January 19, 1927: Death of Princess Charlotte of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria, Empress of Mexico. Part II.

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Archduchess of Austria, Benito Juárez, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, Emperor Napoleon III of the French, Empress Carlota, Empress of Mexico, Execution, Pope Pious IX, Princess Charlotte of Belgium

As the wife of Archduke Maximilian of Austria, Viceroy of Lombardy–Venetia, Princess Charlotte became an Archduchess of Austria (in 1857)

Since the beginning of her marriage, she feuded with Empress Elisabeth in Vienna, and was glad when her husband was posted to Italy as Viceroy of Lombardy–Venetia.

At this time, he was selected by the Emperor Napoleon III as a figurehead for his proposed French Empire in Mexico, and Charlotte overcame her husband’s doubts about the plan. Maximilian and Charlotte (known by the Spanish Carlota) duly arrived to Mexico City in 1864, but their reign lasted a little over three years.

On April 10, 1864, in a state apartment of Miramare Castle, Maximilian and Charlotte were informally proclaimed as Emperor and Empress of Mexico. He affirmed that the wishes of the Mexican people allowed him to consider himself as the legitimate elected representative of the people.

In reality, the Archduke was persuaded by a few Mexican conservatives who incorrectly assured him of massive popular support. For supporting documents, the Mexican deputation produced “acts of adhesion” containing population numbers for localities within Mexico that were purportedly surveyed. Maximilian instructed the delegation “to ensure by all means the well-being, prosperity, independence and integrity of this nation”.

Despite the idyllic descriptions of Mexico that Maximilian and Charlotte wrote to their relatives in Europe, it did not take long for them to realize the insecurity and disorder which plagued their Empire. Their residences were perpetually monitored by a large armed guard intended to push back the rebel bands which roamed nearby.

French intervention, supported by the Belgian and Austrian contingents and local Mexican Imperial troops, was followed by a long civil war which disrupted every aspect of Mexican life. The approximately 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers of the French expeditionary force, led by Marshal Bazaine, had to counter multiple skirmishes led by the guerrillas over a territory four times larger than that of France.

A conservative minority of the Mexican people supported the Second Mexican Empire, along with the Mexican nobility, clergy, and some native groups. The Emperor tried in vain to reconcile the liberal and conservative parties.

He decided to pursue a liberal policy by approving the secularization of ecclesiastical property for the benefit of the national domain, which alienated the conservatives and the clergy. When he was absent from Mexico City, sometimes for several months, Maximilian appointed Charlotte as Regent: she presided over the Council of Ministers and gave public audiences on Sundays. The popularity of the sovereigns was already dwindling before the end of the first year of their reign.

She assisted her husband, who let her rule as regent during his absences from Mexico, for which reason she is considered the first woman to rule in the Americas. When Emperor Napoleon III ordered the withdrawal of French military aid intended to support Maximilian, the situation of the Mexican imperial couple became untenable.

On her own initiative, Charlotte decided to go personally to Europe in order to attempt a final approach to Paris and the Vatican. She landed in France in August 1866, but suffered the successive refusals of both Emperor Napoleon III and Pope Pius IX.

In Rome, the failure of her mission appeared to compromise her mental health to the point that an alienist doctor advocated the confinement of Charlotte in Miramare Castle. It was during her stay under house arrest that Emperor Maximilian was deposed and executed by Benito Juárez in June 1867.

Unaware that she was now a widow, Charlotte was brought back to Belgium and confined successively in the Pavilion de Tervueren (in 1867 and again during 1869–1879), the Palace of Laeken (during 1867–1869) and finally at Bouchout Castle in Meise (from 1879), where she remained for the next 48 years in a deleterious mental state, giving rise to much speculation ever since, before dying in 1927 aged 86.

The life of Princess Margaretha of Saxony, Duchess of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria

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Archduchess of Austria, Archduke Charles Ludwig of Austria, Duchess of Saxony, Duke Charles Theodore in Bavaria, Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria, King Johann of Saxony, Princess Amelia Auguste of Bavaria, Princess Margaretha of Saxony, Sophie of Saxony

From the Emperor’s Desk: There is not a lot written about today’s subject so I added to the information by drowning the post in genealogy and information about her other relatives.

Princess Margaretha of Saxony, Duchess of Saxony (May 24, 1840 – September 15, 1858) was the eighth child and fifth eldest daughter of King Johann of Saxony and his wife Princess Amalie Auguste of Bavaria who was the fourth child of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife Caroline of Baden.

Princess Margaretha of Saxony was born in Dresden, then in the Kingdom of Saxony. She was the younger sister of King Albrecht of Saxony and King Georg of Saxony and Princess Sophie of Saxony.

Sisters Princess Margaretha and Sophie of Saxony would have many connections with the House of Wittelsbach of Bavaria and the House of Habsburg-Lorraine through thier mother, Princess Amalie Auguste of Bavaria who was one of the famous Bavarian royal sisters that made prominent royal marriages.

