Maria Anna of Savoy

Maria Anna of Savoy
Empress Maria Anna (by Johann Nepomuk)
Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, Lodomeria and Illyria; Queen of Lombardy-Venetia Queen of Jerusalem etc. Archduchess of Austria; Grand Duchess of Tuscany and of Cracow; Duchess of Lorraine, of Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and the Bukovina; Grand Princess of Transsylvania, Margravine of Moravia Duchess of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli, Ragusa and Zara; Princely Countess of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Princess of Trent and Brixen; Margravine of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria; Countess of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg etc.; Lady of Trieste, of Cattaro and on the Windic March; etc., etc.
Tenure	2 March 1835 – 2 December 1848
Coronation	12 September 1836, Prague
Born	(1803-09-19)19 September 1803 Palazzo Colonna, Rome, Papal States
Died	4 May 1884(1884-05-04) (aged 80) Prague, Cisleithania, Austria-Hungary
Burial	Imperial Crypt, Vienna
Spouse	Ferdinand I of Austria
Full name Italian: Maria Anna Carolina Pia di Savoia
House	Savoy
Father	Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia
Mother	Maria Theresa of Austria-Este
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Maria Anna of Savoy (Italian: Maria Anna Ricciarda Carolina Margherita Pia; 19 September 1803 – 4 May 1884) was the wife of Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria. She was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, and many others (see Grand title of the Empress of Austria).

Maria Anna was born in Palazzo Colonna in Rome, the daughter of King Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia and of his wife, Archduchess Maria Teresa of Austria-Este. She had a twin sister Maria Teresa. The two princesses were baptised by Pope Pius VII. Their godparents were their maternal grandparents, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este and his wife Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d'Este. In the Museo di Roma can be seen a painting of the baptism.

On 12 February 1831 Maria Anna was married by procuration in Turin to King Ferdinand V of Hungary (later Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria). On 27 February the couple were married in person in Vienna in the Hofburg chapel by the Cardinal Archbishop of Olmütz.

Maria Anna and Ferdinand had no children.

Ferdinand succeeded as Emperor of Austria on 2 March 1835; Maria Anna became Empress of Austria. On 12 September 1836 she was crowned as Queen of Bohemia at Prague.

On 2 December 1848 Ferdinand abdicated as Emperor of Austria, but retaining his imperial rank; Maria Anna was henceforward titled Empress Maria Anna. They lived in retirement together, spending the winters at Prague Castle and the summers at Reichstadt (now Zákupy) or at Ploschkowitz (now Ploskovice).