Coming up, a mad romp through the Habsburg Empire.

One woman pretends to be another with disastrous results.

Plus our distraction of the week. I'm Mel.

I'm Dave. This is the Library of Lost Time.

In the mid-19th century in Europe, there was no bigger celebrity than Empress Elizabeth of Austria.

You can think of her as the Taylor Swift of the Habsburg Empire.

I think that would make us the first people to think of her as the Taylor Swift of the Habsburg Empire.

She was very beautiful and glamorous, with exceptionally long, thick hair that she wore in double braids that were so heavy they gave her a headache.

She spoke five languages and was strong-willed, intelligent, and curious, and she traveled to places like Morocco where other royals didn't go.

I would like to have tea with this broad.

Yeah.

Her cousin, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, was known as the Mad King because of his perceived

eccentricities.

What were they, you might ask?

He loved art, music, and beauty.

You know that castle in Bavaria that inspired Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle?

Yeah.

That beautiful, frosty-looking confection that was commissioned by Ludwig.

How right was he about that castle, though?

That castle went on to inspire literally millions of people.

When they think of castle, they think of a shadow of his castle.

That is correct. I wish he knew that. Yeah. So these two characters are the focus of the really

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