maria theresa
Maria Theresa of Portugal (1855 - 1944)

Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal – First Lady of the Austrian Court (Part two)

Read part one here. Her eldest stepson Franz Ferdinand had become the heir to the throne following the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf. However, he was in love with Countess Sophie Chotek, who was considered to be highly unsuitable. Sophie had been a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella (born of Croÿ), the wife of Archduke Friedrich, [read more]

maria theresa
Maria Theresa of Portugal (1855 - 1944)

Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal – First Lady of the Austrian Court (Part one)

Maria Theresa of Portugal was born on 24 August 1855 as the third child and second daughter of the former King Miguel I of Portugal and his wife Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. Her father had seized the throne from his niece, Queen Maria II of Portugal, before being dethroned himself in 1834. He was exiled for [read more]

Maria Theresia of Austria

Maria Theresa of Austria – Francis’s election as Holy Roman Emperor

When Maria Theresa’s father, Emperor Charles VI died in 1740; Maria Theresa’s sex meant that she was barred from becoming Holy Roman Empress in her own right. However, she did inherit many of her father’s family dominions which he had secured for her during his lifetime by pushing through an act called the Pragmatic sanction in [read more]