Princess Margaretha of Saxony

Here they are as follow:

Princess Amalie Auguste of Bavaria was the identical twin sister of Princess Elisabeth Louise of Bavaria, later Queen of Prussia as the wife of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia.

Another sister, Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria married King Friedrich August II of Saxony, the brother of King Johann of Saxony and the father of Princess Margaretha of Saxony the focus of this blog post!

Another sister was Princess Sophie of Bavaria the wife of Archduke Franz Charles of Austria. Thier younger son was Archduke Charles Ludwig of Austria the husband of Princess Margaretha of Saxony the focus of this blog post! Thier older son was Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria.

Another sister was Princess Ludovika of Bavaria who married her cousin Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria the parents of Elisabeth in Bavaria, who was married to Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, brother of Princess Margaretha of Saxony’s husband, Archduke Charles Ludwig of Austria.

Princess Margaretha of Saxony

Princess Elisabeth in Bavaria’s brother was Duke Charles-Theodor in Bavaria who was married to Princess Sophie of Saxony, the sister of Princess Margaretha of Saxony the focus of this blog post!

That will make your head spin!

Princess Margaretha married her first cousin Archduke Charles Ludwig of Austria, on November 4, 1856 in Dresden. The marriage was happy, but only lasted two years and remained childless.

Here is a little more background on Princess Margaretha’s husband, Archduke Charles Ludwig of Austria.

As previously mentioned, Archduke Charles Ludwig of Austria (July 30, 1833 – May 19, 1896) was born at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the son of Archduke Franz Charles of Austria (1802–1878) and his wife Princess Sophie of Bavaria (1805–1872). He was the younger brother of both Franz Joseph I of Austria and Maximilian I of Mexico.

Through her marriage to Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies Princess Margaretha became a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and an Archduchess and Princess of Austria and Princess of Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, and Tuscany.

Archduke Charles Ludwig of Austria

Death

On a trip to Italy, Margaretha contracted typhoid. She died on September 15, 1858 at the age of 18 in Monza. Her heart was interred in the Hofkapelle in Innsbruck.

Princess Margaretha’s sister, Princess Sophie, didn’t fair much better either. Childbirth caused severe respiratory problems for Sophie, which progressively weakened her, although she managed to recover. However, a year later she contracted a severe case of influenza that she could not overcome. Sophie died shortly before her 22nd birthday on March 9, 1867 and was interred at Tegernsee Abbey.

Princess Sophie of Saxony, Duchess in Bavaria

Archduke Charles Ludwig remarried.

Archduke Charles Ludwig’s second wife, whom he married by proxy on October 16, 1862 at Rome, and in person on October 21, 1862 at Venice, was Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1843–1871), daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (1810–1859) and Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (1816–1867) the eldest daughter of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg.

Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies

Through this second marriage Archduke Charles Ludwig was the father of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este (1863–1914) whose assassination ignited World War I. His grandson, was the last Emperor of Austria, Charles I-IV, King of Hungry, Bohemia and Croatia.

Princess Sophie of Saxony’s widowed husband also remarried. Duke Charles-Theodor in Bavaria second wife was Infanta Maria José of Portugal (March 19, 1857 – March 11, 1943), the fourth child and third daughter of King Miguel I of Portugal and his wife Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. She was the maternal grandmother of King Leopold III of Belgium.

Duke Charles-Theodor in Bavaria

Infanta Maria José of Portugal, Duchess in Bavaria

In 1877 Duke Charles-Theodor in Bavaria began practicing medicine in Mentone on the Côte d’Azur, often assisted by his wife second wife Maria Josepha. In 1880 he opened an eye-clinic in his castle at Tegernsee. In 1895 he founded the Augenklinik Herzog Carl Theodor (English: Duke Charles Theodore Eye Clinic) in Munich; the clinic in the Nymphenburger Strasse remains one of the most respected eye clinics in Bavaria to the present day. Between 1895 and 1909 Carl Theodor personally carried out more than 5,000 cataract operations as well as treating countless other eye disorders.

December 25, 1856: Elisabeth of Savoy, Archduchess of Austria, Vicereine of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia

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Archduchess of Austria, Archduke Rainer Joseph of Austria, House of Savoy-Carignano, King Augustus III of Poland, King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia, King Vittorio Emmanuel II of Sardinia, Kingdom of Italy, Princess Elisabeth of Savoy, The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia

Elisabeth of Savoy (April 13, 1800 – December 25, 1856) was the Vicereine of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia by marriage to Archduke Rainer Joseph of Austria. She was the aunt and mother-in-law of Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of a united Italy. By birth, she was a member of the House of Savoy-Carignano.

Early life

Maria Francesca Elisabetta Carlotta Giuseppina was born in Paris to Carlo Emmanuel, Prince of Carignano (1770–1800), and Princess Maria Cristina of Saxony (1770–1851).

Her mother, Maria Christina of Saxony, was the only surviving child of Prince Charles of Saxony, Duke of Courland, himself son of King Augustus III of Poland and his wife, Countess Franciszka Krasińska. Her parents married secretly in Warsaw in 1760. The marriage was considered morganatic in Saxony. Her mother was created Princess Franziska Krasińska Wettin in her own right due to her marriage, only after the intervention of Emperor Joseph II.

