Maria Anna of Portugal (1843-1884)

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Maria Anna in 1883

Maria Anna Fernanda Leopoldina Micaela Rafaela Gabriela Carlota Antónia Júlia Vitória Praxedes Francisca de Assis Gonzaga (born July 21, 1843 in Lisbon , Portugal ; † February 5, 1884 in Dresden ) was a princess of Braganza and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Infanta of Portugal .

Life

Maria Anna was a daughter of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Queen Maria II of Portugal . After her mother's death in 1853, when she was just 10 years old, she formally assumed the leading position of the female royal family at the Portuguese court until her older brother, King Peter V , became Princess Stephanie of Hohenzollern in May 1858 -Sigmaringen married. Although the sisters-in-law had a good relationship at first, Peter V mentions in a letter to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , written in 1859 after Stephanie's death , that his sister Maria Anna made unflattering remarks about his wife; The reason for this was her vanity, which was injured due to her reduced rank.

In 1858 Infanta Maria Anna was chosen as the wife of the future King George I of Saxony , son of King John I of Saxony and Princess Amalie Auguste of Bavaria . George's stay in Paris , which was planned for March 1858, was therefore extended by a detour to Lisbon. King Johann said at the time that he would like to give his consent to marriage if his son liked Maria Anna. In fact, the Infanta’s engagement to Prince Georg took place on April 17, 1858.

On May 11, 1859, Maria Anna married her fiancé in the Belém Palace in Lisbon. Queen Stephanie tried to organize a brilliant wedding ceremony, but in the end the marriage went on quietly and neither in Portugal nor in Saxony received much attention. The newlyweds spent their first days after their wedding in the Belém Palace. During their brief stay in Portugal after their wedding ceremony, Prince George made an unfavorable impression on the Portuguese royal family as he hardly spoke to his bride and did not attend a theater performance to which he had been invited. During this performance Maria Anna was also seen crying. On May 14th, the couple made their way to Saxony. Maria Anna was not allowed to take Portuguese ladies-in-waiting with her and was only accompanied by her brother Luís on the trip . Pedro V. complained in a letter that his sister's marriage to Prince George of Saxony was more pomp than joy; she was to be regretted, since her husband did not spread any sympathy.

Maria Anna's marriage was not a happy one, according to the historian Eduardo Nobre. Nobre takes the view that Prince George did not live up to the expectations and qualities of the Portuguese Infanta. The historian Hendrik Thoss , on the other hand, assumes that the connection was very happy, as the eight children who emerged from the marriage testified. In addition, Prince Georg wrote a total of 207 letters to his wife during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71.

Maria Anna and Prince Georgs had the following children:

In 1883 Maria Anna's youngest son Albert became very ill. Maria Anna looked after him intensively for months until he recovered, but overworked herself so much that she died of exhaustion on February 5, 1884 at the age of 40 in Dresden. Her death occurred before her husband's accession to the throne. She is buried in the Great Crypt of the Catholic Court Church in Dresden. Her widowed husband did not enter into another marriage.

The Marienallee in Dresden is named after her.

Web links

Commons : Maria Anna of Portugal  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. Maria Antonia Lopes: Rainhas Que o Povo Amou , Temas e Debates, 2013 S. 65th
  2. Hendrik Thoß : Georg von Sachsen , in: Frank-Lothar Kroll (ed.): Die Herrscher Sachsens , CH Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-52206-8 , p. 293 f.
  3. Maria Antonia Lopes: Rainhas Que o Povo Amou , Temas e Debates, 2013 S. 66th
  4. Eduardo Nobre: Família Real - Álbum de Fotos , Quimera Editores, 2002, p. 28.
  5. Hendrik Thoß: Georg von Sachsen , in: Frank-Lothar Kroll (Ed.): Die Herrscher Sachsens , p. 294.
  6. Eduardo Nobre: Família Real - Álbum de Fotos , Quimera Editores, 2002, p. 61.