Franz Joseph’ watched Schratt perform at the 1885 Industrial Exhibition in Vienna and invited her to perform for visiting Czar Alexander III of Russia. She soon became the Emperor’s intimate companion. It was said that Empress Elisabeth actually promoted the relationship between the actress and her husband. Katharina was called the “Uncrowned Empress of Austria” by the media.

The real empress, Elisabeth, only spent four years out of her long marriage actually living with the Emperor. It is said that although he loved here dearly, he found it impossible to deal with her inability to communicate normally and her constant “daydreaming,” hence his friendship with Katharina came as no surprise to anyone. Katharina originally spent her summers at Schloss Frauenstein near St. Wolfgang. The Emperor, however, placed a lovely villa at her disposal, which became known as the “Schratt Villa.” A small path led from the “Kaiservilla” to the rear of the Kaiserpark and to a small door through which the Emperor would exit the park and which today no longer exists. There were lovely walking paths and abundant beauty in the surroundings, and this was probably the place of greatest peace and happiness for the doomed Kaiser.

Their relationship continued after the assassination of Elisabeth until Franz Josef’s death in November of 1916 with only one interruption in 1900 due to an argument. They were often seen together, and their devotion to one another was obvious even when they were quite elderly. Schratt was given a mansion on Vienna’s Gloriettegasse and a three-story palace on the Kärntner Ring to which she completely withdrew after the Emperor’s death. Although generous offers were made to her for her memoirs, she turned them all down. Schratt became deeply religious later in life. After her death in 1940 at the age of 86, she was buried in the Hietzing Cemetery in Vienna.

Bombs from World War Two caused devastating injury to the Villa, but it has been partially rebuilt in modern times.