Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Stabbed on 10 September 1898 on the Lake Geneva quay in Geneva by the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni; the empress died shortly afterward aboard a boat.

Overview

Elisabeth, called Sisi, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph, was a celebrated beauty and restless traveler who spent long years away from the Viennese court after the suicide of her son Crown Prince Rudolf at Mayerling. Walking to the lakeside steamer with her lady in waiting, she was struck by a file-sharpened awl; the thin blade punctured her heart so cleanly that she walked on, then collapsed and died within minutes. Lucheni, who had come to Geneva to kill any royal available after missing the Duke of Orleans, was sentenced to life imprisonment and killed himself in 1910. Her assassination internationalized the fear of anarchist terror, prompting hotel registration and cross-border police cooperation. The empress became a cult figure of romantic tragedy in Austria.