Claudia Felicitas of Austria

Claudia Felicitas of Austria
Portrait by Carlo Dolci, 1672.
Holy Roman Empress; German Queen; Queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia; Archduchess consort of Austria
Tenure	15 October 1673 – 8 April 1676
Born	30 May 1653 Innsbruck, Tyrol
Died	8 April 1676 (aged 22) Vienna, Holy Roman Empire
Burial	Imperial Crypt (heart) Dominican Church (body)
Spouse	Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
Issue	Archduchess Anna Maria Archduchess Maria Josepha
House	Habsburg dynasty
Father	Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol
Mother	Anna de' Medici

Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria (30 May 1653 – 8 April 1676) was by birth an Archduchess of Austria and by marriage Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Archduchess consort of Austria, Queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia as the second wife of Leopold I.

A member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, she had a beautiful singing voice and composed music, and also was passionately fond of hunting. Claudia Felicitas had a great influence on her husband; thanks to her, all her political opponents were removed from court. She also struggled with the abuse of the executive and judicial systems. During her 3-year-long marriage, she gave birth to two children who died in infancy, and she died after the birth of her second child. She was the last member of the Tyrolean branch of the House of Habsburg, which became extinct upon her death.

Claudia Felicitas was born in Innsbruck on 30 May 1653. She was the first child and eldest daughter of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol, by his wife and first-cousin Anna de' Medici. On her father's side, her grandparents were Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and his wife Claudia de' Medici (after which she received her first name); on her mother's side, her grandparents were Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his wife Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria.

Her parents failed to produce a male heir: after Claudia Felicitas, they had only two other daughters, one who died inmediately after birth (19 July 1654) and Maria Magdalena (17 August 1656 – 21 January 1669). After Archduke Ferdinand Charles died in 1662, he was succeeded by his brother Sigismund Francis, who died three years later (1665), a few days after his marriage by proxy with Hedwig of the Palatinate-Sulzbach. In consequence, Claudia Felicitas and her younger sister became the last members of the Tyrolean branch of the House of Habsburg.