Princess Isabella of Parma was born on 31 December 1741. She was the first child of the Duke of Parma and Louise Élisabeth of Bourbon, the eldest daughter of Louis XV of France. Probably due to their small age gap — Louise Élisabeth was only fourteen when Isabella was born — mother and daughter never […]
Archduke Ferdinand Karl was born on 27 December 1868. Interested in literature and music, he dreamed of becoming the director of the Burgtheater one day. As no prospect existed for such a bourgeois career, he instead embarked on the traditional military path. There was a curious parallel between the private lives of Ferdinand Karl and […]
Riddle me this: who was the fifteen-year-old princess described as follows:Nothing had occurred to call her to anyone’s notice. She was a shy young thing, a long way from being fully developed. She had grown up a child of nature, excelled at horseback riding, swimming, fishing, and mountain climbing. She spoke Bavarian dialect, and her […]
Alongside the distribution of gifts and joyous celebrations, the Christmas season was also laden with grief and sorrow, as the Imperial family had to commemorate the anniversaries of the deaths of several of its closest members. On 21 December, a memorial mass was performed for the Empress Dowager Elisabeth Christine (d. 1750), Maria Theresa’s mother […]
Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, the first child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, was born on 19 December 1778. As the eldest daughter of the King of France, she was styled Madame Royale from her very first breath. Marie Antoinette’s first pregnancy, after eight years of childless marriage, was nothing less than a matter of national importance […]
Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, died on 17 December 1847. She was the eldest daughter of Francis I, Emperor of Austria, and thus the sister of Emperor Ferdinand, Leopoldine, Empress of Brazil, and the aunt of Emperor Francis Joseph. In history books, Marie Louise is best known as Empress of the French through her marriage […]
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 […]
Archduchess Maria Elisabeth, daughter of Emperor Leopold I, was born on 13 December 1680. She was the child of Leopold I and his third wife, Eleonore Magdalena of Pfalz-Neuburg, and the sister of the future emperors Joseph I and Charles VI. One of her sisters later became Queen of Portugal. From an early age, Maria […]
Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine was born on 12 December 1712. He was the younger brother of Emperor Francis Stephan and the husband of Archduchess Maria Anna, the younger sister of Maria Theresa. The two Habsburg–Lorraine marriages created a double sisters-in-law and double brothers-in-law connection between the couples. Despite standing closest to the Imperial family […]
Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Este was born on 10 December 1776. Through her father, Ferdinand, Duke of Milan, she was a granddaughter of Empress Maria Theresa. From her teenage years, she was described as pretty, lively, and well educated — Italian rather than German in temperament. For a princess of such qualities, a prestigious marriage was […]
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