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The Sporting Empress: The Story Of Elizabeth of Austria and Bay Middleton
The Sporting Empress The Story Of Elizabeth of Austria and Bay Middleton Author:John Welcome Elizabeth Empress of Austria was the wife of Franz Joseph I, the last of the Hapsburgs to enjoy power, privilege and devoted from childhood to all animal but especially horses she was a superb horsewoman and a fearless rider across any country. Her unhappy and ultimately tragic life held one short period during which she enjoyed real happiness a... more »nd a deep and lasting love: between 1876 and 1882 she visited England and Ireland on sporting tours where she found fulfillment in the excitement of hunting - and she met Bay Middleton.
When she needed a pilot for her first day with Pytchlety, a true galloping country where hunts were ridden at a tremendous pace and often faster than steeplechases of the time, the choice fell on the dashing Bay Middleton, 'the bravest of the brave'. Unimpressed by the offered privilege, unwilling to be held back by some foreign Royalty who thought she could ride, he reluctantly agreed to do it 'just this once'. This was the beginning of a deep personal friendship and love which lasted for years, ending in Bay's marriage when the Empress gave up riding and hunting for ever.
John Welcome has written the full and fascinating story of these years of happiness and freedom in the life of a beautiful and complicated woman who longed to escape from the stultifying pomp and ceremony of the Hapsburg court. It is a sporting tale to captivate all those who love horses and hunting: and it is also a colourful picture of the times, of Elizabeth's tactlessness towards Queen Victoria, the politics of the Parnellite agitation in Ireland, the problems of the mighty Austrian empire, and the characters involved in the story, including Franz Joseph, the Crown Prince Rudolph, Lord Spencer and Bay Middleton himself.« less