King Augustus III of Poland was also known as Elector Friedrich August II of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire.

Princess Elisabeth of Savoy also had an elder brother, Carlo Alberto, future King of Sardinia.

Marriage

On May 28, 1820 she was married in Prague to Archduke Rainer Joseph of Austria, a son of Emperor Leopold II and Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain.

His mother, Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain, was born the fifth daughter, and second surviving child, of Carlos, King of Naples and Sicily, and Maria Amalia of Saxony.

Her father, the future Carlos III of Spain, had become King of Naples and Sicily in 1735 after its occupation by the Spanish in the War of Polish Succession. After her father became King of Spain at the death of her half-uncle, Fernando VI of Spain, in 1759, she became known as Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain, and she moved with her family to Spain.

Archduke Rainer Joseph and was a younger brother of Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor, first Emperor of Austria.

Although Rainer Joseph suffered from a mild form of epilepsy, this did not visibly interfere with his military career.

Archduke Rainer Joseph served as Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia from 1818 to 1848.

The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia was a constituent land (crown land) of the Austrian Empire from 1815 to 1866. It was created in 1815 by resolution of the Congress of Vienna in recognition of the Austrian House of Habsburg-Lorraine’s rights to the former Duchy of Milan and the former Republic of Venice after the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed in 1805, had collapsed.

The position as Viceroy for the Emperor made Rainer Joseph and his wife the head of the Austrian court at Milan. Rainer Joseph’s politics were increasingly unpopular, the Italians resented him for their lack of political freedom and for collecting revenues with so little benefit to them.

Issue

With Archduke Rainer Joseph she had eight children, among them,

Archduchess Adelaide (June 3, 1822 – January 20, 1855), who became the wife of her first cousin Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, from 1849 to 1861 and subsequently King of a united Italy.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia was born as the eldest son of King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia, and Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Luisa of Naples and Sicily.

As mentioned above King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia was the elder brother of Princess (Archduchess) Elisabeth of Savoy.

Death

Archduchess Elisabeth died of tuberculosis in Bolzano on Christmas Day, 1856.

December 8, 1756: Birth of Archduke Maximilian Franz of Austria, Elector of Cologne

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Archduchess Marie Antoinette of Austria, Archduchess of Austria, Archduke Maximilian Franz of Austria, Elector of Cologne, Emperor Franz I, Empress Maria Theresa, French Revolution, King Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Ludwig van Beethoven, Queen of Bohemia Hungary and Croatia, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Archduke Maximilian Franz of Austria (December 8, 1756 – July 26, 1801) was Elector of Cologne and Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. He was the youngest child of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I and his wife Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, who was the Queen of Bohemia, Hungary, Croatia and Archduchess of Austria in her own right.

Archduke Maximilian Franz was a brother to Archduchess Marie Antoinette of Austria, Queen of France and Navarre as the wife of King Louis XVI or France and Navarre.

Archduke Maximilian Franz was the last fully functioning Elector of Cologne and the second employer and patron of the young Ludwig van Beethoven.

Maximilian Franz was born December 8, 1756, on his father’s 48th birthday, in the Hofburg Palace, Vienna. In 1780, he succeeded his uncle Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine as Hochmeister (Grand Master) of the Deutscher Orden (Teutonic Knights).

In 1784, he became Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, living in the Electoral residence at Bonn. He remained in that office until his death in exile. In his capacity as chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire for Italy and as the Pope’s deputy he crowned as Emperor in Frankfurt first his brother Leopold II in 1790, and in 1792 his nephew Franz II.

At the same time as he became Elector of Cologne, Maximilian Franz was elected to the related Bishopric of Münster and held court in Bonn, as the Archbishop-Electors of Cologne had been forced to do since the late Middle Ages.

A keen patron of music, Maximilian Franz maintained a court musical establishment in which Beethoven’s father was a tenor, thus playing an important role in the son’s early career as a member of the same musical body of which his grandfather, also named Ludwig van Beethoven, had been Kapellmeister.

The court organist, Christian Gottlob Neefe, was Beethoven’s early mentor and teacher. Recognising his young pupil’s gift both as a performer and as a composer, Neefe brought Beethoven to the court, advising Maximilian Franz to appoint him as assistant organist.

Maximilian Franz, too, recognised the extraordinary abilities of the young Beethoven. In 1787, he gave Beethoven leave to visit Vienna to become a pupil of Mozart, but the visit was cut short by news of the last illness of Beethoven’s mother, and evidence is lacking for any contact with Mozart.

In 1792, the Redoute was opened, making Godesberg a spa town. Beethoven played in the orchestra. After a concert given there in the presence of Joseph Haydn, another visit for studies in Vienna was planned. Beethoven went on full salary to Vienna to study with Haydn, Antonio Salieri and others. The Elector Maximilian Franz maintained an interest in the young Beethoven’s progress, and several reports from Haydn to Maximilian Franz detailing it are extant.

