Editing Empress Elisabeth of Austria (section)

===First visit to Hungary===

[[File:Franz Schrotzberg - Kaiserin Elisabeth (1837-1898) - GG 9560 - Kunsthistorisches Museum.jpg|alt=Portrait of Empress Elisabeth, 1857 aged 19|thumb|Portrait of Empress Elisabeth, 1857 aged 19|left]]

In 1857, Elisabeth visited [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] for the first time with her husband and two daughters, and it left a deep and lasting impression upon her, which many historians attribute to the fact that in Hungary, she found a welcome respite from the constraints of Austrian court life. It was "the first time that Elisabeth had met with men of character in Franz Joseph's realm, and she became acquainted with an aristocratic independence that scorned to hide its sentiments behind courtly forms of speech... She felt her innermost soul reach out in sympathy to the proud, steadfast people of this land..."<ref>Tschuppik, Karl, ''The Empress Elisabeth of Austria'', Constable Publishing, 1930</ref>

Unlike Archduchess Sophie, who despised the [[Hungarians]], Elisabeth felt such an affinity for them that she began to learn Hungarian. In turn, the country reciprocated in its adoration of her. Writing about his visit to Hungary in 1934, [[Patrick Leigh Fermor]] notes that Elisabeth's picture was "framed on desks and tables and grand pianos", and that her love for Hungary and the Hungarians "was returned with interest and still declared, thirty-six years after her assassination, with all the ardour of [[Edmund Burke|Burke]] for [[Marie Antoinette]]."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fermor |first1=Patrick Leigh |title=[[Between the Woods and the Water]] |date=1986 |page=33}}</ref>

This same trip proved tragic when both of Elisabeth's daughters became ill. While Gisela recovered quickly, two-year-old Sophie grew steadily weaker before finally succumbing to her illness and dying. It is generally assumed today that she died of [[typhus]].<ref name="ReferenceB" /> Her death pushed Elisabeth, who was already prone to bouts of melancholy, into periods of heavy [[Depression (mood)|depression]], which would haunt her for the rest of her life. She turned away from her living daughter and began to neglect her.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} In December 1857, Elisabeth became pregnant for the third time, and her mother, who had been concerned about her daughter's physical and mental health, hoped that this new pregnancy would help her recover.<ref name="ReferenceA" />