Known in the family as Spatz (Sparrow) as she was so gentle, Sisi’s younger sister Mathilde was married in Munich in 1861 to Lodovico, Count of Trani. He was the heir to his older half-brother Francesco II of the Two Sicilies (who married Maria Sophia).
She and Maria Sophia both had affairs in Rome and she may also have had an illegitimate child. Lodovico had a similar attitude to his marriage vows.
Empress Elisabeth was very close to her sisters and was with Mathilde for the birth of her legitimate daughter Maria Teresa in 1867. The following year Mathilde was godmother to Sisi’s daughter Marie Valerie.
Lodovico died in Paris in 1886 and Elisabeth and Franz Josef each gave her an annual allowance of 20,000 marks.
Mathilde died in Munich.
Photograph By Franz Neumayer (act. 1856-1882), Fotograf, München (Kabinettfotografie) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
