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Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Sardinia

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Not to be confused with Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, Queen of Sardinia.
For other people named Maria Theresa of Austria, see Maria Theresa of Austria (disambiguation).
Maria Theresa of Austria
Queen consort of Sardinia
Consort27 April 1831 – 23 March 1849
Born21 March 1801
Vienna, Austrian Empire
Died12 January 1855(1855-01-12) (aged 53)
Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia
Burial16 January 1855
Royal Basilica of Superga, Italy
SpouseCharles Albert of Sardinia
Issue
Detail		Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy
Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa
Names
Maria Theresia Franziska Josepha Johanna Benedikta (German) Maria Teresa Francesca Giuseppa Giovanna Benedetta (Italian)
HouseHouse of Habsburg-Lorraine (by birth)
House of Savoy (by marriage)
FatherFerdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany
MotherLuisa of Naples and Sicily

Maria Theresa of Austria (21 March 1801 – 12 January 1855) was born an Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Tuscany. She was 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. In 1817, she married Charles Albert of Sardinia and subsequently became the Queen of Sardinia upon her husband's accession to the throne in 1831.

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 was born followed by two more children, the latter 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 predecessor 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 Carolina of Austria. Matching that combination, her paternal grandmother, Maria Luisa 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

Family of Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Sardinia
Francis I,
Holy Roman Emperor		Maria Theresa,
Archduchess
of Austria		Charles III,
King
of Spain		Maria Amalia,
Princess
of Saxony
Leopold II,
Holy Roman Emperor		Maria Louisa,
Infanta
of Spain		Ferdinand I,
King
of the Two Sicilies		Maria Carolina,
Archduchess
of Austria
Ferdinand III,
Grand Duke
of Tuscany		Luisa,
Princess
of Naples and Sicily
Carolina Ferdinanda Teresa,
Archduchess
of Austria		Francesco Leopoldo,
Archduke
of Austria		Leopold II,
Grand Duke
of Austria		Maria Luisa Giuseppa
Cristina Rosa,
Archduchess
of Austria		Charles Albert,
King
of Sardinia		Maria Theresa,
Archduchess
of Austria		Unnamed stillborn,
Archduke
of Austria
Victor Emmanuel II,
King
of Italy		Ferdinand,
Duke
of Genoa		Maria Cristina,
Princess
of Savoy

Ancestry

Family of Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Sardinia
16. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine
8. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
17. Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans
4. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
18. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
9. Maria Theresa of Austria
Queen of Hungary & Bohemia
19. Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
2. Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany
20. Philip V of Spain
10. Charles III of Spain
21. Elisabeth Farnese
5. Maria Luisa of Spain
22. Augustus III of Poland
Elector of Saxony
11. Maria Amalia of Saxony
23. Maria Josepha of Austria
1. Maria Theresa of Tuscany
24. Philip V of Spain
12. Charles III of Spain (= 10)
25. [Elisabeth Farnese
6. Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
26. Augustus III of Poland
13. Maria Amalia of Saxony (= 11)
27. Maria Josepha of Austria
3. Princess Luisa of Naples and Sicily
28. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine =16
14. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (= 8)
29. Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans =17
7. Maria Carolina of Austria
30. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor =18
15. Maria Theresa of Austria (= 9)
31. Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel =19

Titles and styles

  • 21 March 1801 – 11 August 1804 Her Royal Highness Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, Princess of Tuscany
  • 11 August 1804 – 30 September 1817 Her Imperial & Royal Highness Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, Princess of Tuscany
  • 30 September 1817 – 27 April 1831 Her Imperial & Royal Highness The Princess of Carignano
  • 27 April 1831 – 23 March 1849 Her Majesty The Queen of Sardinia
  • 23 March 1849 – 12 January 1855 Her Majesty Queen Maria Theresa of Sardinia

References

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