Sissi, the first known anorexic.

Even Sissi's statue shows her slimness

Elisabeth of Austria (Sissi)  was the Princess Diana of her day.

Neither were cut out for the royal life they were thrust into as teenage brides. Sissi's bridegroom was Emperor Franz Joseph I not an heir to the thrown like Charles. Franz Jospeh gave his bride mother-in-law problems that improved slightly when Sissi bore an heir.

Like Princess Diana, Sissi was beautiful, fashionable and tall (5 foot 8). Although there was no disease called anorexia in her day, Sissi chronicled eating habits mimic what we would have called it today. Diana battles with anorexia and bulimia were well documented.

When Sissi was depressed or found herself over 50 kilos (110 pounds) she would go days without eating at all calling it a fasting cure. Her normal diet was often limited to soups, eggs, milk.

Not satisfied that regular corsets would make her look thin enough, she had special ones made in Paris that "tight-laced" her body.

She exercised ferociously.

Her waist measured 19.5 inches. Even her lady-in-waiting would report on the eating habits of the Empress.

Some say Sissi had psychiatric problems. She did want to establish a hospital for those with mental problems. Diana had her own good works.

When she could, Sissi escaped to Hungary and later she spent time in Geneva.

What a beautiful day September 10, 1898 was. Sissi was 60. She was staying at Hôtel Beau-Rivage incognito. From her window she could the steamship Genève on Lake Geneva. A trip was planned to the city of Montreux.

Sissi and Countess Irma Sztaray, her lady-in-waiting, walked across the street to where the boat was docked.

From nowhere, Luigi Lucheni approached, seem to stumble as he stabbed Sissi with a four-inch industrial needle. His original plan had been to assassinate the Duke of Orléans, but the Duke had left the city for Valais.

At first it appeared Sissi was unhurt. She walked onto the boat. After the boat sailed, she collapsed and lost consciousness. Only a nurse was on board. The boat Captain Roux suggested the woman, whose identity he didn't know, be taken back to the Beau-Rivage. He turned the boat back toward the dock.

A stretcher was made from a sail and oars on which she was carried to the hotel where she died.

Her lady-in-waiting had loosened Sissi's corset after the return to the hotel. Because it was so tight, it had prevented a fatal hemorrhage into the pericardial sac around the heart. Once released Sissi died quickly.

Unlike Princess Diana's death there was no television so her death did not become a world wide event. In 1955 a movie Sissi was made staring Romy Schneider. Today the world's first recognized anorexic  is still remembered in Europe but less so around the world.