Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen
Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen, was the fifth child of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Married in 1766 to Prince Albert of Saxony, the couple received the Duchy of Teschen, and she was appointed Governor of the Austrian Netherlands jointly with her husband during 1781–1789 and 1791–1792. After two expulsions from the Netherlands, she lived with her husband in Vienna until her death.
Biography
Early years
The fifth child and fourth daughter, Maria Christina was born on the 25th birthday of her mother, on 13 May 1742 in Vienna, Austria. The next day she was baptized in the Hofburg with the names Maria Christina Johanna Josepha Antonia; Christina was named after her grandmother Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, however, she was always called Marie or Mimi at the Viennese court and by her family. She was Maria Theresa's favourite child, as can be seen in the letters that the Empress wrote to her. Little is known about her early childhood. In a letter dated 22 March 1747 the Prussian ambassador in Vienna, Count Otto Christoph von Podewils, described the then five-year-old Maria Christina as pretty and witty.The Archduchess, capricious and spirited in her youth, received a particularly loving education from her parents. That notorious preference that Maria Christina received from her mother caused the intense jealousy of her brothers and sisters, who avoided her and criticized her prominent position within the family more and more vehemently. The dislike of her siblings increased later in life, since Maria Theresa increasingly used her to exercise influence over the other members of the family.
Maria Christina got along very badly with her governess, Princess Maria Karoline von Trautson-Falkenstein. However, the Empress only agreed to change her governess in 1756, when she appointed the widowed Countess Maria Anna Vasquez to the position. Maria Christina's relationship with Vasquez was much better, and a few years later Countess Vasquez was even named Obersthofmeisterin of Maria Christina's household.
Beautiful, highly intelligent but also artistically gifted, Maria Christina enjoyed a conscientious education. The Jesuit Father Lachner taught her several languages and history. The Archduchess learned, among other things, perfect Italian and French, which, according to Podewils, she particularly liked to speak, as well as quite good English. She also proved to be a talented painter very early. In Schönbrunn Palace her drawings of the imperial family were exhibited which attest to her great artistic talent. She painted some family members including herself and also some copies of genre paintings by Dutch and French masters. One particular portrait made by Maria Christina in gouache about 1762 showed the Imperial family celebrating Saint Nicholas: there the Emperor is shown reading the newspaper and the Empress serving the coffee, while her three youngest siblings were with their gifts.
The 17-year-old Maria Christina had a romance with Louis Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, but a marriage between them displeased the Empress, who believed that the third son of the Duke of Württemberg was not of enough rank for an Archduchess. In early January 1760 Princes Albert and Clemens of Saxony arrived at the Imperial Court and both were warmly received by the Emperor and Empress. Prince Albert met the lovely Archduchess on the occasion of a concert, in which she participated, and soon he developed a great affection for her, as he recalled in his memoirs. At the end of January 1760, Albert and Clemens returned from Vienna.
In the following years, Maria Christina developed an intense love affair with Princess Isabella of Parma, who married the future Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor on 6 October 1760. Among other things, the two young women often played together. The beautiful, educated, and very sensitive Isabella, who detested the court ceremonial and her position as wife of the Habsburg heir, wanted a more sensual destiny; however, despite these inner feelings, she appeared to be cheerful and satisfied with her fate. While her husband loved her very deeply, she was reserved towards him. In contrast, for Maria Christina, she had a heartfelt affection, expressed in about 200 letters between them, usually written in French. They spent so much time together that they were compared to Orpheus and Eurydice. Isabel and Mimi were united not only by a shared interest in music and art but also by a deep mutual love.
Maria Christina made a formal description of Isabella, in which she portrayed her as amiable, kind, and generous, but she also did not overlook her weaknesses. The early demise of her sister-in-law on 27 November 1763 following childbirth complications, left Maria Christina heartbroken.
