Maria Christine ("Mimi")
*13.05.1742 Vienna - †24.06.1798 Vienna
Archduchess of Austria
Duchess of Saxony-Teschen
Maria Christine Josepha Johanna Antonia, known as "Mimi", was the fourth daughter of Maria Theresa und Francis Stephen – a child of the “heroic age,” as the first phase of Maria Theresa’s reign is known. The pretty child was born on her mother’s birthday and remained her favorite throughout her life.
As the only daughter of the imperial couple, she did not enter into a politically significant marriage. A planned union with Prince Ludwig of Württemberg fell through in 1760 after he proved to be an unstable seducer and ultimately entered into an unsuitable marriage in Dresden.
In January 1760, two young princes from the Saxon house arrived in Vienna. Christine immediately fell in love with the 22-year-old Prince Albert (also known as Albrecht), who won the sympathy of the court with his reserve, good manners, and language skills. Empress Maria Theresa, the only person privy to this secret love, became his protector, as Emperor Francis Stephen wanted to marry his daughter to his nephew, the Duke of Chablais.
The emperor's death in Innsbruck in 1765 paved the way for her marriage to Duke Albert. The wedding took place in 1766 at Hof Palace.
Maria Christine possessed considerable talent as a draughtswoman and, during a stay in Rome, was appointed a member of the Academia di San Luca, while her art-loving husband became an honorary member.
Maria Theresa entrusted her daughter with representing her in Hungary, and the couple resided in Pressburg. In 1781, Joseph II. appointed Maria Christine as governor of the Austrian Netherlands. However, due to the Brabant Revolution in 1789, Christine and Albert were forced to flee Brussels.
When her only daughter Christine died shortly after birth, she adopted her brother Leopold´s third son, Archduke Charles, and made him her sole heir.
After Maria Christine died in 1798 as a result of drinking contaminated water, Duke Albert had the famous tomb by Antonio Canova erected in the Augustinian Church in Vienna. It bears the inscription:
Uxori Optimae Albertus. – To the best wife, Albertus.
The sarcophagus
The inscription on her sarcophagus, which is identical to that of her husband, reads:
IN HAC TUMBA CONDITA EST MAR. CHRISTINA ARCHID. AUSTR. FRANC. I. ET. M. THERESIAE AUGG. FILIA NATA III IDUUM MAII MDCCXLII, CONNUBIO IUNCTA ALBERTO REG. PRINC. POLON. ET. SAX. TESS. VI. ID. APRIL. MDCCLXVI MORTUA VINDOB. VIII CALEND. IULII MDCCXCVIII.
In this coffin lies Maria Christine, Archduchess of Austria, daughter of Their Majesties Francis I and Maria Theresa, born on May 13, 1742, married to Prince Albert of Poland and Saxony-Teschen on April 8, 1766, died in Vienna on June 24, 1798.