Maria Theresa of Austria (1801–1855)
Maria Theresia Josefa Johanna Franziska Benedikte of Austria - Tuscany ( born March 21, 1801 in Vienna, † January 12, 1855 in Turin) was 1831-1849 Queen of Sardinia - Piedmont.
Life
Maria Theresa in 1801 as the daughter of Grand Duke Ferdinand III. of Tuscany and his first wife Maria Luisa of Naples and Sicily (1773-1802) was born. At the age of one year she lost her mother. She spent her childhood in Vienna and Würzburg.
On September 30, 1817 she was married in the Cathedral of Florence with the 19 -year-old Duke Charles Albert of Savoy - Carignan.
The couple had three children:
- Victor Emmanuel (* March 14, 1820; † January 9, 1878 ), first king of a united Italy
- Fernando Maria ( * November 15, 1822, † February 10, 1855 ), first Duke of Genoa
- Maria Christina ( born July 2, 1826 † July 15, 1827 ), Princess of Piedmont-Sardinia
The as a beautiful woman and loving mother represented Maria Theresa became increasingly becoming an enthusiastic Italian and translated some "Moral Tales " from the Germans for their children into French. However, to Charles Albert, his wife does not always have been true.
Due to a rebellion attempt of the old King Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia abdicated on March 13, 1821 in favor of his brother Charles Felix, but because of its appointed provisional absence his nephew Charles Albert regent. The rebellion was quickly suppressed and Charles Felix remained until his death (1831 ) King. Now Charles Albert succeeded to the throne and his wife Maria Theresa thus became Queen of Sardinia - Piedmont. Imbued with deep faith she sought in vain to prevent the Catholic Church runs counter to legislation.
In the course of Italian national unification movements Karl Albert endeavored 1848/49 to break the domination of Austria on the Apennine peninsula, but failed thereby definitively by his defeat at the Battle of Novara (March 23, 1849) against the Austrian Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky Graf. His eldest son then took over as Victor Emmanuel II, the government, while Charles Albert wide already on July 28, 1849 in exile in Porto.
Now Maria Theresia hardly occurred more among the general public, withdrew in 1851 in Tuscany and died early in 1855 in Turin. She was buried in the Basilica di Superga in Turin.