Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen

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Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria, Duchess of Teschen, Selfportrait

Maria Christina Johanna Josepha Antonia von Habsburg-Lothringen (13 May 1742 - 24 June 1798), (→Family Tree) called "Mimi", was the fourth daughter and fifth child of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Life

Maria Christina was her mother's favourite child. The doting partiality that the Empress showed her caused intense jealousy in her brothers and sisters, especially the Emperor Joseph II. His first wife, Isabella of Parma, shared in this partiality.

Maria Christina was a very intelligent woman who knew how to manipulate her parents, especially her mother. The sudden death of her father, the Emperor Francis, and the depression that overcame Empress Maria Theresa following her widowhood meant that Maria Christina was able to convince her vulnerable and sentimental mother into permitting her to marry for love rather than for reasons of state — the only child allowed to do so. She chose Prince Albert of Saxony and the couple was appointed joint governors of the Austrian Netherlands.

One of her sisters, the Archduchess Maria Amalia, was also in love with a minor prince, Charles of Zweibrucken, but was forcibly married off to Ferdinand of Parma rather than to her sweetheart. Maria Christina's luck in being permitted to marry the man she loved embittered Maria Theresa's other daughters, who already resented their mother's favouritism. Maria Amalia, the daughter most affected, remained estranged from her mother for the rest of the Empress's life.

Monarchical styles of
Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria Reference style Her Imperial and Royal HighnessSpoken style Your Imperial and Royal Highness Alternative style Ma'am

Maria had only one child, Princess Maria Christina of Saxony, who died on May 17, 1767, the day after her birth, and she was unable to have other children. The couple then became the adoptive parents of Archduke Charles of Austria.

Maria Christina's siblings, especially her sisters, never reconciled with her, even after the death of their mother. Queen Marie Antoinette of France, her youngest sister, pointedly ignored her during her visit to France and considered her as just another state guest when she visited Versailles.

Maria Christina's request to see the Petit Trianon, her sister's private retreat, was ignored. When Marie Antoinette was guillotined in 1793, Maria Christina was reported to have remarked drily that her sister ought never to have married.

Maria Christina is buried in the Tuscan Vault of the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, along with her husband and daughter. The famous and moving monument her husband erected to her memory is in the Augustinerkirche.

Ancestry

v • d • eAncestors of Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen 16. Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine 8. Charles V, Duke of Lorraine 17. Princess Claude-Françoise of Lorraine 4. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine 18. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor 9. Eleonora Maria Josefa of Austria
Queen Dowager of Poland-Lithuania 19. Eleanor Gonzaga of Mantua 2. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor 20. Louis XIII of France 10. Philippe I, Duke of Orléans 21. Anne of Austria 5. Princess Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans 22. Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine 11. Countess Palatine Elizabeth Charlotte of Simmern 23. Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel 1. Archduchess Maria Christina,
Duchess of Teschen 24. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor(= 18) 12. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor 25. Maria Anna of Spain 6. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor 26. Philip William, Elector Palatine 13. Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg 27. Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt 3. Maria Theresa of Austria
Queen of Hungary & Bohemia 28. Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 14. Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 29. Duchess Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Norburg 7. Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 30. Albert Ernest I, Prince of Oettingen-Oettingen 15. Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen 31. Duchess Christine Frederica of Württemburg

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Regnal titles Preceded by
Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine Governor of the Austrian Netherlands
1781-1793 Succeeded by
Archduke Charles of AustriaPreceded by
Joseph II Duchess of Teschen
1766-1798
together with Albert Saxe-TeschenSucceeded by
Karl Ludwig