A fictionalized story of Elisabeth 'Sisi', duchess of Bavaria, The Accidental Empress tells the story of a girl who accompanies her older sister Helene to marry Emperor Franz Joseph, the Hapsburg ruler of the Austro-Hungarian empire.During the fateful visit where the future bride and groom (and cousins) meet after not seeing each other since they were children, Emperor Franz Joseph falls in love with Sisi and takes her to be his wife and Empress instead of her meek sister.
Only 16 and having grown up in the countryside of Bavaria, Sisi has much to learn at the Austrian court, where she is constantly watched by Princess Sophie, Franz Joseph's controlling mother.
Soon, her idealistic ideas of love and marriage are challenged as political unrest and declarations of war preoccupy Franz Joseph.
With the heavy-handed foreign policy dictated by Sophie of Hapsburg needing no one, countries begin to rebel and the downfall of the Hapsburg empire begins.
Relegated to a figurehead, a pretty Empress whom the people love, Sisi becomes more isolated as Franz refuses to discuss politics with her and her children's upbringing, and even names, are dictated by the domineering Sophie.
Sophie even named Sisi's first daughter after herself. Pretty cheeky.
Possessing an affinity for the Hungarian people, including the Count Andrassy, as they struggle to be recognized as a separate people within the Hapsburg empire, Sisi advocates for their recognition and the story ends in 1867, when Sisi is 40-years-old and she and Franz are crowned Queen and King of Hungary.
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