Empress Elisabeth of Austria

History loves to soften her edges — but Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, was never the delicate fairytale princess romanticized in portraits and films. She was strikingly tall for her era at 5’8”, with a famously tiny 19-inch waist, a figure she maintained through relentless discipline. Sisi exercised obsessively, fasted for long periods, … Read more