Elisabeth as a matchmaker for Franz Joseph
The reasons why Empress Elisabeth, of all people, should have played matchmaker for her husband will never really be known. Did she take pity on her ageing husband, or was her conscience plaguing her as she left him alone so often? Or did she want to gain more independence from him? In any case, the fact is that she established the contact between the Emperor and the highly acclaimed actress, Katharina Schratt, and intervened to nurture the alliance between the two of them. She probably had no idea that Franz Joseph had been having an affair with young woman called Anna Nahowski since 1875, and that his coincided with his relationship with Katharina Schratt for four years before he put an end to the affair.
The Emperor was very much in love with the actress, who was twenty-three years younger than himself. Though how far this romance actually went cannot be ascertained with any certainy. In any case, ‘the lady friend’ remained the emperor’s confidant for over thirty years. It is possible that they entered into a secret marriage following the death of both of their spouses. Documents which might have delivered proof of this were lost in 1945 when St. Stephan’s Cathedral caught fire.
Franz Joseph had an affair with Anna Nahowski lasting fourteen years. They met in the park of the palace or at Anna’s house on Maxingstrasse, which runs along the palace wall. Incidentally, this was not far away from the villa Katharina schratt lived in.
Anna’s daughter Helen was Franz Joseph’s child. Helene later married the well-known composer Alban Berg.
The actress Katharina Schratt remained the ‘lady friend’ to the Emperor for three decades. Elisabeth was already well beyond any feeling of jealousy and had even brought the two of them together. Franz Joseph loved the strolls and conversations with Mrs Schratt, who was a kindly and down-to-earth woman.
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