The Rebel Empresses: Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France, Power and Glamour in the Struggle for Europe

Royal biographer Goldstone (In the Shadow of the Empress) relates the dual lives of the empresses Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France. Goldstone argues that both women shirked the conventions and expectations of royal women during the 1800s. Eugénie was named regent several times during her husband’s reign. After living under the constraints of a disapproving Habsburg court, Elisabeth left to live in Hungary, where she behaved as she pleased. In alternating sections, the book examines momentous events in Elisabeth’s and Eugénie’s lives and explores military campaigns, the Crimean War, France’s intervention in Mexico, and the empresses’ relationships with their families, imperial husbands, and subjects. Often, Elisabeth’s and Eugénie’s life events ran in parallel, and Goldstone’s wry commentary enhances the narrative. The book examines their legacies too, as Eugénie assisted in making France an architectural and cultural center, and Elisabeth played a large role in the unification of Austria and Hungary.