Margaret Theresa of Spain.html



Margarita Teresa of Spain
Holy Roman Empress; German Queen; Queen consort of Hungary, Slavonia, Croatia and Bohemia; Archduchess consort of Austria
Margaret Theresa, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1667, by Jan Thomas van Ieperen
Reign Consort	1666-1673
Consort to	Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
Issue
Ferdinand Wenzel Maria Antonia Johann Leopold Maria Anna
Royal house	House of Habsburg
Father	Philip IV of Spain
Mother	Mariana of Austria
Born	August 12, 1651 Madrid, Spain
Died	March 12, 1673 (aged 21) Vienna, Austria
Burial	Imperial Crypt Vienna

Margaret Theresa of Spain (Spanish: Margarita Teresa de España), (German: Margarete Theresia von Spanien) (August 12, 1651 - March 12, 1673), Infanta of Spain and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. She was the daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and his second wife Mariana of Austria. She was the elder sister of Charles II the Bewitched, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs. She is famously the central figure in the famous Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez, and subject of many of his later paintings.

Life

Las Meninas (1656) by Diego Velázquez, Prado Museum, Madrid.

Despite the extensive history of inbreeding between the Austrian and Spanish Habsburg family branches, Margarita exhibited little or none of the genetic defects inherited by her brother and some other relatives. She was the favorite child of her father, Philip IV, who referred to her as "my joy" in his private letters. She was an extraordinaringly beautiful child, with porcelain skin, blue eyes, and blond hair.

For political reasons, Margarita Teresa was betrothed as a child to her maternal uncle and paternal cousin, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her father stipulated that she should maintain her position in the line of succession to the Spanish throne and would pass her succession rights to her descendants, something Leopold I gladly accepted.

In the summer of 1666, saddened by her father's death, the fifteen-year-old infanta left her native Spain and traveled to Austria. She was accompanied by several Spanish attendants, and was solemnly welcomed by her future husband/uncle, Leopold. Their wedding took place in the city of Vienna, one of Europe's most beautiful capitals, on December 5, 1666. Despite the difference in their ages and Leopold's unattractive appearance, they were very happy together, as they shared a number of interests, especially theatre and music. She called him "Uncle" (even after they were married); he called her "Gretl", a German nickname for Margaret.

One of the most outstanding events during their reign was the splendid performance of the opera Il pomo d'oro ("The golden apple") by the Italian composer Marco Antonio Cesti. it was performed as a celebration of Margarita's 17th birthday in July of 1668. This magnificent performance is frequently considered to be the peak of Baroque opera in Vienna during the seventeenth century.

After giving birth to six children, and weakened by many miscarriages, Margarita Teresa died at the young age of twenty-one — leaving Leopold heartbroken. Her only surviving child was the Archduchess Maria Antonia. She was buried in the Imperial Crypt, in Vienna.

Children

Margarita Teresa and Leopold were parents to four children:

• Ferdinand Wenzel (1667 - 1668), Archduke of Austria.
• Maria Antonia (1669 - 1692), Archduchess of Austria, who inherited her mother's claims to the Spanish throne and married Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. They were the parents of Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria, Prince of Asturias.
• Johann Leopold (1670), Archduke of Austria.
• Maria Anna (1672), Archduchess of Austria.

Christie's auction of Margaret Theresa's diamond

One of the diamonds of Infanta Margarita is to be auctioned at Christie's in December 2008. Referred to as the Wittelsbach diamond, it was given to her by her uncle Leopold I of Austria as part of his wedding gift to her, when asked for marriage when she was 13. The diamond was obtained in India (as it was custom from the Royal Families at that time to bring their diamonds from India, either Hyderabad or Bihar). As of today, it's one of the few lasting Indian diamonds together with the Kohinoor (today part of the British Crown Jewels), the Régent (today in the Louvre), the Orlov (in the Kremlin) or the Hope Diamond, in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.

Depictions in art

Margarita Teresa is the blonde princess depicted in the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez' masterpiece Las Meninas ("The Maids of Honor", 1656), where she is surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting and other persons of the Spanish court.

There are other pictures of her, also painted by Velázquez at various stages of her childhood, where she is shown wearing magnificent Baroque dresses, which were typical of the court of Madrid during the Spanish Golden Age. These portraits were usually sent by King Philip IV to the court of Vienna in order to keep Leopold apprised of how young Margarita Teresa looked and how she was doing at the distant Spanish court.

Margarita Theresa also features in a number of Pablo Picasso's 58 interpretations of Diego Velázquez' Las Meninas, which he produced between August and December 1957. These currently occupy the Las Meninas room of the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, Spain.

It is possible that Maurice Ravel was thinking of her when he wrote Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess). The Irish writer Oscar Wilde found inspiration in Las Meninas when he wrote his tale The Birthday of the Infanta.

Portraits

Infanta Margarita Teresa in pink dress (1654) by Velázquez, Museum of Art History, Vienna, Austria.	Infanta Margarita Teresa (1655) by Velázquez, Musée du Louvre, Paris.	Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain (1656) by Velázquez, Kunsthistorisches.	Detail of Margarita Teresa from Las Meninas.
Infanta Margarita Teresa in blue dress (1659) by Velázquez, Kunsthistorisches.	Infanta Margarita Teresa in pink dress (1660) by Diego Velázquez, Prado Museum, Madrid.	Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain (c. 1662-1664), anonymous, Kunsthistorisches.	Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain in mourning dress (1666), by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, Prado.

Ancestors

Spanish Royalty
House of Habsburg

Charles I Children    Philip II    Maria, Holy Roman Empress    Joan, Princess of Portugal    Don John (illegitimate)    Margaret, Duchess of Parma (illegitimate) Philip II Children include    Charles, Prince of Asturias    Isabella, Archduchess of Austria    Catherine, Duchess of Savoy    Philip III Philip III Children include    Anne, Queen of France    Philip IV    Maria Ana, Holy Roman Empress    Infante Charles    Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand Philip IV Children include    Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias    Maria Theresa, Queen of France    Margaret, Holy Roman Empress    Charles II Charles II

Bibliography

• ANDICS, Hellmut, Die Frauen der Habsburger (Vienna: Jugend und Volk, 1985).
• BEUTLER, Gigi, Die Kaisergruft, Vienna, 2001
• HAMANN, Brigitte, Die Habsburger: Ein Biografisches Lexicon (Munich: Piper, 1988).
• RUDOLF, Karl & OPLL, Ferdinand, Spanien und Osterreich (Vienna: Jugend und Volk, 1991).
• SMIDT-DÖRRENBERG, Irmgard, Margarita Maria, Infantin von Spanien, römisch-deutsche Kaiserin. Des Velazquez liebstes Modell (Vienna: Bergland-Verl., 1966).
• VILLA-URRUTIA, Wenceslao de, Relaciones entre España y Austria durante el reinado de la Emperatriz Doña Margarita, infanta de España, esposa del Emperador Leopoldo I (Madrid: Ricardo Fé, 1905).
• WIDORN, Helga, Die spanischen Gemahlinnen der Kaiser Maximilian II., Ferdinand III. und Leopold I. (Vienna: Diss., 1959).

External links

• Infanta Margarita Teresa in Blue Dress at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna