Archduchess Marie Caroline of Austria

Archduchess Marie Caroline of Austria
Crown Princess of Saxony
Born	(1801-04-08)8 April 1801 Vienna, Austria
Died	22 May 1832(1832-05-22) (aged 31) Pillnitz, Germany
Burial	Katholische Hofkirche
Spouse	Frederick Augustus, Crown Prince of Saxony
Full name German: Maria Carolina Ferdinanda
House	Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother	Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Archduchess Marie Caroline Ferdinanda of Austria, Crown Princess of Saxony (8 April 1801 in Vienna, Austria – 22 May 1832 in Pillnitz, Germany).

Family

Marie Caroline was a daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, later Francis I of Austria after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies, and named after an elder sister who had died in infancy. She belonged to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

Marriage

On 7 October 1819 she married in Dresden, Germany to Prince Frederick Augustus of Saxony, son of Maximilian, Prince of Saxony, and Princess Caroline of Parma. The marriage was childless and unhappy. Marie Caroline suffered from epilepsy and her seizures were so frequent that she could barely perform her duties as Crown Princess. She died, after long suffering, on 22 May 1832 in Pillnitz Palace, near Dresden.^[1]

Ancestry

Marie Caroline's parents were double first cousins as they shared all four grandparents (Francis' paternal grandparents were his wife's maternal grandparents and vice versa). Therefore, Marie Caroline only had four great-grandparents, being descended from each of them twice. Further back in his ancestry there is more pedigree collapse due to the close intermarriage between the Houses of Austria and Spain and other Catholic monarchies.

References