Franz Joseph has autism trust
When I first listened to Elisabeth (like first first hear-through (yes I listened to the whole 2012 Jubiläumsfassung Album first before I WATCHED anything lol)) a thought came to my mind really soon:
Franz is autistic/autistic-coded.
(This was also before this huge hyperfixation or abnormal character love on him came so I don't think I was just projecting my autism on him, just for clarification)
And here is my elaboration on this headcanon based on the official VBW productions (1992 premiere, 2003 Vienna Revival, 2012 20th anniversary production, Schönbrunn Version (2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2024 and 2025 Tour)). In advance it's obviously also depending on how the actors play Franz but I will talk about things that mostly fit to every one and throw some examples in there :)
First of all we can see that he is horrible with social cues and understanding. In So wie man denkt (Schönbrunn Version) when he walks down the stairs to meet the divas Sophie goes up to him and they have their duet part. When she tells him to invite her to the ball he is just there like "...what 🧍🏻" and is so helpless with this social interaction (inviting to a ball) that Sophie has to tell him exactly what to do because he is so lost.
Then he also ends up choosing Elisabeth, smiling proudly and doesn't even seem to notice that he just blatantly did the wrong thing (this is more actor specific I know, but everyone I've seen live played this bit like that so it's a common approach for the Franz actors) even though there were obvious signs that Helene was the girl he should've asked. Like Sophie (and Ludovika) always gesturing and looking at her, not Elisabeth, and Elisabeth herself not even looking at him, but Helene smiling directly at him and becoming all nervous when he goes up to them. Read the room, Franz.
Also a common thing in autistic people is Alexithymia (emotional blindness) and this very much fits to Franz (also historically). He doesn't really seem to be aware of his emotions. He often acts practical, not regarding feelings which leads to decisions that cause many problems in his relationships with others. (He even sings that he suppresses his own emotions which you could totally take as an explanation but this behaviour still could count as autistic-coded)
There's also a lacking of understanding the emotions of other people (Elisabeth, Sophie, Rudolf) which could be restricted empathy like many autistic people experience.
He also has problems managing his own emotions (probably also coming from the Alexithymia) which then come out as emotional outbursts like Rudolf, ich bin außer mir or Bellaria or Stationen einer Ehe. This is also common for autism.
Contrary to that he also sometimes behaves like a robot as if he had no feelings at all. And being compared to a robot is probably something every autistic person can relate to. He behaves like a machine with the same routine every day (#historical) and a strong routine is also common in the spectrum. He mostly sits at his desk which is his comfort zone, working all day long (which made other people actually compare him to a machine).
Additionally he had real difficulties with change (for example Rudolf sings that) which yeah can be explained by conservatism but this would also show in personal life. Like he had a pair of pants which he really loved and for the love of god wouldn't throw away even though they were completely worn out. And when his valet threw them away he was utterly upset. And problems with change is a common thing in autistic people.
Most interesting for me though is the fact that many Franz Joseph actors are STIMMING throughout the show. I've seen André Bauer, Armin Kahl, Arvid Assarsson, Lander Van Nuffelen and some others I think all giving Franz this little stim: they repetitively rub their index finger with their thumb
(this is just Jedem gibt er das Seine; it happens more often throughout the musical)
I don't know if André invented that but many adaptet it and I didn't notice something like that with any other character.
Also a thing which isn't Elisabeth Musical exclusive but generally Franz Joseph is the "being different than everyone else". Cause Franz was raised with Sophie and others constantly telling him that he was not normal and isn't like everybody else and treating him like he wasn't normal which even led to him being excluded from his brothers and other people. He never knew how to built a real bond with others because there was always a distance between him and normal people which he never learned how to overcome. This was also the reason he felt so lonely throughout his entire life. He was just so disconnected because he was "different" that he couldn't even form a real bond with his children or any other family member. Of course being raised and therefore excluded as an emperor isn't related to any autism symptom but this feeling of being different than everyone else is something many autistic people can relate to. So for me personally this is some sort of autism coding.
So yeah in my head Franz Joseph is autistic.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
