Stories of women, genre literature/ 461 – By Luciana Grillo
Raffaella Ranise, «The Habsburgs. From Sissi to Zita» – This book is a source of documented historical information and a tribute to the Habsburgs
Title: The Habsburgs. From Sissi to Zita
Author: Raffaella Ranise
publisher: Marsilio, 2022
Gender: Biographies of Royal Houses
Pages: 152, Paperback
Cover price: €16
I have already read and reviewed some of Raffaella Ranise’s writings, I remember the keen interest that the History of the Romanovs aroused in me, as I have before my eyes the terrible events of the female concentration camp of Ravensbruck.
Now, with “The Habsburgs, from Sissi to Zita”, Ranise returns to the royal families, tells happy and sad stories, delves into aspects of the characters, describes habits, investigates between loves and betrayals, passions and religiosity.
It begins with Sissi, but going back in time, it highlights the difficult relationship between her mother Ludovica and her father Max and adds that «some scholars have recognized that Elisabetta’s difficult married life may have partly originated from her mother’s loneliness… often depressed and alone… hurt by her husband’s behavior and humiliated by the comparison with her sisters, who had contracted more prestigious marriages and had become queens».
Elizabeth, by marrying the emperor, lost her fresh spontaneity and behind an enigmatic smile she hid her suffering, the sense of loneliness, the anxiety that oppressed her. “Throughout her life there will be a constant rift between Elizabeth’s public image and her inner torment.”
Throughout her life, «perhaps Elizabeth simply needed to feel loved», she would have liked to see her children grow up away from the etiquette of the court, in contact with nature, in a less hostile environment.
At that point, becoming fragile even available, Sissi began to move away from the Hofburg, «the journey became an escape and she survived… she became a wanderer… when she was away from Vienna she felt better», also because her Franz «had succumbed to attentions of other women.
Only for the education of her son Rodolfo did the empress succeed in imposing her views and at least in part freeing the young heir from the Habsburg rules, “rigid to the point of bordering on cruelty”.
The tragic death of her son made the Vienna court truly unbearable for Elizabeth.
The emperor “remained nailed to his work table, more and more alone”, the empress who lives “in a profound state of prostration and agitation… now alone, eccentric, always looking for a place or a non-place, in perpetual flight from the world, but in reality fleeing from herself and her inner torments».
Death came suddenly, at the hands of an anarchist. Elizabeth was sixty years old.
With the telegram announcing his wife’s death in his hand, Franz Joseph, incredulous, murmured: «So I am spared nothing on this earth».
History does not stop, not even when an empress dies, and therefore other dramatic events, such as the assassination of Serajevo on June 28, 1914, upset Europe and the Habsburg dynasty.
Thus we know Zita of Bourbon-Parma, a beautiful and kind princess, tall and slender, with dark hair and eyes, wife of Carlo, whose grandfather was Carlo Ludovico, younger brother of Francesco Giuseppe.
Zita was born in Tuscany, but she knew French, knew some foreign languages, including German, learned in the Benedictine monastery on the Isle of Wight.
The spouses were very religious, “the firm faith immediately characterized the union of Carlo and Zita and accompanied them throughout their lives”, which was by no means easy.
The empire had now come to an end, the royal family moved to Switzerland, Charles made attempts to recover the kingdom of Hungary and Zita, although pregnant, accompanied him, without any hesitation, because she was convinced that “the duty of a sovereignty is first of all to be faithful to the crown”.
In Madeira they lived a fairly serene period, even if the children had remained in Switzerland and the family’s financial situation was difficult.
Zita did not lose heart, she went to get her children, she was welcomed with a certain diffidence but, on the return journey to Funchal the king of Spain, Alfonso XIII showed her respect and warmth.
Of course, the house where they lived was devoid of many comforts, there was no electric light or hot water, the smell of mold everywhere, but the former sovereigns and their children did not complain, having accepted with great dignity living conditions that were very different from those gifts.
At the end of March 1922, Carlo spent himself, he was thirty-four years old.
Zita, pregnant again, was welcomed with her children in Madrid by the King of Spain, but other moves were necessary, in search of less expensive homes to maintain.
In the following years they went to Belgium, Portugal, the USA, Canada. Zita was serene, supported by the certainty of faith.
Only in 1982 was she allowed to return to Austria, welcomed with affection and pride by her subjects. Her son Otto and her daughter-in-law Regina cared for her lovingly until her death in 1989.
Thus Raffaella Ranise closes the parable of the Habsburgs, so different and so special, one – Elizabeth – restless and fascinating, the other – Zita – who «left the throne and Austria too soon», yet always serene, « able to bear hardship and pain with dignity”.
Both have left an important trace of their passage, both rest forever in the Capuchin crypt.
This book is not only a source of documented historical information, it is also a tribute to the Habsburgs, of which a precise family tree and a very rich iconographic apparatus can be found in the last pages.
Luciana Grillo – [email protected]
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