Ah Maria, She’s Such a Sweet Mother

For the last several weeks, Mr. Al has been recounting the political difficulties that beset Maria Theresa of Austria when, starting as a young woman, the task of saving the country fell to her shoulders. To see more, click on the History by Mr. Al tab.

It is worth a moment to pause here and look at Maria’s home life. She was the Mother of her country. She was also the mother of twelve children by the time the Seven Years War started. Ultimately, she had sixteen, four of whom died.

In 1760, her eldest, Marianne, was twenty-two. Her youngest, Maximilian, was three. Prince Joseph, heir to the throne and royal pain in the Royal Patootie, was nineteen. While she obviously had a rather full plate at the time, she took a strong interest in the daily activities of her children. Their tutors were given explicit instructions.

Unfortunately for the girls, what mom recommended for them was little different from what mom herself grew up with. “She, who complained in later years about her own narrow and useless education, inflicted much the same sort of upbringing on her own daughters.”

Of them all, Maria Christine was the favorite. Highly intelligent, humorous, artistically talented, and beautiful, Maria Christine flourished in spite of her upbringing. It may also be that Maria Christine, being the favorite, was treated differently than the other girls.

The one thing Maria herself could never do, she insisted her children do. Obey. Obey without question whatever they were told to do. No sass, no foot-dragging, no mumbling under their breath. For example, an excerpt from this instructive letter to Countess Lerchenfeld, who was in charge of two of the younger children:

“I insist on their eating everything, with no fault finding and no picking and choosing. Further, they must not be allowed to criticize their food. On Fridays, Saturdays, and all other fast-days they will eat fish. Although Johanna in particular dislikes it, she must not be indulged. The sooner the habit is broken the better. All my children had the same aversion, and all had to overcome it….I don’t like to see them eating much sugar, see that they have as little as possible.”

Many other such letters followed. They covered every possible subject and the theme of each was the same. Be strict. Except in one department. This might be called “The Theater Department.” because it was run like one. Comedies, operas, ballets. “all elaborately dressed and mounted, often with libretti by Metastasio.” And all performed by the children and a select group of their friends.

So often were these productions mounted that Count Khevenhuller worried in his diary that the Royal Kids were on the road to becoming shallow, social butterflies. There were other reasons Maria had for encouraging her children in these entertainments. She certainly enjoyed them herself. She loved showing off her kids. Another reason was that Francis loved these shows as much as she.

“Clearly she saw in Francis’s delight in his children a bond to be exploited to the utmost. She was trying her best to please him.” As well she might. He was still hanging around with his disreputable friends, entertaining young ladies in his private box at the old Burg theater and going off on hunting trips at Laxenburg or Hollitsch, using both as a cover for his assignations with Countess Wilhelmina Auersburg; “a lady of reckless and extravagant tastes, who took a great deal from him without ever concealing the fact that others shared her favors.”

If he was not in love with the Countess, he was at least seriously infatuated with her. He bought her a small house at Laxenburg. An action that goaded Maria to buy the palace of Scholoss for Francis as a gift. Let’s see your girlfriend give you something like that!

Maria Christine may have been the favorite, but she was not the center of attention. That was reserved for the boy who would be king, Prince Joseph. In him Maria nearly met her match “One of the children stood outside all such affairs, regarding the goings-on of his mother, his father, his brothers and sisters, at first with sulky reserve, soon with increasingly arrogant disdain. From his childhood onwards, Joseph brought out the best and the worst in his mother.”

Of course Maria and Joseph were no average mother and son. Their “family” conflicts would not only drive Maria to despair, they would, once Joseph became co-regent, threaten to undo everything Maria had worked so hard to build.

— Mr. Al