Maria Anna of Austria was born in 1718 as the daughter of Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg. Her birth was not received with enthusiasm by her father, who desired a male heir. However, it was Maria Anna and her older sister Maria Theresa who survived to adulthood. The archduchess’s fate proved tragic. She died at the age of twenty-six, just two months after marrying the man she loved.
Childhood in Shadow of Imperial Court
Maria Anna was born on September 18, 1718, at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. Together with her older sister Maria Theresa, they were the only children of Emperor Charles VI and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick to survive to adulthood. They grew up at the imperial court in Vienna, in an atmosphere of prestige and strict court protocols. The education of both sisters was careful, though limited by the roles that fell to women in eighteenth-century Europe.
In her youth, Maria Anna met Francis Stephen of Lorraine, Maria Theresa’s future husband, and his younger brother Charles Alexander. Both princes were staying in Austria for educational purposes. Their mother, Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans, remained in France. This youthful acquaintance would later play a crucial role in Maria Anna’s life.
In 1725, negotiations began with the Queen of Spain, Elisabeth Farnese, regarding Maria Anna’s marriage to Philip, Duke of Parma. The problem was that the marriage candidate was only five years old. This union was meant to smooth tense relations between Austria and Spain. The Austro-Spanish alliance was signed on April 30, 1725, which guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713.
This sanction allowed Maria Theresa as the eldest daughter to inherit her father’s lands. The Habsburg monarchy relinquished claims to the Spanish throne. Spain, in turn, committed to attacking Gibraltar with Austrian help. However, the Anglo-Spanish War thwarted Elisabeth of Parma’s ambitions. The Treaty of Seville on November 9, 1729, finally ended the Austro-Spanish marriage plans.
Love Against Emperor’s Will
Maria Anna fell in love with Charles Alexander of Lorraine, the younger brother of her sister’s husband Francis Stephen. This feeling met with considerable resistance. Emperor Charles VI did not approve of this union. He desired a politically more important son-in-law for his daughter, one who would strengthen the Habsburg dynasty’s position in Europe. Maria Anna was a valuable asset in the diplomatic game, and marriage to a younger Lorraine son did not bring sufficient political benefits.
Charles Alexander was formally a distant cousin of Maria Anna. He was a third-generation descendant of Ferdinand III, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. His ancestors included Leopold I and his half-sister Eleanor Maria of Austria, both children of Ferdinand III. These family connections were typical of European dynasties, where intra-family marriages served to preserve power and wealth.
Despite her father’s opposition, Maria Anna did not give up. She waited for circumstances to change. Her feelings for Charles Alexander were strong enough that she was willing to postpone marriage indefinitely. In the hierarchy of the imperial court, the ruler’s will was absolute. As long as Charles VI lived, marriage was impossible.
Only the emperor’s death in 1740 opened the way to realizing Maria Anna’s plans. The dowager empress Elisabeth Christine gave her consent to the union. The wedding took place on January 7, 1744, at the Augustinian Church in Vienna. The union was officially recognized by imperial patent signed on January 8. Maria Anna was then twenty-five years old and had waited for this moment for many years.
Governing the Austrian Netherlands
A few weeks after the wedding, the couple was appointed governors of the Austrian Netherlands. They succeeded their aunt, Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria, who had died in 1741. Maria Anna and Charles Alexander left Vienna on February 3, 1744. They arrived in Wuustwezel, a town in the Austrian Netherlands, on March 24, where Count Karl Ferdinand von Königsegg-Erps greeted them.
The count was a member of the Supreme Council of the Netherlands and according to etiquette had to personally receive the new governors. Their arrival was received with great enthusiasm. A ceremony was organized with Te Deum and a series of balls and banquets. The population of the Austrian Netherlands hoped that the new rulers would bring stability and prosperity.
However, the couple had only two months of shared time in the Netherlands. Charles had to leave to participate in the war against Prussia. Maria Anna, pregnant with their first child, remained in Brussels. Charles officially left the capital on May 4. For the young governor, this was a difficult moment. Just months after her desired wedding, she had to rule alone.
During her solitary rule in Brussels, Maria Anna was assisted by Austrian statesman Count Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz-Rietberg. He was an experienced diplomat and administrator. He supported the young archduchess in making decisions and conducting the affairs of the Netherlands. Maria Anna demonstrated administrative abilities, though her rule was very brief.
Tragic Death in Childbirth
On October 9, 1744, Maria Anna went into labor. The childbirth proved extremely difficult and ended in tragedy. The child was stillborn. It was a daughter who was not given the chance to see the world. Maria Anna’s health after childbirth deteriorated rapidly. She never recovered.
On December 16, 1744, just two months after giving birth, Maria Anna died. She was twenty-six years old. Her death was a direct result of postpartum complications. Eighteenth-century medicine could not cope with such complications. Many women died during or shortly after childbirth.
Maria Anna and her stillborn daughter were buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. This is the resting place of members of the Habsburg dynasty. Charles Alexander never remarried. He remained a widower until the end of his life, which he spent as governor of the Austrian Netherlands until his death in 1780. He was a very popular ruler and died in Brussels, like his wife.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- Iby, Elfriede: Maria Theresa, Biography of a Monarch, Schönbrunn Palace 2009.
- Levy, Allison Mary: Widowhood and visual culture in early modern Europe, Ashgate Publishing Ltd. 2003.
Margot Cleverly
Margot's journey into women's history began with a box of forgotten letters in a Cambridge archive – suffragettes whose voices had been silenced for over a century. Since then, she's been on a mission to uncover the stories history overlooked.
What she writes about: Queens who ruled from the shadows. Scientists whose male colleagues took credit. Revolutionaries who risked everything. But also ordinary women – those who survived wars, raised families through upheaval, and shaped their communities in ways no one bothered to record.
Margot turns historical figures into real people. She writes with warmth and detail, making centuries-old stories feel surprisingly relevant. Rigorous research meets accessible storytelling – no dusty academic jargon, just compelling narratives backed by solid facts.
When she's not writing, you'll find her in regional archives, collecting oral histories, or visiting sites connected to the women she writes about.