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Aristocrats, too, are only human and therefore not only mortal, but also subject to the diseases and addictions of the genus Homo sapiens.
The Habsburg family, which has produced a large number of emperors, kings and princes since the Middle Ages, also had to experience this.
Since these were at the center of a sophisticated administration and the public interest, numerous testimonials have been received that provide information about their state of health and thus reflect ailments that also afflicted many of their subjects.
The “Hofrezept-Bücher” (court prescription books), which are kept in the Austrian State Archives, give pretty precise information about the medicines that were mixed and brewed in the pharmacy of the Vienna Hofburg for the ladies and gentlemen.
The conclusions that can be drawn from this on health problems are revealed by Stefan Wolner in his TV documentary "Habsburg Health Record - The Sufferings of Sisi & Co.", which ZDFinfo will broadcast on February 26th.
The cult of beauty and the obsession with slimness: Empress Elisabeth (1837–1898), known as Sisi
Source: De Agostini via Getty Images
For example, the famous Empress Elisabeth (1837–1898), known as Sisi, had a wide range of ointments, tinctures and drinks prepared that indicate “an above-average number of ailments”, as a living Habsburg, Valentin Habsburg Lothringen, explains.
She cultivated a beauty cult that cost her and her servants not just several hours a day.
The Empress, who had given birth to four children, was able to keep a waist measurement of 50 centimeters until old age, which was only possible by wearing a corset and sewing it into tight clothes.
The consequences were shortness of breath and bone deformation.
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"Fasting cures, combined with excessive physical activity, led to health problems, such as hunger edema, which should be balanced out with medication," write Michaela and Karl Vocelka in their Sisi biography.
With age, rheumatism and sciatica complaints were added.
And depression.
Anorexia, or vomiting, which some historians consider the dark side of the slimming craze, had psychosomatic causes.
Because the dream marriage that the Bavarian princess led at the side of Emperor Franz Joseph since 1854 soon became a prison for her.
Sport, malaise or the boudoir offered the chance to escape the stiff ceremonial at the imperial court.
Finally, a powerful remedy was found to combat the depression: cocaine, which Elisabeth had intravenously administered.
Ever since the well-known doctor Sigmund Freud recommended this drug as a miracle cure for gloom, impotence and other ailments in 1884, the drug has advanced to become a coveted substance among the better.
The archdukes were no exception.
Sisi's only son Rudolf (1858–1889) relieved the pain caused by his gonorrhea infection, as well as the pressure that weighed on him as Crown Prince, by taking cocaine suppositories.
Franz Ferdinand (1863–1914), who rose to heir to the throne after his suicide in Mayerling, cured his tuberculosis and its sequelae with a whole cocktail of morphine, cocaine, codeine and opium that he had come to know and appreciate on his travels.
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Franz Ferdinand's assassination in Sarajevo in 1914, which triggered the First World War, made Archduke Charles heir to the throne.
He was the son of Franz Ferdinand's younger brother Otto (1865–1906), not called “the beautiful Archduke” or Bolla for nothing.
He spent his time with countless lovers or orgies in Vienna's brothels, which eventually brought him syphilis.
The mercury-containing smear cures that were applied against it helped little, but promoted the physical breakdown.
In the end, Bolla's nose was deformed, the larynx decomposed.
Because of his scandals, Franz Joseph had banned him from Vienna in good time.
The emperor himself was characterized by unshakable health right into old age.
But his only vice, smoking, encouraged a cough, which the monarch used to treat with amounts of codeine.
Emperor Charles V (1500–1558) was also marked by the distinctive lip and underbite
Source: picture-alliance / Helga Lade Fo
Even the ancestor of these “younger Habsburgs”, Empress Maria Theresia (1717–1780), was a frequent customer of her farm pharmacy in old age.
After giving life to 16 children (four of whom died young), smallpox attacked her.
In contrast to the two wives of her son and co-regent Joseph II (1741–1790), she survived the epidemic, but has since been disfigured by scars.
She also suffered from heart failure as a result of high blood pressure, which in turn was fueled by her obesity.
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Without Maria Theresa and her husband Franz Stephan of Lorraine, the Habsburgs would have died out in time.
Because male heirs were no longer available.
After the death of her father in 1740, she only had to claim her crown in a protracted war.
The family's infertility had a genetic reason: the numerous marriages between the Austrian and Spanish branches of the dynasty.
A recent study at the University of Santiago de Compostela concluded that the notorious “Habsburg lip” and the prominent lower jaw were the result of excessive marriages between close relatives.
This had dramatic consequences for Charles II of Spain (1661–1700).
The son of Philip IV and Maria Anna of Austria showed considerable deformities as a child.
It was not for nothing that he was considered “the bewitched”, proved to be incapable of procreation and incapable of governing.
Since he died without an heir, a real world war broke out after his death with the War of Spanish Succession.
In the end, the Bourbons came to the throne of Spain.
“Habsburg Medical File - The Sorrows of Sisi & Co.”, 6.45 p.m., February 26, 2021, ZDFinfo
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