Princess Maria Anna Victoria of Savoy

Princess Maria Anna Victoria
Princess Joseph of Saxe-Hilburghausen Duchess in Saxony
Princess Maria Anna Vittoria of Savoy
Born	10 November 1686[1]
Died	11 October 1763(1763-10-11) (aged 76) Turin, Italy
Noble family	House of Savoy-Carignano (by birth) House of Saxe-Hildburghausen (by marriage)
Spouse(s)	Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1738–1757; marriage dissolved)
Father	Louis Thomas, Count of Soissons
Mother	Uranie de La Cropte de Beauvais

Princess Maria Anna Victoria of Savoy (German: Maria Anna Victoria von Savoyen; 11 September 1683 – 11 October 1763) was the daughter of Prince Louis Thomas of Savoy, Count of Soissons, and Uranie de La Cropte de Beauvais (1655-1717).

Biography[]

As the daughter of Louis Thomas, Count of Soissons, she was styled Mademoiselle de Soissons or Mademoiselle de Carignan prior to her marriage. Her father had married at the age of twenty two far below his class and in secret Uranie de La Cropte de Beauvais, after the death of her husband Uranie retired into a monastery.^[1] Maria Anna Victoria was the niece of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the great general and statesman of imperial Austria, a patron of the arts whom she had never met.^[2]

Upon Prince Eugene's sudden death in 1736, without a will or testament, Maria Anna Victoria as his closest relative inherited his immense possessions in Austria, which she then proceeded to quickly sell off at cut rate prices. His mansions, vast art collections (with an estimated 400 pictures), antique furniture, old masters, statues, even his wartime medals, the sword given to him by Anne, Queen of Great Britain, for his part in the War of the Spanish Succession and the portrait given to him by Emperor Joseph were sold; nothing was spared.^[3] Only his library and his favourite palace, the Belvedere were purchased by the Emperor,^[4] while Schlosshof and the Stadtpalais went to Maria Theresa.^[3]

The bitterness of every Austrian against Maria Anna Victoria as she proceeded with the liquidation was expressed in a couplet which was pinned on her door:^[3]

Est-il possible que du prince Eugene la gloire
Soit ternie par une si vilaine Victoire

Is it possible, that Prince Eugene’s glory
Be tarnished by such an ugly Victoria

Embellished with her fantastic dowry, fifty-two-year-old Princess Maria Anna Victoria married on 17 April 1738 German officer and Feldzeugmeister of the Imperial Army Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen, who was almost two decades younger than her, and led a life of lavish parties.^[5] The union ended in divorce in 1757 after Saxe-Hildburghausen was said to have ingloriously ran away.^[6] The couple had no children.^[7]

She then lived for a time in France, and eventually died in Turin, Italy, in 1763 at the age of 76.

Ancestry[]

References[]

Sources[]

• de Saint-Allais, N.V. (1817). Nobiliaire universel de France: ou Recueil général des généalogies historiques des maisons nobles de ce royaume (in French). Bachelin-Deflorenne.
• Henderson, N. (2002). Prince Eugen of Savoy: A Biography. A Phoenix Press Paperback. Phoenix. ISBN 978-1-84212-597-7.
• McKay, D.; Baker, D.V.; von Savoyen, E.P. (1977). Prince Eugene of Savoy. Men in office. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-87007-5.
• Markus, G. (2014). Alles nur Zufall?: Schicksalsstunden großer Österreicher (in German). Amalthea Signum Verlag. ISBN 978-3-902862-98-3.
• Mraz, G.; Nemec, H. (1988). Belvedere: Schloss und Park des Prinzen Eugen (in German). Herder. ISBN 978-3-210-24871-4.
• Vehse, C.E.; Demmler, F.K.F. (1856). Memoirs of the Court, Aristocracy, and Diplomacy of Austria. Memoirs of the Court, Aristocracy, and Diplomacy of Austria. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.