Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria

Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (5 February 1737 – 7 June 1740) was the eldest child and daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Life Three floating children, by Martin van Meytens (1748). Van Meytens was commissioned in 1748 by Empress Maria Theresa to produce a posthumous painting of her three daughters who had died in infancy. From left to right: Maria Carolina (1740–1741), Maria Carolina (1748) and Maria Elisabeth (1737–1740) Maria Elisabeth was born on 5 February 1737 at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. There was no great jubilation at the birth of the child, since her parents, as well as many courtiers, had wanted a son and heir.

A lively and beautiful child, she soon became the favourite of both her parents. Her grandfather, Emperor Charles VI, spoke with pleasure of his eldest granddaughter, whom he nicknamed Liesl, and often played with her. Maria Elisabeth was described as a lively and pretty child.

During a visit to the Laxenburg Castle on 7 June 1740, Maria Elisabeth suddenly became ill with stomach cramps and vomiting. Throughout the day, the stomach cramps alternated with ever-renewed vomiting and turned into intense diarrhorea and coughing until the archduchess died that night at 9 p.m., at the age of 3. Her father, Francis Stephen, detailed the death of his firstborn child:

Maria Elisabeth was the first member of the Habsburg-Lorraine family to be buried in the Maria Theresa Vault at the Imperial Crypt, in Vienna. One of her younger sisters was given her name.

Ancestry