Archduchess Gisela of Austria

Archduchess Gisela Louise Marie of Austria (12 July 1856 – 27 July 1932) was the second daughter and eldest surviving child of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. She became a Princess of Bavaria through her marriage to her second cousin, Leopold.

The Archduchess was born on 12 July 1856, the second child of Franz Joseph I of Austria and Elisabeth in Bavaria. She was named Gisella Louise Marie; the name Gisella was taken after Queen Gisela of Hungary, wife of Stephen I, first Christian Hungarian king. Although christened Gisella, she only ever wrote her name with one L. Just like her elder sister Archduchess Sophie and her brother Crown Prince Rudolf, Gisela was raised by her paternal grandmother, Archduchess Sophie of Austria. Of a sober nature like her father, she kept a reserved attitude towards her mother. She had a very close relationship with her brother, whose suicide affected her greatly.