Maria Theresa of Austria (1801–1855)

Maria Theresa of Austria

Maria Theresa with her two sons Victor Emmanuel and Ferdinand by Fernando Cavalleri
Queen consort of Sardinia
Consort 27 April 1831 – 23 March 1849
Spouse Charles Albert of Sardinia
Issue
Detail		 Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy
Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa
House House of Savoy
House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Father Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Mother Luisa of Naples and Sicily
Born 21 March 1801
Vienna, Austrian Empire
Died 12 January 1855 (aged 53)
Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia
Burial 16 January 1855
Royal Basilica of Superga, Italy

Maria Theresa of Austria (21 March 1801 – 12 January 1855) was born an Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Tuscany. In 1817 she married and became the Queen of Sardinia. She was the wife of King Charles Albert of Sardinia and a daughter of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Luisa of Naples and Sicily. She was named after her double great grandmother Empress Maria Theresa.

Birth and childhood

Maria Theresia Franziska Josepha Johanna Benedikta (German) was a member of the Tuscan branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and an Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Bohemia, Hungary, and Tuscany by birth. She was born in Vienna during the exile of her parents and their many children, due to Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Tuscany. Her father was Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and her mother was Princess Luisa of Naples and Sicily, who died giving birth to a stillborn son one year after Maria Theresa's birth.

After the Restoration of 1814, Ferdinando III was made Elector of the secularized archbishopric Salzburg and the family moved to Würzburg.

Marriage and children

Maria Theresa married in Florence on 30 September 1817 Charles Albert of Sardinia (Paris, 29 October 1798 - Porto, 28 July 1849), and a wedding mass was celebrated on 2 October in Florence Cathedral. In Italian her name was Maria Teresa Francesca Giuseppa Giovanna Benedetta.[1]

In March 1820 an heir to the throne was born followed by two more children the later of which died in infancy. From her marriage she was known as the princess of Carignano. In 1824 Charles Albert was recognised as heir to the throne by Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia. He and Maria Theresa became king and queen in 1831, when his successor Charles Felix of Sardinia died without issue.

End of life

After the death of her husband in 1849 in Oporto, the Queen mother Maria Theresa stopped appearing in public and even returned to Italy in 1851, where she died four years later, in Turin. She was buried in the Basilica of Superga in Turin.

A convinced Catholic and conservative, she had a great influence on her eldest son on the new Italian throne.

Issue

Genealogy

Even among the frequently tangled genealogies of European nobility, the ancestry of Maria Theresa of Tuscany was unusual. In fact, her parents had the same four grandparents, so they were double cousins when they spoused: this practice of alliances between cousins that was still common at that time, given that the families (and notably the parents and grandparents of Maria Theresa) had a lot of children, and this avoided to split too much the benefit of heirs though alliances and their descendance, and the multiplication of nobility titles to satisfy the various claims by descendants.

As a consequence, her grandparents consisted of two brother/sister pairs. Her paternal grandfather, Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, was the brother of her maternal grandmother, Maria Caroline of Austria. Matching that combination, her paternal grandmother, Maria Louisa of Spain, was the sister of her maternal grandfather, Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. As a consequence she only had four great-grandparents rather than the usual eight. (Although not so unusual, it may be worth pointing out that her grandmothers and great-grandmothers, as well as her mother or herself and her sister, or her daughter were all surnamed "Maria".)

Genealogy chart

Ancestry

Titles and styles

References

  1. ↑ Calendario generale pe' regii stati. Ministry of the Interior, Kingdom of Sardinia. 1847.
Maria Theresa of Austria (1801–1855)
House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Cadet branch of the House of Lorraine
Born: 21 March 1801 Died: 12 January 1855
Italian royalty
Preceded by
Maria Cristina of Naples and Sicily		 Queen consort of Sardinia
27 April 1831 – 23 March 1849 		Succeeded by
Adelaide of Austria