Sisi (miniseries)

Plot

The miniseries' first part spans from 1853, when Elisabeth gets engaged to Franz Joseph, to 1857, when her first child, daughter Sophie, dies. Elisabeth, nicknamed Sisi, spent her first sixteen years in Bavaria. She reluctantly goes with her mother and older sister Helene, called Néné, to Bad Ischl, where Néné is meant to become engaged to the 23-year-old Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I. Instead, he falls for Sisi, and despite her hesitation for Néné's sake, she returns his feelings. Franz's mother, Archduchess Sophie, is unhappy but accepts the new reality: Sisi must be retrained as Empress, taking lessons in language, dance, court etiquette, and imperial knowledge. Franz and Sisi marry in April 1854, greeted by cheering crowds. Breaking protocol, they kiss before the wedding guests and later spend their wedding night outdoors in the Schönbrunn palace gardens. In Vienna, Sisi feels crushed by court ceremony and Sophie's control. She struggles with constant chaperones and odd rules, like being allowed to bathe just once a week. Sophie appoints Countess Esterházy as Sisi's chief lady-in-waiting, tasked with teaching court manners but also spying and reporting back. A rare ally is Franz's brother Maximilian, who gets along with Sisi but soon departs for Trieste. Sisi tries connecting with ordinary people and is appalled by the emperor's harshness toward those with liberal views. She becomes pregnant and gives birth to Sophie. Against her wishes, Sophie orders the baby fed by a wet nurse and later handed to governesses. Sisi pleads with Franz, but when he sides with his mother, insisting her duties lie elsewhere, she leaves court. She returns to her parents, reunites with Néné, and meets Count Andrássy, who urges her to support Hungary and persuade the emperor to grant provinces more freedom, plus amnesty for himself and other exiles from the 1848 revolution.