Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen

Marie Christine of Austria, Duchess of Sachsen-Teschen

Marie Christine Johanna Josephe Antonie of Austria (born Maria Christina Johanna Josepha Antonia) (3 May 1742 - 24 June 1798), (â†'Family Tree) called "Mimi", was the fourth girl and fifth child of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Her mother stalled arranged marriages for her favorite daughter until after the death of Mimi's father so that she could marry for love instead of reasons of state â€" the only child allowed to do so. She chose Duke Albert of Saxony-Teschen. She was appointed governor of the Austrian Netherlands.

Mimi had only one child, Duchess Maria Theresia of Saxony-Teschen, who died on May 17, 1767, the day after her birth, and she was unable to have other children. The couple then became the adoptive parents of Archduke Charles of Austria.

She is buried in the Tuscan Vault of the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, along with her husband and daughter. The famous and moving monument her husband erected to her memory is in the Augustinerkirche.