Archduchess Maria Anna, the younger daughter of Emperor Charles VI and the beloved sister of Maria Theresa, passed away on 16 December 1744 at the age of twenty-six. At first sight, she seems one of those princesses whose life might be briefly summarised as being born, married, bearing children, and dying. However, the speed with which the last three stages unfolded makes her life truly extraordinary and profoundly tragic.
From quite an early age, Maria Anna had a preferred suitor: Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, her brother-in-law. For political reasons, however, she had to endure a long delay before being allowed to marry him. After seven years of waiting, events suddenly accelerated. The couple finally married in January 1744. By March, Maria Anna was expecting, but the pregnancy proved agonising. In a private letter, Maria Theresa — already the mother of six and expecting her seventh child — expressed deep concern about her sister’s condition.
In September of that year, after an extremely complicated and painful labour, Maria Anna prematurely gave birth to a stillborn daughter. She never recovered from the ordeal and passed away only two months later, leaving her husband heartbroken for the rest of his life. Within just eleven months, everything they had waited for so long had come to an end.
Both mother and child were buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. Charles Alexander never remarried.
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