Anna Plochl

Anna Maria Josephine Plochl (6 January 1804 – 4 August 1885) was the morganatic wife of Archduke John of Austria. She was given the title Baroness von Brandhofen and then Countess von Meran. She and her husband were the parents of Franz, Count von Meran.

Biography

She was born and grew up in Bad Aussee as the eldest of thirteen children of Jakob Plochl (Gorlinzendorf bei Pettau, 27 May 1774 - Bad Aussee, 25 April 1828), postmaster of Bad Aussee, and first wife (m. Bad Aussee, 31 May 1802) Maria Anna Ehrentrudis Pilz (Bad Aussee, 15 May 1782 - Bad Aussee, 21 January 1821), paternal granddaughter of Jakob Plochl and wife Maria Lubsch and maternal granddaughter of Johann Pilz (c. 1744 - Bad Aussee, 21 April 1792) and wife (m. Bad Aussee, 15 January 1776) Maria Ehrentrude Fürst (c. 1751 - Bad Aussee, 31 July 1806).

She met Archduke John in 1819, when a coach driver could not be procured to transport the archduke back to Vienna and she was disguised to look like a boy in order to fulfill the role. Archduke John, seeing through the ruse, was highly impressed by her vivaciousness and promised the girl, who disbelieved his claim to be the archduke, that he would return to see her and prove his credentials. However, the great disparity in social rank caused a rift between Archduke John and his family, to the point that the couple was refused entry to court. Within general society circles, she was held in much higher regard, having been described as a society "queen".

A 1929 film entitled Archduke John and a 1950 film entitled Erzherzog Johanns große Liebe are about the romance between her and Archduke John. A number of her portraits are found in the Kammerhof museum in Bad Aussee.

Arms