"ADDIO REGINA – TUA MARI" is written in gold lettering on the ribbon that was placed on Empress Elisabeth's catafalque*. These were the last words addressed to her by her sister Marie, Queen of Naples.

Marie was 4 years younger than Elisabeth. She was married off to Francis of Naples at the age of 17. She only knew her husband from paintings, even on the day of the wedding, which was carried out in proxy in Munich. The first meeting was a bitter disappointment, since Francis was not only ugly but also completely uninterested in marriage and his wife. His preference was for religious literature and not for politics, and so after his father, Ferdinand II, died, it was not he but rather his mother, Maria Theresa von Habsburg, who ruled the country.

When the royal family was forced to seek refuge in the fortress at Gaeta during the political confusion surrounding the establishment of the state of Italy, Marie's defence of the fortress earned her the nickname "the heroine of Gaeta". She lived in exile after 1861, travelling the world and creating a scandal through her way of life. She swam naked in the sea and smoked cigarillos in public. A love affair had momentous consequences when she gave birth secretly to twins from an officer of the Papal Guard.
This led to a discussion with her husband, the marriage was finally consummated and she gave birth to a daughter, who lived only a few weeks.

Marie spent many years in France, returning to Munich after the First World War, where she died in 1925.

The ribbon is made of lilac silk rep and originates from the estate of Lieutenant Breindl, an adjutant of the Guards who had been given the ribbon after the Empress was buried. When his uniform was sold, the ribbon was found in the breast pocket of his jacket.

This exhibit will be on display from 29 September 2010 in the Sisi Museum, next to the death mask.

^{* A catafalque is a raised bier or platform, often movable, that is used to support the casket, coffin, or body of the deceased during a funeral or memorial service.}