She was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist in 1898 while on a visit to Geneva; Franz Joseph never fully recovered from the loss.
Sisi se ni nikoli prilagodila dvoru in je zmeraj bila v nesoglasju s kraljevo družino; njuna prva hči Zofija je umrla kot dojenček; njun edini sin, kronski princ Rudolf, pa se je ubil leta 1889 v zloglasnem mayerlinškem incidentu.