The prince anticipated that Beethoven would return to Bonn and continue working for him, but due to the subsequent political and military situation his subject never returned, choosing to pursue a career in Vienna.

Maximilian Franz’s rule over most of the Electorate ended in 1794, when his domains were overrun by the troops of Revolutionary France. During the French Revolutionary Wars, Cologne and Bonn were both occupied by the French army in the second half of 1794.

As the French approached, Maximilian Franz left Bonn, as it turned out never to return, and his territories on the left bank of the Rhine eventually passed to France under the terms of the Treaty of Lunéville (1801). The Archbishop’s court ceased to exist.

Archduke Maximilian Franz of Austria (left) with his sister, Queen Marie Antoinette of France and Navarre and her husband King Louis XVI of France and Navarre

Although Maximilian Franz still retained his territories on the right bank of the Rhine, including Münster and the Duchy of Westphalia, the Elector, grossly corpulent and plagued by ill health, took up residence in Vienna after the loss of his capital and remained there until his death at the age of 44, at Hetzendorf Palace in 1801. The dismantling of the court made Beethoven’s relocation to Vienna permanent, and his stipend was terminated.

Beethoven planned to dedicate his First Symphony to his former patron, but the latter died before it was completed.

The Electorate of Cologne was secularised in the course of the German mediatisation of 1802–1803.

The Privilegium Maius & The Archduchy of Austria

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Archduchess Anna of Austria, Archduchess of Austria, Archduchy of Austria, Archduke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV of Austria, Emperor Charles IV, Emperor Friedrich III, House of Habsburg, Privilegium maius, The Holy Roman Empire

The Privilegium Maius was a medieval document forged in 1358 or 1359 at the behest of Duke Rudolph IV of Austria (1358–65) of the House of Habsburg. It was essentially a modified version of the Privilegium Minus issued by Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa in 1156, which had elevated the former March of Austria into a duchy. In a similar way, the Privilegium maius elevated the duchy of Austria into an Archduchy of Austria.

The privileges described in the document had great influence on the Austrian political landscape, and created a unique connection between the House of Habsburg and Austria.

Rudolph IV, Duke of Austria

Background

The House of Habsburg had gained rulership of the Duchy of Austria in 1282. Rudolph IV (1339–1365) attempted to restore the Habsburg influence on the European political scene by trying to build relations with Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV (of Luxembourg) and increasing the respect of the Austrian rulers.

However, Rudolph IV did not belong to the seven Imperial Prince-Electors, who—as dictated by the Golden Bull of 1356—had the power to choose the Emperor. In the same way Charles IV had made Prague the center of his rule, Rudolph IV did the same for Vienna, giving it special privileges, launching construction projects and founding the University of Vienna.

All this aimed at increasing the legitimacy and influence of the House and its Austrian lands. For this purpose, in the winter of 1358/1359, Rudolph IV ordered the creation of a forged document called Privilegium maius (“the greater privilege”).

Document

The Privilegium maius consists of five forged deeds, some of which purported to have been issued by Julius Caesar and Nero to the historic Roman province of Noricum, which was roughly coterminous with the modern Austrian borders. Though purposefully modeled on the Privilegium minus, the original of which “got lost” at the same time, the bundle was already identified as a fake by contemporaries such as the Italian scholar Petrarch.

In the Privilegium Maius, Rudolph IV declared Austria an “archduchy”, endowed with rights similar to those of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire such as:

Inseparability of the territory

Automatic inheritance of the first-born (primogeniture), later extended to female heirs in the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 in favour of Archduchess Maria Theresa.

Independent jurisdiction and legislature, without any possibility to appeal to the Emperor (privilegium de non evocando)

Permission to display certain symbols of rule
Rudolf also created the title Pfalzerzherzog (“Archduke Palatine”), similar to the Elector Palatine of the Rhine, the holder of an electoral vote.

The first Habsburg ruler who actually used the title of an archduke was Ernst of Iron, ruler of Inner Austria from 1406 to 1424. From the 15th century onward, all princes of the Habsburg dynasty were called Erzherzöge (Archduke).

Effects

Emperor Charles IV refused to confirm the Privilegium maius, along with the refusal to recognize the title, as did his immediate successors. However, Emperor Charles IV did accepted some claims. The discoverer of the forgery was his advisor, the poet and scholar Petrarch.

Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III, Duke of Austria

However, Emperor Friedrich III, a scion of the House of Habsburg, having become Holy Roman Emperor, was able to confirm the document and made it part of imperial law, thus making fiction become fact.

From then on, the status as claimed by the document became widely accepted. Emperor Friedrich III also extended the Privilegium Maius by granting the power of ennoblement for his family as hereditary rulers of Austria (this power was normally reserved for the emperor). Thus, the act of confirmation by Emperor Friedrich III was what elevated the House of Habsburg to a special rank within the Empire.

The Privilegium Maius had great influence on the Austrian political landscape. The Habsburg Archduke arrogated an almost king-like position, and demonstrated this to outsiders through the usage of special insignia.

