About Me

The figure of Queen Elisabeth has been an integral part of my life since I was a child, precisely since I saw her for the first time in my life in a painting of László Fülöp in a historical encyclopedia. I was fascinated by the beauty, grace, and some ethereal mystique surrounding her figure in the picture. From then on, I was interested in everything related to her. Of course, I have seen the Sissi trilogy with the beautiful Romy Schneider countless times, and after I learned to read, I always asked for books about Elisabeth’s life for my birthday, Christmas, etc. It has been about 20 years, the number of books I own has exceeded a hundred, and my adoration is still unbroken.

As a child, I always told my family that one day I would play Elisabeth in front of the general public. During my secondary school years, I planned to be a musical actress because I wanted to play the title role in the musical Elisabeth one day. That is why I had been a member of the Gyémánt Musical Studio (today the Thália Art Association) for three years, where I took private singing, stage jazz and acting lessons, among other things.

In the end, life took me in a different direction, I obtained an engineering bachelor’s and then a master’s degree, but my love for Elisabeth remained unbroken. The fact that during these years, from 2014, I worked as a tour guide at the Royal Palace of Gödöllő as a student worker, shows this clearly. Here, in the Hungarian centre of Elisabeth’s cult, my knowledge in connection with the queen expanded a lot, and I also learned how to talk about history effectively, but still entertainingly, to almost any age group. After graduating in 2019, my childhood dream came true: I became the palace’s full-time Elisabeth-impersonator. In the next two years, I was practically the face of the museum: I represented the palace at national and international events, welcomed famous domestic and foreign guests, appeared on posters across the country, portrayed the queen in commercials and historical short films, and here I got to know the methodology of Living History, too. Thanks to this, I developed, for example, a unique guided tour program where visitors tour the royal suites as guests of “Queen Elisabeth”, where, in contrast to a traditional program, I told stories not primarily about the artefacts, but about the life of the royal family and, of course, Elisabeth.

During this period, I became a member of the International Museum Theater Alliance (IMTAL), where I learned much about the methodology and its even more perfect application from famous and active interpreters of Living History.

Although I handed over my place in the palace to someone else in July 2021, impersonating the queen is still an essential part of my life today. In the period that has passed since then, I have worked as a freelance Living History Interpreter with the excellent team of the Hungarian National Museum and the Savaria Museum in Szombathely, among others. One of my prominent activities is holding presentations with Elisabeth-researcher and writer Barbara Káli-Rozmis, both at private and open events.

During my work, I consider the dignified and authentic presentation of the personality of Queen Elisabeth and her family members to be a matter of my heart. That is why I constantly study the latest available historical sources on the subject and improve my presentation skills. I believe that I can do a perfect job only through them. During the performances, I wear Mónika Czédly prize-winner fashion designer’s nationally and internationally recognized Elisabeth dress reconstructions.

My qualifications:

2016 and 2018: engineer bachelor and master’s degree
2018: advanced English language exam
2021: Cultural event organizer partial qualification (OKJ)
2022: “A cook from a cooker. “My first Living History program” Living History Interpreter training (Open History – Ádám Németh)

To view my references, please click here.

Viktória Vas
Living History Interpreter
A Queen’s Stories
Past- in the Present