Marriage
In December 1763, Prince Albert of Saxony returned to Vienna to express his condolences to the Imperial family for Isabella of Parma's death. He had become a good friend of the late Isabella after her marriage with the future Joseph II and, as he noted in his diary, also developed a close relationship with Maria Christina. In 1764 the Saxon prince met the Archduchess, firstly in Vienna in the spring and later more often in Pressburg, at that time capital of Hungary. After these visits, Maria Christina fell deeply in love with Albert, who, despite his affection for the Archduchess, did not believe that he could win her hand in marriage because of his relatively weak and politically unstable position for the imperial standards. But then he was invited to Vienna to study a new service regulation for the cavalry, to participate in hunts and amusements of the Imperial court, and received the invitation of Maria Christina to give free rein to his feelings for her but not yet publicly.Maria Christina had a strong influence over her mother, who approved of her relationship with Albert, but the lovers were forced to keep their relationship secret because the Emperor wanted her to marry her first cousin, Prince Benedetto of Savoy, Duke of Chablais. The Empress advised her impatient daughter to appear calm and cautious with regard to her liaison with Albert, and to rely on her; Maria Theresa promised to arrange the match with Albert.
In July 1765, the Imperial family travelled to Innsbruck for the wedding of Archduke Leopold, Grand Prince of Tuscany, with Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain; Albert also participated in the celebrations. Since the Duke of Chablais was also present, Maria Christina and her beloved had to proceed more carefully. One month after Leopold's marriage, the Emperor suddenly died from either a stroke or heart attack. The Imperial family was badly affected by this death, including Maria Christina, whose marriage plans were now no longer a hindrance since her mother had long been on her side. In consequence, she was the only daughter of Maria Theresa who didn't marry for political reasons; however, out of respect for the Emperor's death, a period of mourning had to be observed first before her wedding could take place.
The wedding preparations began as early as November 1765. Maria Theresa was worried that the young couple could not live comfortably. In December, Albert was appointed Field Marshal and Statthalter of Hungary; these posts forced him and his future wife to live in Pressburg. The local castle was renovated at a cost of 1.3 million florins, and the Dowager Empress took care of even the furniture and tableware. In Laxenburg castle complex Maria Christina and Albert received the Grünnehaus. When the couple came to Vienna later, they were allowed to stay in the Hofburg Palace. Finally, Maria Christina received a rich dowry: the Silesian Duchy of Teschen –whereupon Albert became entitled as Duke of Saxe-Teschen–, the towns of Mannersdorf, Ungarisch Altenburg and other lordships, and the amount of ƒ100,000. The household of the couple included about 120 people. These gifts received by Maria Christina caused the displeasure and envy of her brothers and sisters.
On 7 January 1766, Albert received a warm welcome in Pressburg by the citizens. On 2 April the engagement took place and six days later, on 8 April, the wedding took place in the chapel of Schloss Hof. During the ceremony Maria Christina was wearing a white, pearl decorated mousseline dress and Albert his military uniform; however, the rest of the guests were dressed in black because of the ongoing court mourning. Soon afterward the newlyweds settled in Pressburg.
Maria Christina's luck in being permitted to marry the man she loved embittered Maria Theresa's other daughters, who already resented their mother's favouritism. One of her sisters, the Archduchess Maria Amalia, was also in love with a minor prince, Charles of Zweibrücken, but was forcibly married off to Ferdinand, Duke of Parma. She remained estranged from her mother for the rest of the Dowager Empress' life.
In the first weeks after the wedding, Maria Christina, Albert and Maria Theresa started a lively correspondence. The Dowager Empress gave her daughter, who she missed very much, advice on how to behave towards her husband. She had to cultivate a decent life-changing attitude based on Christian values. The couple, who had a happy marriage, held a splendid court at the palace in Pressburg, arranged splendid festivals, and also traveled frequently to Vienna.
Issue
Maria Christina gave birth to a daughter named Princess Maria Theresia Josepha Johanna Nepomucena of Saxony, on 16 May 1767, but the child lived only one day, dying on 17 May 1767. Maria Christina developed puerperal fever, while in mid-June Albert fell ill with smallpox; however, they were both able to recover.Since Maria Christina was unable to have any more children due to her difficult childbirth, in 1790 she persuaded her brother Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, to let her and her husband adopt one of his youngest sons, Archduke Charles, in order to have an heir.