Archduchess Marie Valerie

Archduchess Valerie
Photograph taken in 1890
Born	(1868-04-22)22 April 1868 Ofen (Buda), Kingdom of Hungary
Died	6 September 1924(1924-09-06) (aged 56) Vienna, Austria
Spouse	Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria-Tuscany
Issue	Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska Archduke Franz Karl Archduke Hubert Salvator Archduchess Hedwig Archduke Theodor Salvator Archduchess Gertrud Archduchess Maria Elisabeth Archduke Clemens Salvator Archduchess Mathilde Archduchess Agnes
Full name German: Marie Valerie Mathilde Amalie
House	Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Franz Joseph I of Austria
Mother	Elisabeth of Bavaria

Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria (22 April 1868 – 6 September 1924) was the fourth and last child of Franz Joseph I of Austria and Elisabeth of Bavaria. Her given name was Marie Valerie Mathilde Amalie, but she was usually called Valerie.

Princess Marie Valerie was born at Ofen (Buda) in Hungary. The Empress Elisabeth was especially attached to Valerie, who was born ten years after the imperial couple's third child, and whom she was allowed to raise herself in contrast to her first three children who were taken from her in infancy and raised by the Emperor's mother, Archduchess Sophie. Sophie herself wrote to Elisabeth's mother Ludovika, "Sisi is completely absorbed by her love and care for this irresistible little angel."

She was Elisabeth's favorite child by far, and was acidly referred to by some courtiers as "Die Einzige" ("The Only Child") because Elisabeth paid so much more attention to her than her siblings. Valerie loved her mother, but according to her diaries, often felt embarrassed and overwhelmed by Elisabeth's concentration on her, particularly as she herself was of a modest and practical nature.

Another of Valerie's nicknames was "The Hungarian Child" because her birth had been a concession by Elisabeth, who disliked physical intimacy and pregnancy, in exchange for Franz Joseph's conciliation with Hungary, her most favored part of the Empire. This process culminated in their joint coronation in Budapest on 8 June 1867, as King and Queen of Hungary. Valerie was born just over nine months later.

Elisabeth deliberately chose Hungary as her child's birthplace; no royal child had been born in Hungary for centuries. Had Valerie been a boy, she would have been named Stephan after Hungary's canonized king and patron saint. According to historian Brigitte Hamann, a boy born to the Queen of Hungary in the castle at Budapest would have raised the possibility of his someday becoming its king, separating Hungary from the Austrian empire, and there was universal relief at the Viennese court that Valerie was a girl.