Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen
1742 – 1798 · Generation XVII · Duchess of Teschen · Habsburg-Lorraine
Maria Christina (1742 – 1798). Duchess of Teschen. Married Albert Casimir in 1766. Favourite daughter of Maria Theresa; Governor of the Austrian Netherlands. Alone among her sisters she married for love: her mother favoured Prince Albert of Saxony, and her father’s death in 1765 removed his preferred candidate. That favouritism, and a rich dowry that included the duchy of Teschen, embittered her siblings. Her only child, a daughter, lived a single day in 1767, and in 1790 the couple adopted her nephew Archduke Charles as their heir. At Pressburg, and later at Laeken, they gathered the drawings and engravings that became the Albertina collection. Appointed joint governors of the Austrian Netherlands, they arrived in Brussels in 1781 but were kept as figureheads by Joseph II and made to enforce reforms she foresaw would provoke unrest; the Brabant Revolution drove them out in 1789. Restored in 1791, they fled again after the French victory at Jemappes in 1792, and she spent her last years in Vienna.
Place in the family
- Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen was a daughter of Maria Theresa.
- Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen was the second of 9 children of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa recorded in this archive.
One of 24 people of Habsburg-Lorraine (from 1736) in this archive. Maria Theresa’s marriage carried the inheritance into a new name, which its heirs still bear.
Line of descent: Rudolf I of Germany → Albert I of Germany → Albert II, Duke of Austria → Leopold III, Duke of Austria → Ernest, Duke of Austria → Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor → Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor → Philip I of Castile → Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor → Charles II, Archduke of Austria → Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor → Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor → Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor → Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor → Maria Theresa → Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen.
Parents
- Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1708 – 1765)
- Maria Theresa (1717 – 1780)
Siblings
- Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1741 – 1790)
- Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (1743 – 1808)
- Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma (1746 – 1804)
- Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1747 – 1792)
- Maria Carolina of Austria (1752 – 1814)
- Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Austria-Este (1754 – 1806)
- Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793)
- Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (1756 – 1801)
Partners
- Married Albert Casimir, Duke of Teschen (1738 – 1822) in 1766
Life
- 1742 — Born
- 1766 — Married Albert Casimir
- 1798 — Died