Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (1762–1770)

Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria (1762-1770)

Maria Theresia Habsburg (March 20, 1762 - January 23, 1770) was a daughter of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife Isabella Maria of Parma. She died suddenly at age of seven of pleurisy. She is buried in the Imperial Crypt, like her parents and her stepmother. Through her mother she was a descendant of King Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland and many other Polish noble families, including the House of Czartoryski.

Only weeks before she had re-enacted her grandmother's reign through the medium of puppetry. The audience had consisted of her father the Emperor Joseph II and her aunt Antonia, then an archduchess, later Dauphine and Queen of France. On her death her father was distraught; "I have ceased to be a father. Oh my God, restore to me my daughter..."

References

• Biographical sketch at Findagrave.com
• Antonia Fraser (2001), "Marie Antoinette; The Journey," P53-4.

she was a favorite of her aunt Maria Antonia