The Habsburgs gained a new foundation for their rule in these lands; in a way, the House of Habsburg and Austria became a single unit. The family subsequently published special editions of the documents, and forbade all discussion of their authenticity.

With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Privilegium maius finally lost its meaning. In 1852, it was proven a forgery by historian Wilhelm Wattenbach.

Although Emperor Friedrich III recognized Privilegium Maius, he himself used just “Duke of Austria”, never Archduke, until his death in 1493. The title was first granted to Friedrich III’s younger brother, Albrecht VI of Austria (died 1463), who used it at least from 1458.

In 1477, Emperor Friedrich III granted the title Archduke to his first cousin Sigismund of Austria, ruler of Further Austria. Emperor Friedrich III’s son and heir, the future Emperor Maximilian I, apparently only started to use the title after the death of his wife Mary of Burgundy in 1482, as Archduke never appears in documents issued jointly by Maximilian and Mary as rulers in the Low Countries (where Maximilian is still titled “Duke of Austria”). The title appears first in documents issued under the joint rule of Maximilian and Philipp (his under-age son) in the Low Countries.

Archduchess Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain

Archduke was initially borne by those dynasts who ruled a Habsburg territory, i.e., only by males and their consorts, appanages being commonly distributed to cadets. These “junior” archdukes did not thereby become independent hereditary rulers, since all territories remained vested in the Austrian crown.

Occasionally a territory might be combined with a separate gubernatorial mandate ruled by an Archducal cadet. From the 16th century onward, Archduke and its female form, Archduchess, came to be used by all the members of the House of Habsburg (e.g., Queen Marie Antoinette of France was born Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria.

June 21, 1528: Birth of Archduchess Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia

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and Croatia, Archduchess Maria of Austria, Archduchess of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Infanta of Spain, King Carlos I of Spain, Kingdom of Spain, Queen of Bohemia

Archduchess Maria of Austria (June 21, 1528 – February 16, 1603) was the empress consort and queen consort of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. She served as regent of Spain in the absence of her father Emperor Charles V from 1548 until 1551.

Early life

Maria was born in Madrid, Spain to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, (Carlos I of Spain) and Isabella of Portugal, the second child and first daughter of King Manuel I of Portugal and his second wife, Maria of Aragon, herself the the third surviving daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Fernando II-V of Aragon and Castile (the Catholic monarchs).

As a member of the House of Habsburg she was both an Archduchess of Austria and an Infanta of Spain.

Archduchess Maria grew up mostly between Toledo and Valladolid with her siblings, Archduke Philipp and Archduchess Joanna of Austria. They built a strong family bond despite their father’s regular absences. Maria and her brother, Philipp, shared similar strong personal views and policies which they retained during the rest of their lives.

Regent of Spain

On September 15, 1548, aged twenty, she married her first cousin Archduke Maximilian of Austria the eldest son of the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, younger brother of Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Jagiellonian Princess Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547).

The couple had sixteen children during the course of a twenty-eight-year marriage.

While her father was occupied with German affairs, Maria and Maximilian acted as regents of Spain from 1548 to 1551 during the absence of Infante Felipe I of Spain. Maria stayed at the Spanish court until August 1551, and in 1552, the couple moved to live at the court of Maximilian’s father in Vienna.

In 1558, Maria returned to Madrid and acted as regent of Spain during the absence of her brother, now King Felipe II, from 1558 to 1561.

Empress

After her return to Germany, her husband eventually succeeded his father Ferdinand I, at his death, as Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia which he ruled from 1564 to his death in 1576.

Maria was a devout Catholic and frequently disagreed with her religiously ambiguous husband about his religious tolerance.

During her life in Austria, Maria was reportedly ill at ease in a country which was not entirely Catholic, and she surrounded herself with a circle of strictly Catholic courtiers, many of whom she had brought with her from Spain. Her court was organized by her Spanish chief lady-in-waiting Maria de Requenes in a Spanish manner, and among her favorite companions was her Spanish lady-in-waiting Margarita de Cardona.

In 1576, Maximilian II died. Maria remained at the Imperial Court for six years after his death. She had great influence over her sons, the future emperors Rudolf and Matthias.

Return to Spain

Maria returned to Spain in 1582, taking her youngest surviving child Archduchess Margaret with her, promised to marry Felipe II of Spain, who had lost his fourth wife, her oldest daughter, Archduchess Anna in 1580. Margaret finally refused and took the veil as a Poor Clare. Commenting that she was very happy to live in “a country without heretics”, Maria settled in the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, where she lived until her death in 1603.

She was the patron of the noted Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria, and the great Requiem Mass he wrote in 1603 for her funeral is considered among the best and most refined of his works.

Maria exerted some influence together with Queen Margaret, the wife of her grandson/nephew, Felipe III of Spain. Margaret, the sister of the future Emperor Ferdinand II, would be one of three women at Felipe III’s court who would apply considerable influence over the king.

