Early years , Paris Margaret Theresa was born on 12 July 1651 in
Madrid as the first child of King
Philip IV of Spain born from his second
marriage with his niece Mariana of Austria. Margaret's paternal grandparents were King
Philip III of Spain and his wife Archduchess
Margaret of Austria. Her maternal grandparents were
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife Infanta
Maria Anna of Spain, the daughter of her paternal grandparents. The marriage of her parents was purely made for political reasons, mainly the search for a new male heir for the Spanish throne after the early death of
Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias in 1646. Besides him, the other only surviving child of Philip IV's first marriage was the Infanta
Maria Theresa, who later became the wife of King
Louis XIV of France. After Margaret, between 1655 and 1661, four more children (a daughter and three sons) were born from the marriage between Philip IV and Mariana of Austria, but only one survived infancy, the future King
Charles II of Spain. Despite the close
consanguinity of her parents, Margaret did not develop the serious health issues and disabilities that her younger brother had shown since his birth. During her childhood, she was once seriously ill, but survived. According to contemporaries, Margaret had an attractive appearance and lively character. Her parents and close friends called her the "little angel". She grew up in the queen's chambers in the
Royal Alcazar of Madrid surrounded by many maids and servants. Both Margaret's father and maternal grandfather Emperor Ferdinand III loved her deeply. In his private letters King Philip IV called her "my joy". At the same time, Margaret was brought up in accordance with the strict etiquette of the Madrid court, and received a good education.
Betrothal and marriage In the second half of the 1650s at the imperial court in
Vienna the necessity developed for another dynastic marriage between the Spanish and Austrian branches of the
House of Habsburg. The union was needed to strengthen the position of both countries, especially against the
Kingdom of France. At first the proposals were for Maria Theresa, the eldest daughter of Philip IV, to marry the heir of the Holy Roman Empire, Archduke
Leopold Ignaz. But in 1660 and under the terms of the
Treaty of the Pyrenees, Maria Theresa was married to the French King,
Louis XIV; as a part of her marriage contract, she was asked to renounce her claims to the Spanish throne in return for a monetary settlement as part of her dowry, which was never paid. Then began discussion about a marriage between Margaret and the Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold I (who was her maternal uncle and paternal cousin). However, the Madrid court hesitated to agree to this proposal, because the infanta could inherit the Spanish crown if her little brother died. Nevertheless, both King Philip IV and Queen Mariana strongly wanted their daughter to marry Emperor Leopold I, as their private correspondence with the nun
Sor María de Ágreda shows. The Holy Roman Emperor was the only serious marriage candidate considered by the Spanish court for Margaret Theresa. In 1659, King Philip IV expressed his desire to offer the hand of his daughter Margaret Theresa in marriage to Emperor Leopold I, through the Spanish ambassador in Vienna. In February 1660, Emperor Leopold officially asked King Philip and Queen Mariana for the hand of Margaret Theresa in marriage, and they accepted in April of the same year. Even when the infanta was already betrothed to the Emperor, there were still rumors that Margaret could marry
Archduke Charles Joseph of Austria, who was Leopold's youngest brother, and in case the future King Charles II died, then Margaret and Charles Joseph would become the next Spanish monarchs. The fact that the young Archduke was Catholic and a Habsburg made him completely acceptable for the Spanish court, which would never accept anyone from another dynasty and even less a Protestant as a marriage candidate for Margaret Theresa. In any case, the rumors about a marriage to the Archduke came to nothing and Margaret remained betrothed to Emperor Leopold. At the end of 1662, the Emperor sent Count Pötting to Madrid to conduct marriage negotiations. In October 1662, the new Imperial ambassador in Spain, Count Francis Eusebius of Pötting, began one of his main diplomatic assignments, which was the celebration of the marriage between the infanta and the emperor. Negotiations by the Spanish side were led by
