In season 2 of “Sissi”, which is currently broadcast on W9, the empress falls under the spell of Count Andrassy. Did a romantic relationship between these two characters really exist?
Warning, this article contains spoilers for the Sissi series. If you don’t want to know anything, don’t read what follows!
Since Tuesday December 26, W9 has been broadcasting season 2 of Sissi, a series which revisits in a more modern and sulphurous way the story of Empress Elisabeth, played for the occasion by Dominique Devenport.
In this new burst of episodes, Sissi gets dangerously close to Count Andrassy, played by Italian actor Giovanni Funiati, to the point of spending a passionate night with him in episode 5. But this often fantasized love story between these two historical figures really took place?
Were Sissi and Count Andrassy lovers?
It’s no secret: Emperor Franz Joseph had many mistresses during his marriage to Sissi, including a certain Anna Nahaowski. An extramarital relationship which was tolerated for noble men of the time.
It was obviously not the same for women. The empress would indeed have put herself in great danger if she had had a relationship with another man. But would she have been able to risk everything for Count Andrassy? Although many rumors report an affair between the two friends, this has never been proven by historians.
After the creation of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1867, Elisabeth spent a lot of time in Hungary in the Gödöllő castle which had been offered to her by the Hungarians. Very quickly, this place had become his favorite residence.
The following year, the Empress-Queen gave birth to a daughter in this castle, whom she called Marie-Valérie of her own accord in honor of Hungary, Valeria being the name of the region whose head location is Budapest.
Some then attributed the paternity of the little girl to Andrassy, but the striking resemblance between Archduchess Marie-Valérie and Emperor-King Franz Joseph quickly silenced these rumors. And until now, no historian has ever been able to prove the existence of a romantic relationship between Sissi and Count Andrassy.
This obviously did not prevent the writers of the Sissi series, who regularly took liberties with reality, from imagining a passionate affair between these two characters in season 2.
Find three new episodes of season 2 of Sissi this Tuesday January 2 from 9:10 p.m. on W9. Season 3 will be broadcast on Tuesday January 9.