saucer; they exchanged rings and shook hands. During the subsequent blessing, the cannons of the Augustinian bastion thundered, and at this signal, those of the other bastions of Vienna also fired blanks for the emperor and the new empress. Meanwhile, in St. Augustine's Church, Franz Joseph and Elisabeth had taken their places on thrones. After the blessing, they got up and left the church to the sound of trumpets and kettledrums and another volley of cannon shots, returning to the Hofburg in the same orderly procession as they had gone.
There, the newlyweds and their families briefly retired to their apartments to freshen up; the last part of the day's festivities, which in all likelihood for Elisabeth was also the most exhausting, was yet to come. While the new empress could rest for a moment in her private apartments —not alone, of course, but in the company of several dozen archdukes and archduchesses— the dignitaries arranged themselves in the reception rooms for the cercle. All diplomats and envoys, aristocrats, and court dignitaries present had the right to be introduced to the imperial couple and to make themselves known with a brief personal address.
Winkelhofer, Martina (2022). Sissi. La vera storia. Il camino della giovane imperatrice (Translation done by DeepL. Please keep in mind that in a machine translation a lot of nuance may/will be lost)
ON THIS DAY, IN 1854, EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEF I MARRIED HIS FIRST COUSIN DUCHESS ELISABETH IN BAVARIA. Franz Josef was the eldest son of Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and Princess Sophie of Bavaria. Elisabeth was the second daughter of Duke Maximilian in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria.
Although it's often claimed that Sophie had planned years in advance the marriage of his son to Elisabeth's eldest sister Helene, there isn't any actual evidence of this. It's hardly likely that Helene had been groomed for years to become empress, since Sophie in fact had tried to get Princess Anna of Prussia's hand for her son in 1852.
Elisabeth and Franz Josef had three daughters and a son. They were married for 43 years, until Elisabeth's assassination in 1898. Her husband outlived her by 18 years, dying in 1916.
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