#house of habsburg-lorraine

Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen (1742-1798), painted by Marcello Bacciarelli in 1766.

Marie Louise of Austria, Empress of the French and Queen of Italy, by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, 1810

At the age of 18, Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria was obliged to marry 40-year-old French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who had spent years waging war against her country. Despite the circumstances, the marriage was relatively happy. Napoleon and Marie Louise spent four years together and then never saw each other again. While he was destined for an early death in faraway exile on St. Helena, she went on to govern the Duchy of Parma. For details, see “Marie Louise of Austria, Napoleon’s Second Wife.”