Margaret was considered by contemporaries to be extremely pious – in some cases, excessively pious, and too influenced by the Church, and ‘astute and very skillful’ in her political dealings, although ‘melancholic’ and unhappy over the influence of the Duke of Lerma over her husband at court. Margaret continued to fight an ongoing battle with Lerma for influence until her death in 1611. Felipe had an ‘affectionate, close relationship’ with Margaret, and paid her additional attention after she bore him a son, also named Felipe in 1605.

Maria, the Austrian representative to the Spanish court – and Margaret of the Cross, Maria’s daughter – along with queen Margaret, were a powerful Catholic and pro-Austrian faction in the court of Felipe III of Spain.

They were successful, for example, in convincing Felipe to provide financial support to Ferdinand from 1600 onwards. Felipe III steadily acquired other religious advisors. Father Juan de Santa Maria, the confessor to Felipe III’s daughter, Maria Anna, was felt by contemporaries to have an excessive influence over Felipe at the end of his life, and both he and Luis de Aliaga, Felipe III’s own confessor, were credited with the overthrow of Lerma in 1618. Similarly Mariana de San Jose, a favoured nun of Queen Margaret’s, was also criticised for her later influence over the King’s actions.

Death of Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta, Archduchess of Austria-Este (January 10, 2022)

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Archduchess of Austria, Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este, Archduke Robert of Austria-Este, Emperor Charles I of Austria, Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta, Umberto II of Italy

Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta, Archduchess of Austria-Este ( 7 April 1930 – 10 January 2022) was an Italian princess who was the first-born child of the late Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta, and Princess Anne d’Orléans.

Margherita’s family announced her engagement to Robert, Archduke of Austria-Este on 20 October 1953. They married on 28 December 1953 in Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, France (civilly) and 29 December 1953 (religiously), in Brou, France. He was the second son of former Emperor Charles I of Austria and Zita of Bourbon-Parma.

Robert was 38, and Margherita was 23. As the royal couple arrived for the first ceremony, hundreds of Austrians and Italians stood outside the town hall where the marriage was held. The wedding was also attended by former King Umberto II of Italy and Robert’s older brother Archduke Otto of Habsburg, the claimant to the Austrian throne. At six feet tall, Margherita was, according to some witnesses, an impressive sight. She wore an ivory gown made out of satin with a long train hung from a diamond tiara.

The couple took up residence in Paris, where Robert was a bank clerk. They had five children:

Archduchess Maria Beatrice Anna Felicitas Zita Charlotte Adelheid Christina Elisabeth Gennara (11 December 1954). Married Count Riprand of Arco-Zinneberg, a great-grandson of the last Bavarian king, Ludwig III, and has issue.

They have six daughters, including Olympia von und zu Arco-Zinneberg, who is married to Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon.

Archduke Lorenz Otto Carl Amadeus Thadeus Maria Pius Andreas Marcus d’Aviano (16 December 1955), created Prince of Belgium on 10 November 1995. Married 22 September 1984 at Brussels, Princess Astrid of Belgium (b. 1962). They have five children.

Archduke Gerhard Thaddäus Anton Marcus d’Aviano Maria Umberto Otto Carl Amadeus (30 October 1957) who wed in 2015 Iris Jandrasits (1961);

Archduke Martin Carl Amadeo Maria (21 December 1959). Married Princess Katharina of Isenburg-Birstein. They have four children.

Archduchess Isabella Maria Laura Helena Antonia Zita Anna Gennara (2 March 1963). Married Andrea Czarnocki-Lucheschi. They have five children.

May 25, 1786. Death of King Pedro III of Portugal

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Archduchess of Austria, Brazil, Duke of Braganza, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Infanta Benedita of Portugal, John V of Portugal, Joseph I of Portugal, Joseph of Brazil, Kingdom of Portugal, Maria I of Portugal, Pedro III of Portugal

Pedro III (July 5, 1717 – May 25, 1786), nicknamed the Builder, became King of Portugal jure uxoris by the accession of his wife and niece Queen Maria I in 1777, and co-reigned alongside her until his death.

Pedro III, King of Portugal

Pedro was born at 12:00 noon on July 5, 1717 in the Ribeira Palace in Lisbon, Portugal.nHe was baptized on August 29, and was given the name HRH Prince Pedro Clemente Francisco José António de Braganza of Portugal.

His parents were King João V and his wife Archduchess Maria-Anna of Austria, who was a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and Eleanor-Magdalene of Neuburg. Archduchess Maria-Anna was a sister of Holy Roman Emperors Joseph I and Charles VI. Through her brother Charles, she was an aunt of Maria Theresa, Empress Consort of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, and Queen of Bohemia, Hungary and Archduchess of Austria in her own right.

King João V of Portugal (father of King Pedro III and King José I of Portugal)

Archduchess Maria-Anna of Austria (mother of King Pedro III and King José I of Portugal)

Pedro was a younger brother of King José I of Portugal. Their maternal Eleanor-Magdalene of Neuburg, was the older sister of Maria-Sophia Elisabeth of Neuburg (1666-1699) who was Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Pedro II from 1687 until her death in 1699. A popular queen, she was noted for her extraordinary generosity and for being the mother of the famously extravagant King João V of Portugal.
Reign

Pedro married his niece Infanta Maria, Princess of Brazil, on June 6, 1760, at which time she was the heiress presumptive to the throne then held by his brother King José I of Portugal. Infanta Maria, Princess of Brazil was the daughter of King José I of Portugal and Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, daughter of King Felipe V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese. The elder sister of King José I of Portugal was Infanta Barbara of Portugal married the future Fernando VI of Spain.

