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Sisi, Empress of Austria and Hungary > 
Elizabeth Amalia Eugenia was born in Munich on the 24th December, 1837, the fourth of nine children to Duke Maximilian in Bavaria and his wife Ludovika. She was born not only on Christmas Eve, but on a Sunday as well. In 1853 the Archduchess Sophie, mother of the Emperor Franz Joseph, invited her sister Ludovika together with her daughter Helene to Bad Ischl. The Archduchess hoped that her son would choose his cousin Helene as his bride. The 15 year old Sisi came along merely as her sister's travelling companion. The family arrived in Ischl on the 16th August, in good time to celebrate the Emperor's 23rd birthday two days later. From the moment the Emperor first set eyes on his cousin Sisi, he would have no-one else. All the plans and hopes of the Archduchess were turned upside down. On the 19th August Bad Ischl celebrated the official engagement of the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria with the Princess Elizabeth in Bavaria.
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