Background
Maria Anna was born at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna. Her birth was not well received by her father.
Maria Anna was born at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna. Her birth was not well received by her father.
The two sisters were raised in the Kaiserhof in Vienna. In 1725, negotiations with the Queen of Spain, Elisabeth Farnese had Maria Anna as a possible wife of Philip, Duke of Parma, who was just five. This match was supposed to smooth over relations with Spain.
An alliance of Spain and Austria was signed on 30 April 1725 and thus guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction of the Habsburgs, which was first declared in 1713.
Based on the terms of the treaty, the Austrian Empire relinquished all claims to the Spanish throne. lieutenant also agreed that Spain would invade Gibraltar with the help of the Austrians.
Despite this, the Anglo-Spanish War stopped the ambitions of Elisabeth of Parma and with the signing of the Treaty of Seville (9 November 1729) saw the abandonment of the Austro-Spanish marriage plans. She fell in love with Charles Alexander of Lorraine, the younger brother of Maria Theresa"s husband, Francis Stephen.
lieutenant was only after their father"s death that Elizabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel gave the approval for the marriage, which was concluded in Street Augustine"s Church (Augustinerkirche) in Vienna on 7 January 1744.
The marriage was recognised by Letters Patent signed on 8 January. The couple left Vienna on 3 February and arrived in Westwezel, a town in the Austrian Netherlands, on 24 March where they were met by Karl Ferdinand von Königsegg-Erps. Their arrival was greeted with much celebration.
A ceremony had been organised for their arrival.
This included a Te Deum and a collection of balls and banquets. Charles left officially on 4 May.
While alone in Brussels, Maria Anna was helped by the Austrian statesman Count Wenzel Anton Kaunitz-Rietberg. In October 1744 Maria Anna went into labour and gave birth to a stilborn child.
She never recovered and died on 16 December 1744 due to the difficult childbirth.
Both were buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. Charles Alexander never remarried. Charles would remain the Governor until his death in 1780.
Karl Ferdinand was a member of the Supreme council of the Netherlands and had to receive Prince Charles and Maria Anna due to etiquette.