Marie Caroline was a daughter of
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, later Francis I of Austria after the
dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and
Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies, and named after an elder sister who had died in infancy. Marie Caroline's parents were
double first cousins as they shared all four grandparents (Francis' paternal grandparents were his wife's maternal grandparents and vice versa). She was educated strictly, standing out in drawing, as proven by several sketches and crayons preserved in Austria.
Crown Princess of Saxony On 7 October 1819 she married
Prince Frederick Augustus of Saxony, son of
Maximilian, Prince of Saxony, and
Princess Caroline of Parma, in
Dresden, Germany. The marriage was childless and unhappy. Marie Caroline was sweet and pleasant, but she experienced epilepsy and her attacks were so frequent that she was barely able to fulfill her duties as Crown Princess; they also seriously affected her marital relationship. Frederick Augustus was unfaithful on several occasions. From one of these affairs he had an illegitimate son, the musician
Theodor Uhlig (1822–1853). Maria Carolina died from an epileptic attack on 22 May 1832 at
Pillnitz Castle near Dresden. ==Ancestry==