Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1738–1789)

Archduchess Maria Anna (October 6, 1738 – November 19, 1789) was the second and eldest surviving daughter of Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa of Austria. She was heiress presumptive between 1740 and 1741, until her younger brother Joseph (later to be the Holy Roman emperor, Joseph II) was born. Her youngest sister was the French queen, Marie Antoinette.

Maria Anna was intelligent but physically disabled. Unable to find a royal husband, she was made the abbess of the Imperial and Royal Convent for Noble Ladies in Prague with the promise of 80,000 florins per year. Later, she gave up the Prague position and became an abbess in Klagenfurt with a smaller provision.

Being disabled, her existence was often denied by the imperial family.

Ancestry