In 1854 Franz Joseph married his cousin Elisabeth, who was just sixteen years old at the time. This room was furnished and decorated as their bedroom on the occasion of their wedding. Franz Joseph worshipped his wife all his life. Whether this affection was returned to the same degree remains a matter of speculation. Elisabeth rejected the rigid etiquette of court life from the very beginning and over the course of the years developed into a self- confident woman. She led an independent life, travelling extensively, and in later life was rarely to be seen in Vienna. In September 1898, at the age of 61, Elisabeth was stabbed to death with a file by the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni in Geneva.