Early life Maria Ludovika was born in
Monza on 14 December 1787, but her family fled from Italy to Austria when Northern Italy was conquered by
Napoleon in 1796. This caused her a hostility for Napoleon. In Austria, the emperor fell in love with her during his visits to her mother. Maria Ludovika was educated by the Countess Almesloë, who was sent by Maria Ludovika’s grandmother
Maria Theresa.
Marriage On 6 January 1808 she married her first cousin
Francis I,
Emperor of Austria,
King of Hungary and
Bohemia. They had no children. She, as leader of the war party in Austria, was a great enemy of the French Emperor
Napoleon I and therefore also in opposition to the Austrian foreign minister Prince
Klemens von Metternich. The French had protested against the marriage because of her political views. She had considerable influence on her husband, and her talent at ruling marvelled many officials, including the Prussian minister who considered her the ruling genius at court. Maria Ludovika was also immensely popular with her subjects who hailed her a second
Maria Theresa. Together with her brother-in-law Archduke
John, she made the war effort popular. But the emperor hesitated and Archduke
Charles, who had extensive control over military matters, advised caution. Only the effects of the
Spanish revolt in 1808 allowed the war party to prevail. Metternich showed her private correspondence with her relatives to her husband, the Emperor Francis I, in the hope that it would discredit her. She was conservative in her views, suspicious of peasant revolts, but also patriotic towards her adopted land, and genuinely disturbed by atrocities that Napoleon's armies created in Spain. She supported the war against Napoleonic France in 1809. From this year, her health deteriorated. She was opposed to the marriage between Napoleon and her step-daughter
Marie Louise in 1809. In 1812, she was a reluctant guest to the assembly of German monarchs gathered by Napoleon to celebrate his war against Russia.
Death She was the hostess of the
Congress of Vienna in 1815. When Napoleon was finally defeated she traveled at the end of the year in 1815 to her home country, North Italy, but died of
tuberculosis in
Verona. She was only 28 years old. She is buried in the
Imperial Crypt in
Vienna. The
Ludovica Military Academy in Budapest established in 1808 was named after Maria Ludovika who contributed 50,000
Forint for its upkeep from the funds of the Honours list proclaimed at the Coronation in
St. Martin's Cathedral, in
Pressburg.
Goethe admired Maria Ludovika greatly, and felt tortured because he promised never to pay a public tribute to her nor mention her name in public. == Honours ==