Empress Maria Anna of Sardinia-Piedmont
*19.09.1803 Rome, Italy - †04.05.1884 Prague, Czech Republic
Empress of Austria
Queen of Bohemia
Princess of Savoy
Maria Anna Karolina Pia was the twin daughter of Victor Emmanuel I, King of Sardinia, and Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria-Este.
She was chosen by State Chancellor Metternich and the chancelleries of Vienna and Turin to be the wife of the ailing Ferdinand I. Like no other woman in Habsburg marriage politics, she became the subject of political speculation and was thus deprived of what could have been a fulfilling life.
The marriage was first performed per procuratorem in Turin and was then performed in personam on 27 February 1831 in Vienna in the Chamber Chapel by Archduke Cardinal Rudolph, a son of Emperor Leopolds II.
Maria Anna was nevertheless fond of the poor Ferdinand, recognised the predicament during the revolution of 1848 and persuaded him to renounce the regency. After his resignation, the couple moved to Prague, where they resided in the old royal castle in winter and in Reichstadt in summer.
The Empress wrote and spoke to her husband only in Italian and French and refused to learn German, even though she lived in Austria for 50 years.
Pious and charitable towards the needy, she was given the title ‘Mother of the Poor’.
The sarcophagus
The inscription on the sarcophagus reads:
MARIA. ANNA IMPERATRIX. AUSTRIAE VICTORIS EMANUEL. I. SARDINIAE. REGIS FILIA NATA. DIE XIX. SEPTEMBRIS MDCCCIII NUPTA. FERDINANDO. TUNC. A. A. PRINCIPI. HEREDITARIO VINDOBONAE. DIE XXVII. FEBR. MDCCCXXXI CORONATA. REGINA. BOHEMIAE DIE. XII. SEPTEMBRIS MDCCCXXXVI DENATA. PRAGAE. DIE. IV. MAII MDCCCLXXXIV. H. S. E.
Here lies Maria Anna, Empress of Austria, daughter of King Victor Emmanuel I. of Sardinia, born on 19 September 1803, married to Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and heir to the throne, in Vienna on 27 February 1831, crowned Queen of Bohemia on 12 September 1836, died in Prague on 4 May 1884.