6 June

Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily was born on 6 June 1772. As the second wife of Emperor Francis II/I, she became the last Holy Roman Empress and the first Empress of Austria.

Maria Theresa and Francis were double second cousins and shared the same grandparents. This was yet another example of close-kin unions within the Habsburg dynasty—a practice that came at a cost, as several of their twelve children, including the future Emperor Ferdinand, suffered from mental illnesses or even physical deformities.

Despite the spouses’ contrasting temperaments, their marriage was described as happy and mutually understanding. Lively and sociable, Maria Theresa adapted well to Vienna, which had once been her mother’s hometown. She patronised music and composers, especially Joseph Haydn, and was particularly fond of the new dance—the waltz—which became fashionable during her time as empress.

Maria Theresa had considerable influence on her melancholic and introverted husband, encouraging his conservative stance. Without directly involving herself in state affairs, she fiercely opposed Napoleon’s ambitions and supported the war party at court. Fortunately, she did not live to witness the most painful consequence of that conflict—her daughter Maria Louise’s marriage to the loathed, self-styled Emperor of the French—as she died after giving birth to her youngest child, just two months before her 35th birthday.