On 27 October 1708, Maria Anna married John V, King of Portugal (1689–1750) to seal the alliance between the two countries against France and Spain during the War of Spanish Succession. They were first cousins, as their mothers were sisters. Maria Anna reformed the court and its customs to follow the traditions and customs of the traditional Queens of Portugal.[1] Her greatest influence on the court and Portuguese nobility as a whole was the increase of segregation between men and women, as well as between servants and masters. Like John, Maria Anna had an exuberant taste, best shown in her famous parties: she would invite the nobility from all over the country and hold a magnificent festival, often lasting several days.[2]
Regency
In 1742 Maria Anna became regent after her husband had suffered a stroke and became partially paralyzed. When John V died on 31 July 1750, their eldest son Joseph I of Portugal inherited the throne.
She died in the Belém Palace on 14 August 1754.[3] After her death, she was buried in Lisbon, but her heart was brought to Vienna and buried there in the Imperial Crypt.
Issue
Maria Anna had six children with her husband, John V, King of Portugal, four of whom survived infancy.
^Vale, Teresa; Gomes, Carlos (1994). SIPA (ed.). "Palácio Nacional de Belém" (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal: SIPA – Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ abLouda, Jirí; MacLagan, Michael (1999). Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe (2nd ed.). London: Little, Brown and Company. table 84.
Bibliography
Nizza da Silva, Maria Beatriz (2009). Reis de Portugal: D. João V (in Portuguese). Lisbon: Temas & Debates.
Raggi, Giuseppina (2017). "The Queen of Portugal Maria Anna of Austria and the Royal Opera Theaters by Giovanni Carlo Sicinio Galli Bibiena". Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography. 42 (1–2): 121–140. ISSN1522-7464.
Generations are numbered by male-line descent from Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished and outlawed in 1919.