Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (1743–1808)

Maria Elisabeth in her childhood

Maria Elisabeth was known in the family as "Liesl". She was given the customary education of the daughters of the empress, with a focus on accomplishments designed to make her an attractive consort of a royal court and with only shallow and the most basic instruction in academic subjects.

As a person, she was described as somewhat unstable in her character and without any particular interests. She was considered to be the most beautiful of all the daughters of Maria Theresa, was regarded a beauty already by the age of twelve and was reportedly very well aware of this fact. Her mother the empress referred to her as childish and immature and called her eine Kokette der Schönheit ("a pretty coquette") and observed: "It mattered not if the look of admiration came from a prince or a Swiss Guard, Elisabeth was satisfied." [1]

At the wedding of her brother Joseph in 1765, she played the part of Apollo in the operetta Il Parnasso Confuso by Gluck.[1]

Her beauty was considered a valuable asset in the dynastic marriage politics of her mother and made her a subject of marriage speculations on the dynastic marriage market early on. However, her marriage was delayed because of the high expectations of the status of her future groom.

When Charles III of Spain was widowed in 1761, there were negotiations between Spain and Austria about a marriage between Charles III and Maria Elisabeth, but these ultimately ended in a failure. A marriage with King Stanislaw of Poland was suggested after his succession to the throne in 1764, but nothing came of it after empress Catherine the Great had made her discontent over the proposal clear. A marriage to her cousin Prince Benedetto, Duke of Chablais was proposed, which Maria Elisabeth declared herself very willing to enter, but ultimately, her brother Joseph II did not find such a match to be of enough political advantage, as he considered her to be a great asset in dynastic policy and wished to secure a marriage with the highest possible status. When Maria Elisabeth turned 24 in 1767, this was considered late to be unmarried by the standards of an 18th-century princess.

In 1768, simultaneously with the discussions of a marriage between her younger sister Maria Antonia (later Marie Antionette) and the heir to the French throne, a suggestion was made to engage Maria Elisabeth to the widowed king Louis XV of France, which would have resulted in a double marriage alliance between France and Austria. A marriage contract was prepared and the negotiations were almost completed. Before the negotiations could be finalized, however, Maria Elisabeth fell ill with smallpox. Although she made a full recovery, it was reported that the illness had terribly scarred her face and destroyed her beauty, and thus all plans of a marriage were disrupted.[2]

Additonally, the Choiseul party at the French coyrt opposed a re-marriage of the king, and according to the reports of the Austrian ambassador Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau: "Persons in power, imagine that a queen, judicious and amiable, who would succeed in gaining the affection of her husband, might open his eyes to the irregularities and the enormous abuses which exist in all departments here, and cause much embarrassment to those who direct them. They are consequently of opinion that it behoves them to divert the mind of the King from ideas of marriage; and I have very strong proofs that Madame de Gramont, more interested than any one in the mamtenance of the present abuses, has succeeded in persuading M. de Choiseul to renounce his own predilections in this affair."[3]

Liesl (left) with her older sister, Marianne

Maria Elisabeth was appointed canoness of the Convent for Noble Ladies in Innsbruck by her mother, but like her sister Maria Anna, who had a similar position, she did not in fact live in the convent but continued to share her time with the Imperial Court at Hofburg and Schönbrunn.

After the death of her mother empress Maria Theresa in 1780, Maria Elisabeth and her sisters Maria Anna and Maria Christina were asked by their brother emperor Joseph II, to leave court, because he shunned the presence of women there and wanted to put an end to what he referred to as his sister's Weiberwirtschaft or Women's Republic. He confirmed his mother's appointment of Maria Christina and her husband as governors of the Austrian Netherlands, after which they left for Brussels, while Maria Elisabeth and her sister Maria Anna left to join their respective convents. Maria Elisabeth left for the Convent of Noble Ladies in Innsbruck, which had been established by her mother in 1765 to pray for the soul of her late spouse, the father of Maria Elisabeth.

Maria Elisabeth resided in Innsbruck as abbess of the Convent of Noble Ladies for about fifteen years. Here - or rather in Innsbruck's Imperial Castle - Maria Elisabeth resided from May 1781 until January 1806. Her position did not, in fact, resemble monastic life much, as the terms of the convent gave its members high rank, a personal allowance, a suite suitable for a noblewoman and the freedom to participate in public life and high society. Maria Elisabeth did not live a secluded life but entertained much in her apartments, received guests and often arranged family receptions. During her years as abbess, she was described as greatly overweight, was referred to as "Kropferte Liesl" ("Kropf" = struma) because of her pock marks, and became known and feared for her sharp wit. Her friends described her as a popular society person with a fiery personality. Sir John Swinburne described her sharp wit and humorous self irony upon his visit.

When her younger brother Leopold succeeded as emperor in 1790, he involved her more in state affairs. He gave her representational tasks, and in 1790, she ceremoniously opened the Provincial Assembly (Landtag) at Innsbruck in his place, and she often acted as his representative in ceremonial occasions at Innsbruck. She often received important guests such as princes, but also entertained artists such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. She was allowed to travel again and visited the Puster Valley on several occasions with her chamberlain Count Spaur, and spent the winter of 1800-1801 in Brunico.

In January 1806, Maria Elisabeth fled from Innsbruck to Vienna and then to Linz, when the province of Tyrol was taken over by Napoleon Bonaparte's ally, the Kingdom of Bavaria. She spent her last years in Linz, where she died on 22 September 1808. She was buried in the Jesuit Church of Linz.

• Friedrich Weissensteiner: Die Töchter Maria Theresias (Mária Terézia leányai), Kremayer & Scheriau, Bécs, 1991.

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