A royal getaway in Budapest
More than a century before Diana, Kate, Meghan and Mary graced the royal red carpet, the first true celebrity princess was arguably Empress Elisabeth of Austria (right). At just 16 years of age, Sisi, as she was affectionately known, was swept off her feet by Franz Joseph I, heir to the Habsburg monarchy’s Austro-Hungarian empire.
In April 1854, they married in a fairytale ceremony in Vienna and Sisi immediately became one of the most powerful and most talked about women in the world. She was breathtakingly beautiful with a natural warmth and shyness which endeared her to the masses and earned her the moniker “The People’s Princess”.
The young Empress was a trailblazer; her exquisite fashion and elaborate hairstyles were copied by Viennese high
