by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was located in present-day northwest Italy. It existed, with a few interruptions, from 1569 – 1859. Tuscany was ruled by the de Medici family from 1434–1494 and from 1512 until the extinction of its senior branch in 1737. In 1569, Pope Pius V elevated Tuscany to a Grand Duchy and Cosimo I de’ Medici became its first Grand Duke.

In 1737, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine obtained control of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.  François Étienne, Duke of Lorraine exchanged the Duchy of Lorraine for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Stanisław I, the father-in-law of King Louis XV of France, had abdicated the throne of Poland in 1736 and now became the Duke of Lorraine.

Except for a period of thirteen years from 1801 – 1814 during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine retained the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until 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.

Two Grand Dukes of Tuscany were also Holy Roman Emperors: Francesco II Stefano, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1737 – 1765) also Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1745 – 1765) and Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1765 – 1790) also Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1790 – 1792).

• Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany was born on May 6, 1769, in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy. He was the third of the sixteen children and the second of the twelve sons of Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1765 – 1790), later Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1790 – 1792) and Maria Luisa of Spain. (Ferdinando’s father is commonly known as Leopold.) Ferdinando’s paternal grandfather was Francis Stephen, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1737 – 1765), Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1745 – 1765) and Duke of Lorraine (reigned 1729 – 1737). His paternal grandmother was the formidable and powerful Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia – the Sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma. Ferdinando’s maternal grandparents were Carlos III, King of Spain and Maria Amalia of Saxony.

Ferdinando had fifteen siblings. Unusual for the time, only two died in childhood.

• Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (1767 – 1827), married Anton I, King of Saxony, had four children who all died in infancy
• Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor (later Franz I, Emperor of Austria) (1768 – 1835), married (1) Elisabeth of Württemberg, died in childbirth giving birth to a daughter who died in infancy (2) Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily, had twelve children, died after giving birth to her twelfth child who died three days later (3) Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este, no children, died from tuberculosis (4) Caroline Augusta of Bavaria, no children
• Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1770 – 1809), unmarried
• Archduke Karl of Austria (1771 – 1847), married Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg, had seven children including Maria Theresa who married Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies
• Archduke Alexander Leopold of Austria (1772 – 1795), unmarried, accidentally burned to death from a mishap while conducting a fireworks show
• Archduke Albrecht Johann Joseph of Austria (1773 – 1774), died in infancy
• Archduke Maximilian Johann Joseph of Austria (1774 – 1778), died in childhood
• Archduke Joseph of Austria (1776 – 1847), married (1) Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia, died due to childbirth complications after giving birth to a daughter who died in early childhood (2) Hermine of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, had children, died in childbirth (3) Maria Dorothea of Württemberg, had five children including Marie-Henriette who married Leopold II, King of the Belgians
• Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria (1777 – 1801), married Francesco, Duke of Calabria, later King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies, had two children, died from tuberculosis
• Archduke Anton of Austria (1779 – 1835), unmarried
• Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria (1780 – 1798), unmarried
• Archduke Johann of Austria (1782 – 1859), married morganatically to Countess Anna Plochl, had one son
• Archduke Rainer of Austria (1783 – 1853), married Elisabeth of Savoy, had eight children including Adelaide of Austria who married Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, later King of Italy
• Archduke Louis of Austria (1784 – 1864), unmarried
• Archduke Rudolph of Austria, Cardinal-Archbishop of Olomouc (1788 – 1831)

On February 20, 1790, Ferdinando’s childless uncle Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Archduke of Austria died and Ferdinando’s father Leopold succeeded to the Habsburg hereditary titles. When his father was elected Holy Roman Emperor, he abdicated the throne of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in favor of his second son Ferdinando who officially became Grand Duke of Tuscany on July 22, 1790. Ferdinando’s elder brother Franz would succeed to the Habsburg hereditary titles and be elected Holy Roman Emperor upon his father’s death in 1792.

On August 15, 1790, in Naples, Kingdom of Naples, now in Italy, Ferdinando married by proxy his double first cousin Luisa of Naples and Sicily. The couple married in person in Vienna, Austria on September 19, 1790. Luisa was the daughter of Ferdinando I, King of Naples and Sicily (later King of the Two Sicilies) and Maria Carolina of Austria. Ferdinando I, King of Naples and Sicily was the brother of Ferdinando’s mother Maria Luisa of Spain. Maria Carolina was the sister of Ferdinando’s father Leopold.

Ferdinando and Luisa had five children:

• Archduchess Carolina Ferdinanda of Austria (1793 – 1802), died in childhood
• Francesco Leopoldo, Grand Prince of Tuscany (1794 – 1800), died in childhood
• Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1797 – 1870), married (1) Maria Anna of Saxony, had three daughters including Auguste of Austria who married Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria (2) Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies, had ten children including Leopoldo II’s successor Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany
• Archduchess Maria Luisa of Austria (1798 – 1857), unmarried
• Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (1801 – 1855), married Carlo Alberto I, King of Sardinia, had three children including Carlo Alberto’s successor Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, later King of Italy

In 1801, Napoleon conquered Tuscany and Ferdinando was forced by the Treaty of Aranjuez to leave Tuscany to make way for the Kingdom of Etruria. Ferdinando and his family went into exile in Vienna, Austria. In 1807, Napoleon dissolved the Kingdom of Etruria and integrated it into France. After Napoleon’s downfall in 1814, Tuscany was restored to Ferdinando.

While the family was in exile in Vienna, Luisa, aged 29, died in childbirth delivering a stillborn son on September 19, 1802, at Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. She was buried with her stillborn son in her arms at the Imperial Crypt in the Capuchin Church in Vienna Austria.

For the last years of his reign, Ferdinando was occupied with public works including road and aqueduct construction. Ferdinando was personally involved with these projects and developed malaria which ultimately led to his death. Twenty years after the death of his first wife, on May 6, 1821, 52-year-old Ferdinando married 25-year-old Princess Maria Ferdinanda of Saxony. The couple had no children.

Ferdinando I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, aged 55, died on June 18, 1824, in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy. He was buried in the Medici Chapel at the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence.

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Grand Duchy of Tuscany Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Grand Duchy of Tuscany Index
• Grand Duchy of Tuscany Royal Burial Sites

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_III,_Grand_Duke_of_Tuscany> [Accessed 24 September 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-ii-holy-roman-emperor-pietro-leopoldo-i-grand-duke-of-tuscany/> [Accessed 24 September 2021].
• It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Ferdinando III di Toscana – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinando_III_di_Toscana> [Accessed 24 September 2021].
• Wilson, Peter, 2016. Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.