Archduke Charles Joseph of Austria (1745–1761)

Archduke Charles Joseph
Archduke of Austria
Born (1745-02-01)1 February 1745
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Died 18 January 1761(1761-01-18) (aged 15)
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Burial Imperial Crypt, Capuchin Church, Innere Stadt, Vienna, Republic of Austria
Full name
Charles Joseph Emanuel Johann Nepomuk Anton Prokop
House Habsburg
Father Prince Francis, Duke of Lorraine
Mother Empress Maria Theresa I, Holy Roman Empress

Archduke Charles Joseph of Austria (1 February 1745 – 18 January 1761) was the second son of the Habsburg ruler Empress Maria Theresa I and her husband, Francis of Lorraine.

Life

Charles Joseph was the favourite son of Maria Theresa and Francis. He is known to have hated his older brother, the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. He ridiculed him for his haughtiness and thought himself to be more deserving of the Crown of the Holy Roman Empire because he was the first son born to Maria Theresa during her reign as Empress. Charles Joseph often said that he meant to contend with his brother for the imperial crown.

Death

The rivalry between the brothers was ended by Charles Joseph's death from smallpox, two weeks before his sixteenth birthday. While his mother was sitting by his bed in tears, Charles Joseph told her:

You should not weep for me, dear mother, for had I lived, I would have brought you many more tears![1]

Charles Joseph is buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. His heart was buried separately in the Habsburg Crypt in the Loreto chapel of the Augustinian Church in Vienna.

Ancestry

References

  1. ↑ Mahan, 270.

Bibliography

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