Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria

Maria Josepha seated at the harpsichord in 1762 by Liotard

Born on 19 March 1751, Maria Josepha was the ninth but sixth surviving daughter of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia.

After the death of her sister-in-law Princess Isabella of Parma, Maria Josepha was the most important female at court after her mother, niece Archduchess Maria Theresia and sister Archduchess Maria Amalia. She lost that position in May 1767 when her older brother Archduke Joseph married to a second cousin, Maria Josepha of Bavaria.

Empress Maria Theresa wanted to marry her fourth eldest surviving daughter, Archduchess Maria Amalia, to Ferdinand of Naples and Sicily for political reasons. After Ferdinand's father Charles III of Spain objected to the five-year age difference however, Maria Josepha, as the next eldest daughter, was left as the obvious candidate for Ferdinand's hand in marriage. She and Ferdinand were the same age, and better yet, Maria Josepha was considered "delightfully pretty, pliant by nature," and the favorite of her brother Joseph.

Maria Josepha had been terrified of dying of smallpox ever since the death of her older sister Archduchess Maria Johanna Gabriela in 1762. Her fears were realised when she died of smallpox on the very day she was to have left Vienna for her journey across the Alps to marry Ferdinand. Popular belief holds that she contracted smallpox because her mother, Maria Theresa, insisted that she go and pray at the improperly sealed tomb of her sister-in-law, Empress Maria Josepha, who had recently died of the disease because they shared the same name. However, the rash appeared two days after Maria Josepha visited the vault, and there is an incubation period of about one week after initial infection before symptoms of a rash appear. Therefore, the Archduchess must have been infected before visiting the vault.

She is buried in vault number 46 at the Imperial Crypt Vaults of the Imperial Crypt, Vienna. After her death, her sister Maria Carolina of Austria was given as a bride to the King of Naples in her place.

Titles and styles

• 19 March 1751 – 15 October 1767 Her Royal Highness Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria, Princess of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Tuscany