How Combermere Abbey became home to royalty in the 19th century

Combermere Abbey near Whitchurch was described as the 'most romantic place in Europe' by the woman who would rise to Empress.

The show chronicles the life of Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie whose marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria on April 24 1854 made her one of the most powerful women in 19th century Europe.

However Sisi, as she was known, endured a turbulent life which would be marred with tragedy.

Coronation photograph by Emil Rabending, 1867.

Sisi had been born into Bavarian nobility in 1834 and was cousin of the eccentric King Ludwig II who went down in history for the building of Neuschwanstein Castle - a fairytale castle built near Fussen.

Sisi rose above even him upon her marriage aged 16 in 1854.

The death of their eldest daughter in 1857 plunged Sisi into depression and the royal couple would lead estranged for the rest of their lives with the Empress spending much time in England and Ireland.

Equestrian portrait of Elisabeth at Possenhofen Castle, age 15, 1853.

In 1881 she rented Combermere Abbey near Whitchurch whose incumbent, Viscount Combermere, had been forced to head to the West Indies to take charge of his family's estate in Barbados.

The abbey and lake in 1829.

First the abbey and the local area had to be made fit for the Empress with more than £1.5m spent on improving Wrenbury Railway Station while also building new stables to house her collection of horses.

Rooms had been re-furnished to create an imperial bedroom, a sitting room, bathroom, gymnasium and chapel.

Empress Elisabeth with her two children and a portrait of the late Archduchess Sophie Friederike, 1858.

She arrived on February 20, 1881 accompanied by an entourage of more than 80 staff which included the Prince Liechtenstein.

She washed her hair in cognac laced with onions and Peruvian balsamic, and at night slept in hot towels, and with a mask of raw veal on her face while her face cream was made up of purified honey and strawberries.

Empress Elisabeth with Emperor Franz Joseph (before 1898).

She departed Combermere in 1882 and returned to Vienna after being hosted at Windsor Castle by Queen Victoria.

Republican movements spread across Europe during this time.

The Habsburg family was beset by tragedy in 1889 when Sisi's only son and heir to the empire, Rudolf, committed suicide after killing his lover in an event which would change the course of history.

Purported last photograph taken of Elisabeth at Territet, Switzerland, a week before her death.

Emperor Franz Joseph had made his nephew Franz Ferdinand his heir.

In the meantime Sisi was plunged into depression, only further compounded by the death of her sister in a fire in 1897.

The following year Sisi had been walking in Geneva in Switzerland when an assassin recognised her having failed to take out his intended target, the Duke of Orleans, and instead made the Empress his victim.

It would of course not be the last assassination to be suffered by the Hapsburg family and on June 28 1914, the assassination of her nephew Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo led to World War I.