Just looking at all this.
Astounding how much Mary Vetsera looks exactly like Angela Merkel.
Fantastic research, anon, really.
BAKER - great dough ingredient.
Caught my eye because of the portrait of Empress Elisabeth "Sissi" of Austria.
She was wildly popular with the people in the region, and justifiably famed for her beauty, really the Princess Diana of her era. I read her biography years ago, after seeing the garden and statue dedicated to her memory in Merano, Italy; Merano was, prior to some war (the date escapes me) part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It is a GORGEOUS little town at the foot of the Alps, and famous even today as a vacation resort. The valley where it's located is full of hot mineral springs which feed the pools and spas in the resorts, and the hiking and every other outdoor activities are set in spectacular scenery. Those same hot springs give the town the most unique microclimate I've ever seen; there are palm trees and lush tropical plants of all kinds set right at the foot of snow-covered Alps. The 1800's were its heyday for the upper classes in Europe - there are still genteel old hotels and pensiones, large villas, a wide paved boulevard for strolling, and an opera house with surrounding landscaped lawns and gardens for entertainment. Elisabeth "Sissi" was a regular visitor, for her health. She was VERY vain about her extremely long hair, her face, and her tiny figure. Would barely eat a bite, and exercised obsessively. The movie version of her life, "Sissi", was made with the lovely Romy Schneider. There's an overdubbed English version, but the actress dubbing Sissi's voice has a high-pitched juvenile tone, not Schneider's deeper, richer voice.
Bio from Scandalous Women blog, which fill out more of the detail of relationships around the royalty of that era: http:// scandalouswoman.blogspot.com/2009/12/lonely-empress-life-of-elisabeth-of.html
The photo here is of the most famous portrait of her, by Winterhalter.