Queen Maria I of Portugal

At the time of their marriage, Maria was 25 and Pedro was 42. Despite the age gap, the couple had a happy marriage.

With the death of King José I on February 24, 1777, the throne passed to his daughter who ascended the throne as Queen Maria I. According to custom, Pedro thus became King of Portugal as Pedro III in right of his wife (jure uxoris), who he reigned with jointly. They had six children, of whom the eldest surviving son succeeded Maria as João VI on her death in 1816.

Pedro III made no attempt to participate in government affairs, spending his time hunting or in religious exercises.
He also defended the high nobility of Portugal, and sponsored the petitions of those accused in Távora affair, whose rehabilitation was subject of new lawsuits, in which the heirs demanded the restitution of their confiscated properties.

King José I of Portugal

Pedro III was moderately friendly toward the Jesuits, who had been banished from Portugal and its overseas empire in 1759, largely at the behest of the Marquis of Pombal. Pedro III had taken some of his early education from the Jesuits, explaining this. His affection had little effect; Pope Clement XIV ordered the Jesuits suppressed across Europe in 1773.

Maria I (December 17, 1734 – March 20, 1816) was the first undisputed queen regnant of Portugal and the first monarch of Brazil. With Napoleon’s European conquests, her court, then under the direction of her son João, the Prince Regent, moved to Brazil, then a Portuguese colony. Later on, Brazil would be elevated from the rank of a colony to that of a kingdom, with the consequential formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.

Infante José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza

The eldest son of Pedro III and Maria I was Infante José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza (August 20, 1761 – September 11, 1788) was the heir apparent to the Kingdom of Portugal until his death in 1788. Infante José died of smallpox at the age of 27, causing his younger and ill-prepared brother, Infante João, to become heir-apparent and eventually King. João’s reign would be a turbulent one, seeing the Napoleonic invasion of Portugal and the loss of the Portuguese Empire’s largest and wealthiest colony, Brazil.

Marriage of Infante José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza

On February 21, 1777, when Infante José, was 15 years old, he married his 30-year-old aunt the Infanta Benedita of Portugal. Benedita was an attractive woman and the main candidate for the wife of José. The marriage was the express wish of the dying King José I of Portugal.

Infanta Benedita of Portugal

This union is an example of the most inbred unions in European Royal History. As we have seen, Infante José was the product of an Uncle-Nice marriage and then he proceeded to marry his own aunt, the sister of his mother!

Thankfully they had no children, however she miscarried twice: in 1781 and in 1786. Three days after their wedding, is when José’s grandfather and Benedita’s father the old King José died, and his mother succeeded as queen regnant. Infante José became the new crown prince, being accorded the titles Prince of Brazil and 14th Duke of Braganza.

King Pedro III died at the age of 68 on May 25, 1786.

The tragic death of Archduchess Mathilde of Austria (1849-1867)

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Archduchess Maria Theresia, Archduchess Mathilde of Austria, Archduchess of Austria, Archduke Albert of Austria, Austria, Austrian Empire, Duke of Teschen, Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig III of Bavaria, Princess Hildegard of Bavaria, Umberto I of Italy

From the Emperor’s desk: in my post about King Umberto I of Italy I mentioned the short life and tragic death of Archduchess Mathilde of Austria. Here is her biography.

Archduchess Mathilde of Austria (Mathilde Marie Adelgunde Alexandra; January 25, 1849 – June 6, 1867) was an Austrian noblewoman. She was the second daughter of Archduke Albrecht of Austria, Duke of Teschen and Princess Hildegard of Bavaria.

Archduchess Mathilde of Austria

Family

Her father, Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen (1817 – 1895) a grandson of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, was the eldest son of Archduke Charles of Austria, (who defeated French Emperor Napoleon I at Aspern, 1809), and Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg. Archduke Albrecht was the nephew of the Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, and first cousin to Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria’s father, Archduke Franz Charles of Austria, and he also served under Emperor Franz Joseph.

Archduke Albrecht of Austria, Duke of Teschen

Her mother, Princess Hildegard of Bavaria (1825–1864) was the seventh child and fourth daughter of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. On May 1, 1844 in Munich, Hildegard married Archduke Albert of Austria, Duke of Teschen. She thereafter became known as Archduchess Hildegard. She and her husband had 3 children.

Princess Hildegard of Bavaria

Archduchess Mathilde‘s forenames were derived from her mother’s sisters, Princess Mathilde Caroline of Bavaria, Grand Duchess of Hesse (1813–1862), Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria Duchess of Modena (1823–1914) and Princess Alexandra of Bavaria (1826–1875), with whom Hildegard had a very close relationship.

