Who was Katharina Schratt? When and where was she born? How did she meet Emperor Franz Joseph? What did they have in common?
Katharina Schratt was born in the spa town of Baden near Vienna on September 11, 1853 . It was already clear to her at the age of six that she had a passion for the theater. Her parents tried to dissuade her and sent her to boarding school in Cologne. That didn’t change much. She performed for the first time at the age of 15 in Leobersdorf in the play “Eigensinn”. Her parents finally gave in and she was allowed to attend drama school in Vienna.
She soon had engagements in Vienna, Berlin and St. Petersburg. Vienna became her main place of activity, where she married the Hungarian Miklos Baron Kiss de Ittebe at the age of 26. A year later, her son Anton was born, but she also separated from her husband without divorcing him.
Next came an engagement in New York, but it was at the Hofburgtheater that she celebrated one successful performance after another. She became the most popular actress in Austria. She was even appointed court actress in 1887, but had differences of opinion with the director at the time and preferred to retire in 1900 at the age of just 47.
In 1885, the actress Katharina Schratt met Emperor Franz Joseph at the “Ball of the Industrialists”. She already knew him from an audience in 1883. Elisabeth encouraged her husband’ s relationship with the actress Katharina Schratt . This freed her from her marital duties and she knew that her husband was in good hands. Katharina Schratt and Franz Joseph understood each other particularly on a spiritual level. Franz Joseph bought her a villa near the Schönbrunn summer residence.
He also wanted to have her close to him in Bad Ischl – for her summer retreat – and bought her the “Schratt Villa” there. He enabled her to lead a lavish lifestyle and always showered her with expensive gifts and financial donations. A villa in Gloriettegasse bears witness to this.
Katharina Schratt caused a scandal in 1903 when she played an empress in the comedy Maria Theresa. Many saw this as a tasteless allusion to her secret liaison with Emperor Franz Joseph. The emperor was always anxious to keep everything secret and did not understand the proceedings himself. Katharina Schratt never stepped onto a stage again.
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Their friendship lasted, with one interruption, until Franz Joseph’s death in 1916, although it was no longer as intense as in Elisabeth’s time. In addition to Franz Joseph, Katharina Schratt was also “close” friends with other men throughout her life.
Once Emperor Franz Joseph had found a close confidante in Katharina Schratt, Elisabeth was able to indulge her passion for travel even more without having a guilty conscience. She herself encouraged their friendship from the very beginning. As she traveled through Europe, she was always in extensive correspondence with Franz Joseph.
Tip from Sisi’s Amazing Journey:Katharina Schratt’s grave is located next to her husband, from whom she never divorced, at Hietzing Cemetery, near the “Schratt Villa”. You can also visit the graves of Gustav Klimt, Otto Wagner and Franz Grillparzer at Hietzing Cemetery.
