Archduke Leopold, the second surviving son of Maria Theresa and Francis Stephan, and Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain were married on 5 August 1765 in Innsbruck. The young couple were to travel to Italy and assume government of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany — the designated inheritance of the imperial secundogenitur — from Leopold’s father.
The event was overshadowed by bad omens. At the ceremony, Leopold was so unwell with a stomach ailment that he could barely stand. The lavish festivities were still underway when the Emperor — returning from a theatre performance — collapsed from a sudden heart attack and died, leaving Maria Theresa and the court in utmost shock.
Months later, however, the newlyweds settled in Florence, where they would remain for the next twenty-five years. The spouses were rather different in temperament: Leopold’s harsh, withdrawn, and somewhat cold nature was balanced by Maria Luisa’s model feminine virtues — kindness, patience, piety, and a convenient blindness to her husband’s occasional infidelities.
Leopold proved himself a capable ruler and reformer of industry, law, and state finances, while Maria Luisa seemed to have no interests beyond their sixteen children, to whom she was a devoted mother. Both avoided formal court life.
This domestic idyll in sunny Italy ended abruptly in 1790 with the death of Emperor Joseph II. Leopold succeeded his brother — but not for long, as he died two years later. Maria Luisa survived her husband by only three months and did not live to see the coronation of their eldest son, Francis II.
Access to the Metatext via placing an order for an augmented product. See Terms of Use