Archduchess Mathilde had two elder siblings: Archduchess Maria Theresia (1845–1927), who married Duke Philipp of Württemberg (1838–1917) in 1865 and her only brother Archduke Charles Albrecht died of smallpox at the age of 18 months.

Archduchess Mathilde (right) and her sister Archduchess Maria Theresia (left)

Life

In 1847 after the death of his father, Archduke Albrecht inherited the Weilburg Palace in Baden bei Wien, that Archduke Charles had built for his wife Princess Henrietta of Weilburg (1797–1829). Albrecht and his family usually spent summers there, Archduchess Hildegard being especially fond of its renowned public baths. Because of his charity, he was popularly named Engelsherz (Angel’s Heart). During the winter, the family lived in Vienna. Archduchess Mathilde‘s family was very close to the Austrian imperial family, and Empress Elisabeth of Austria greatly enjoyed the company of her cousin Archduchess Hildegard.

Among Mathilde’s circle of friends was the Archduchess Marie Therese (1849–1919), later Queen of Bavaria, (wife of King Ludwig III of Bavaria) who was of the same age and also the stepdaughter of Karl Ferdinand (1818–1874), Mathilde’s uncle.

A distant cousin, Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria (1847–1915), of the Italian Habsburg line, fell in love with Mathilde and sought to marry her, but they never became engaged. Mathilde was intended to become Queen of Italy as the wife of Umberto of Savoy (1844–1900) in order to improve the already tense relations between Austria-Hungary and Italy.

During her stay in Munich for the funeral of her brother King Maximilian II (1811–1864) in March 1864, Mathilde’s mother became ill with a lung inflammation and pleurisy, and died; Mathilde was then 15 years old.

Death

Mathilde died at the age of 18 in Schloss Hetzendorf, the Viennese home of Empress Elisabeth, on June 6, 1867. The archduchess had put on a gauze dress to go to the theatre. Before leaving for the theatre, she wanted to smoke a cigarette but shortly thereafter her father, who had forbidden smoking, approached her, and she hid the cigarette behind her dress, immediately setting light to its very flammable material and giving her second and third-degree burns. Her death was witnessed by her whole family.

Archduchess Mathilde was buried in the imperial vault in the Imperial Crypt beside her mother and her brother Charles Albrecht.

In doing research on Archduchess Mathilde I learned she was a great-great granddaughter of King Carlos III of Spain (1734-1759) and through him a descendant King Louis XIV of France and Navarre (1743-1715).

January 21, 1793: Execution of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.

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Archduchess of Austria, House of Bourbon, House of Capet, King Louis XVI of France, Kingdom of France, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, National Convention, Queen Marie Antoinette

* 1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.

Louis XVI (August 23, 1754 – January 21, 1793), born Louis-Auguste, was the last king of France and Navarre before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution.

Louis-Auguste de France, who was given the title Duc de Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles. One of seven children, he was the second surviving son of Louis, the Dauphin of France, and the grandson of Louis XV of France and Navarre and of his consort, Maria Leszczyńska. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Prince-Elector Friedrich August II of Saxony, (also King Augustus III of Poland) and Maria Josepha of Austria.

In 1765, at the death of his father, Louis, Dauphin of France son and heir apparent of Louis XV, Louis-Auguste became the new dauphin of France. Upon his grandfather’s death on May 10, 1774, he assumed the title “king of France and Navarre”, which he used until September 4, 1791, when he received the title of “king of the French” until the monarchy was abolished on September 21, 1792.

On May 16, 1770, at the age of fifteen, Louis-Auguste married the fourteen-year-old Habsburg Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (better known by the French form of her name, Marie Antoinette), his second cousin once removed and the youngest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Franz I of Lorraine and his wife, the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were the parents of four live-born children:
* Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte (December 19, 1778 – October 19, 1851)
* Louis-Joseph-Xavier-François, the Dauphin (October 22, 1781 – June 4, 1789)
* Louis-Charles, Dauphin after the death of his elder brother, future titular king Louis XVII of France (March 27, 1785 – June 8, 1795)
* Sophie-Hélène-Béatrix, died in infancy (July 9, 1786 – June 9, 1787)

In a context of civil and international war, Louis XVI was suspended and arrested at the time of the Insurrection of 10 August 1792; one month later, the absolute monarchy was abolished; the First French Republic was proclaimed on September 21, 1792. He was tried by the National Convention (self-instituted as a tribunal for the occasion), found guilty of high treason, but before the trial started and Louis mounted his defense to the Convention, he told his lawyers that he knew he would be found guilty and be killed, but to prepare and act as though they could win. He was resigned to and accepted his fate before the verdict was determined, but he was willing to fight to be remembered as a good king for his people.

Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793, as a desacralized French citizen under the name of “Citizen Louis Capet,” in reference to Hugh Capet, the founder of the Capetian dynasty – which the revolutionaries interpreted as Louis’ surname. Louis XVI was the only King of France ever to be executed, and his death brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Both of his sons died in childhood, before the Bourbon Restoration; his only child to reach adulthood, Marie Therese, was given over to the Austrians in exchange for French prisoners of war, eventually dying childless in 1851.