Margaret Theresa of Spain (Spanish:
Margarita Teresa, German:
Margarete Theresia; 12 July 1651 – 12 March 1673) was
Holy Roman Empress,
German Queen, Archduchess consort of Austria,
Queen consort of Hungary and
Bohemia. 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 the central figure in the famous
Las Meninas by
Diego Velázquez, and subject of many of his later paintings.
Life
300px|thumb|left|[[Las Meninas (1656) by
Diego Velázquez,
Prado Museum,
Madrid.]]
Despite the extensive history of inbreeding between the Austrian and Spanish Habsburg family branches, Margaret Theresa exhibited few or none of the genetic defects inherited by her brother and some other relatives. She was the favorite child of her father,
Philip IV of Spain, who referred to her as "my joy" in his private letters. She was an extraordinarily beautiful child, with porcelain skin, blue eyes, and blond hair.
For political reasons, Margaret Theresa 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 12 December 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
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, Margaret Theresa 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
Margaret Theresa and
Leopold were parents to four children:
Christie's auction of Margaret Theresa's diamond
One of the diamonds of Margaret Theresa was auctioned at Christie's in December 2008. Referred to as the
Wittelsbach Diamond, it was given by her father as part of the dowry when she married
Leopold I of Austria at the age of 15.
[ Retrieved 8 December 2008] 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 is 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.
Christie's, the famous auction house, sold the nearly 36-carat diamond for $24.3 million, which it is the highest price paid for a diamond sold at an auction.
Depictions in art
Margaret Theresa 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 Margaret Theresa looked and how she was doing at the distant Spanish court.
Margaret 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
Ancestors
Bibliography
- ANDICS, Hellmut, Die Frauen der Habsburger (Vienna: Jugend und Volk, 1985).
- BEUTLER, Gigi, Die Kaisergruft, Vienna, 2001
- DIEZ BORQUE, Jose Maria & RUDOLF, Karl, eds., Barroco español y austriaco: fiesta y teatro en la corte de los Habsburgo y los Austrias (Madrid: Museo Municipal, 1994).
- 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).