Ramiro Núñez de Guzmán, Duke of Medina de las Torres. On 6 April 1663, the betrothal between Margaret and Leopold I was finally announced. The marriage contract was signed on 18 December. Before the official wedding ceremony (which, according to custom, had to take place in Vienna) another portrait of the infanta was sent, in order for the emperor to know his bride. This means that Philip IV's idea was that, if Charles II died, then Margaret and Leopold would become joint rulers of Spain, even if they were absent. After Philip IV's death, Mariana asked the ministers to confirm Margaret’s marriage to Leopold I, which they did. On 25 April 1666, the marriage by proxy was finally celebrated in Madrid, in a ceremony attended not only by the Dowager Queen, King Charles II and the Imperial ambassador but also by the local nobility; the groom was represented by
Antonio de la Cerda, 7th Duke of Medinaceli. On 28 April 1666 Margaret traveled from Madrid to Vienna, accompanied by her personal retinue. The infanta arrived at
Dénia, where she rested for some days before embarking on the Spanish royal fleet on 16 July, in turn escorted by ships of the
Order of Malta and the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Then (after a short stop in Barcelona because Margaret had some health issues) the cortege sailed to the port of
Finale Ligure, arriving on 20 August. There, Margaret was received by Luis Guzman Ponce de Leon, Governor of
Milan. The cortege left Finale on 1 September and arrived in
Milan ten days later, although the official entry was not celebrated until 15 September. After spending almost all September in Milan, the infanta continued the journey through
Venice, arriving in early October in
Trento. At every stop Margaret received celebrations in her honor. On 8 October the Spanish retinue arrived at the city of
Roveredo, where the head of Margaret's cortege,
Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 8th Duke of Alburquerque officially handed the infanta to
Ferdinand Joseph, Prince of Dietrichstein and Count
Ernst Adalbert von Harrach,
Prince-Bishop of Trent, representants of Leopold I. On 20 October the new Austrian cortege left Roveredo, crossing the
Tyrol, through
Carinthia and
Styria, and arrived on 25 November at the district of
Schottwien, twelve miles from Vienna where the emperor came to receive his bride. and lasted almost two years. The emperor ordered the construction of an open-air theatre near the present Burggarten, with a capacity of 5,000 people. For Margaret's birthday in July 1668, the theatre hosted the premiere of the opera ''
Il pomo d'oro'' (The Golden Apple). Composed by
Antonio Cesti, the opera was called the "staging of the century" by contemporaries due to its magnificence and expense. The year before, the emperor gave an equestrian ballet where he personally mounted on his horse, Speranza; due to technical adaptations, the ballet gave spectators the impression that horses and carriages were hovering in the air. Despite the age difference, Leopold I's unattractive appearance and Margaret's health problems, according to contemporaries they had a happy marriage. The empress always called her husband "Uncle" (de:
Onkel), and he called her "Gretl" (a German diminutive of Margaret). The couple had many common interests, especially in art and music. During her six years of marriage, Margaret gave birth to four children, of whom only one survived infancy: •
Maria Antonia Josepha Benedicta Rosalia Petronella (18 January 1669 – 24 December 1692),
Archduchess of Austria, Margaret died on 12 March 1673, at the age of 21. She was buried in the
Imperial Crypt, in
Vienna. Only four months later, the widower emperor – despite his grief for the death of his "only Margareta", as he remembered her, entered into a second marriage with Archduchess
Claudia Felicitas of Austria, member of the
Tyrolese branch of the House of Habsburg. After Margaret's death, her rights over the Spanish throne were inherited by her only surviving daughter Maria Antonia, who in turn passed them to her only surviving son Prince Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria when she died in 1692. After Joseph Ferdinand's early death in 1699, the rights of inheritance were disputed by both Emperor Leopold I and King Louis XIV of France, son-in-law of King Philip IV. The outcome of the
War of the Spanish Succession was the creation of the Spanish branch of the
House of Bourbon in the person of King
Philip V, Margaret's great-nephew. ==Depictions in art==