10/09/2026
🕯️RIP: On this day 128 years ago, Elisabeth was assassinated in Geneva. What were her final moments like?
It started as an ordinary day in Geneva, with a visit to her favourite pastry shop and gifts picked out for her grandchildren.
Elisabeth had travelled under the name Countess of Hohenembs, hoping to keep her identity private. But a newspaper report revealing that the Empress was staying at the Hôtel Beau-Rivage had reached Luigi Lucheni, an Italian anarchist. He had come to Geneva intending to assassinate Prince Henri of Orléans. When the prince failed to arrive, Elisabeth became his target.
Just a few yards from the landing stage, Lucheni attacked her with a sharpened file. Elisabeth fell but initially believed she had merely been knocked over. She rose and continued towards the ship. Only after she had boarded and collapsed did those around her realise the tiny wound was fatal.
The ship returned to shore. Elisabeth was carried back to the hotel, where she died shortly afterwards.
What remains are traces of what came afterwards: Her death certificate, issued in Geneva, records the facts with stark simplicity. A mourning ribbon, by contrast, speaks in the intimate voice of a sister saying farewell. And a death mask by Franz von Matsch, made only after she was gone. Therefore, it is not a record of her face, but an artistic attempt to immortalize her final moments. 🕊️
🎥 © SKB
