by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021
Anna of Saxony, Princess of Tuscany; Credit – Wikipedia
Anna of Saxony was the first wife of the future Ferdinando IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany. However, she died before her husband became Grand Duke. Anna Maria Maximiliane Stephania Karoline Johanna Luisa Xaveria Nepomucena Aloysia Benedicta was born in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, now in the German state of Saxony on January 4, 1836. She was the seventh of the nine children and the fourth of the six daughters of Johann, King of Saxony and Amalie Auguste of Bavaria. Anna’s paternal grandparents were Maximilian, Hereditary Prince of Saxony and his first wife Carolina of Bourbon-Parma. Her maternal grandparents were Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria and his second wife Caroline of Baden.
Anna had eight siblings:
- Marie of Saxony (1827 – 1857), died of tuberculosis
- Albert, King of Saxony (1828 – 1902), married Carola of Vasa, no children
- Elisabeth of Saxony (1830 – 1912), married (1) Prince Ferdinand of Savoy, Duke of Genoa, had two children (2) Niccolò Bernoud, Marchese di Rapallo, no children
- Ernst of Saxony (1831 – 1847), died in his teens
- Georg, King of Saxony (1832 – 1904), married Maria Ana of Portugal, had eight children
- Sidonie of Saxony (1834 – 1862), unmarried, died from typhoid fever
- Margaretha of Saxony (1840 – 1858), married Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria, no children, died from typhoid fever
- Sophie of Saxony (1845 – 1867), married Karl-Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, had one daughter, died from influenza
Ferdinando of Tuscany, Anna’s husband; Credit – Wikipedia
Anna’s father was a close friend of Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The two families were linked by several marriages. A marriage between Anna and Leopoldo’s eldest son and heir Ferdinando, Hereditary Grand Duke of Tuscany was negotiated when the future bride and groom were still children. Anna and Ferdinando were married on November 24, 1856, in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, now in the German state of Saxony.
Anna gave birth to a daughter in 1858. On February 6, 1859, during a trip to Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy, Anna miscarried a daughter due to typhoid fever. Four days later Anna died at the age of twenty-three. She was buried at the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy.
Anna and Ferdinando’s daughter Maria Antonietta, circa 1875; Credit – Wikipedia
Ferdinando and Anna had one surviving daughter:
- Archduchess Maria Antonietta of Austria (1858 – 1883), unmarried
Shortly after Anna’s death, on April 27, 1859, the Grand Ducal family was forced to flee Florence because of the wars caused by the Italian unification movement, and the family took refuge in Austria. On July 21, 1859, Leopoldo II abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinando IV who was Grand Duke of Tuscany in name but never really reigned. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, as a part of the unification of Italy. In 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy, and Ferdinando’s hopes to reclaim the throne were ended. Ferdinando spent the rest of his life in exile in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. On January 11, 1868, Ferdinando married Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma, daughter of Carlo III, Duke of Parma and Louise Marie Thérèse of France. and the couple had ten children.
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Grand Duchy of Tuscany Resources at Unofficial Royalty
Works Cited
- De.wikipedia.org. 2021. Anna Maria von Sachsen – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Maria_von_Sachsen> [Accessed 29 September 2021].
- En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Princess Anna of Saxony (1836–1859) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Anna_of_Saxony_(1836%E2%80%931859)> [Accessed 29 September 2021].
- Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Ferdinando IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinando-iv-grand-duke-of-tuscany/> [Accessed 29 September 2021].
- It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Anna Maria di Sassonia – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Maria_di_Sassonia> [Accessed 29 September 2021].
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- Wheatcroft, Andrew, 1995. The Habsburgs. New York: Viking.
- Wilson, Peter, 2016. Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.