Duchess Elisabeth of Württemberg

For the Duchess born 1802, see Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Württemberg.

Elisabeth of Württemberg (Elisabeth Wilhelmine Luise; 21 April 1767 – 18 February 1790) was a duchess of Württemberg by birth and an archduchess of Austria by her marriage to Archduke Francis of Austria.

Duchess Elisabeth
Portrait by Johann Baptist von Lampi the Elder
Born	21 April 1767 Treptow an der Rega, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	18 February 1790 (aged 22) Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Burial	Imperial Crypt
Spouse	Archduke Francis of Austria ​ ​ (m. 1788)​
Issue	Archduchess Ludovika Elisabeth
Names Elisabeth Wilhelmine Luise
House	Württemberg
Father	Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg
Mother	Princess Sophia Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt
Religion	Roman Catholicism prev. Lutheranism

Life

Elisabeth Wilhelmine Luise was born on 21 April 1767, in Treptow an der Rega, Province of Pomerania (present-day Trzebiatów, Poland) as the third daughter and eighth child of Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and his wife, born Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt.

At the age of fifteen, she was summoned by the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph II, to Vienna.^{[citation needed]} There, she was educated in a convent of the Salesian sisters converted to Roman Catholicism in anticipation for her marriage to Joseph's nephew Francis, the son of his heir presumptive Leopold. They were married in Vienna on 6 January 1788. At this time, Emperor Joseph was in ill health; the young archduchess became close to the emperor and brightened his last years with her youthful charm.^{[citation needed]}

At the end of 1789, Elisabeth became pregnant; however, her condition was very delicate. On 15 February 1790, after attending the anointing of the sick for the dying emperor, Elisabeth fainted. On the night of 18 February, after a twenty-four-hour delivery, she prematurely gave birth to Archduchess Ludovika Elisabeth, who lived for sixteen months. Despite an emergency operation to save her life, Elisabeth did not survive and was buried in the Imperial Crypt.

Issue

• Archduchess Ludovika Elisabeth of Austria (18 Feb 1790 – 24 June 1791), died in infancy.

Archives

Elisabeth's letters to her parents, Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt, written between 1780 and 1790, are preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart (Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart) in Stuttgart, Germany.^[1][2] Elisabeth's letters to her brother, Charles Frederick Henry of Württemberg, are also preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart.^[3]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Duchess Elisabeth of Württemberg

8. Frederick Charles, Duke of Württemberg-Winnental 4. Charles Alexander, Duke of Württemberg 9. Princess Eleonore Juliane of Brandenburg-Ansbach 2. Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg 10. Anselm Franz, Prince of Thurn and Taxis 5. Princess Marie Auguste of Thurn and Taxis 11. Princess Maria Ludovika of Lobkowicz 1. Duchess Elisabeth of Württemberg 12. Philip William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt 6. Frederick William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt 13. Princess Johanna Charlotte of Anhalt-Dessau 3. Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt 14. Frederick William I of Prussia 7. Princess Sophia Dorothea of Prussia 15. Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover

References

1. "Briefe der Prinzessin Elisabeth an ihre Eltern, Herzog Friedrich Eugen und Herzogin Sophie Dorothee 1780-1790". Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
2. "1. Briefe der Prinzessin Elisabeth an ihre Eltern, Herzog Friedrich Eugen und Herzogin Sophie Dorothee 1780-1790". Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
3. "2. Briefe der Prinzessin Elisabeth an ihren Bruder Karl Friedrich Heinrich und 1 Schreiben ihres Gemahles und 2 weitere an den Prinzen über deren Tod 1782-1790". Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. Retrieved 22 November 2021.

• Brigitte Hamann: Die Habsburger, ein biographisches Lexikon. Verlag Carl Ueberreuter, Vienna, 1988