Duchess Maria Anna Josepha of Bavaria

Maria Anna Josepha of Bavaria (Maria Anna Josepha Augusta; 7 August 1734 – 7 May 1776) was a Duchess of Bavaria by birth and Margravine of Baden-Baden by marriage. She was nicknamed the savior of Bavaria. She is also known as Maria Josepha and is sometimes styled as a princess of Bavaria.

Biography

Maria Anna Josepha was born at the Nymphenburg Palace in 1734. She was the fifth child of Charles Albert of Bavaria (later Holy Roman Emperor) and his wife Maria Amalia of Austria. She was baptised with the names Maria Anna Josepha Augusta. A member of the House of Wittelsbach, rulers of the Electorate of Bavaria, she was styled a Duchess of Bavaria.

She married Louis George, Margrave of Baden-Baden, the ruling Margrave of Baden-Baden and son of the late Louis William of Baden-Baden and his wife Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg; the latter was the regent of Baden-Baden for the infant Louis George. The couple were married at the Schloss Ettlingen in Baden on 20 July 1755; the bride was aged 20, the groom 53. The couple remained childless; although Louis George did have one surviving daughter, Elisabeth, from his previous marriage, but as a female she was barred from the succession to the Margraviate. Maria Anna painted with some of her family members, (L–R), her aunt ; sister in law Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony; her sister Maria Antonia Walpurga; brother Maximilian III Joseph; and Maria Anna. Painted . Her husband had been married previously to Maria Anna of Schwarzenberg

As a widow, Maria Anna Josepha returned to her native Bavaria where she died at the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, over a year before her brother. She was buried at the Theatine Church, Munich, traditional burial place of Bavarian royalty.

Ancestors