Queen Maria Annunciata

## Maria Annunciata of Austria

Formal portrait, 1910s

Queen-Consort **Maria Annunciata of Sladonia**, or **of Austria** (Maria Annunciata Adélaïde Thérèse Micaela Caroline Louise Pia Ignatia; German: Maria Annunciata Adelheid Theresia Michaela Karoline Luise Pia Ignatia; Sladonian: Marie-Anunziatë Térése Michaela Caroline Louisé Pia Ignacia; 31 July 1876 - 8 April 1961) was the Queen Consort of Sladonia from 1917 until 1951 as the wife of Léopold III. She was also a professional linguist, and was instrumental in helping to preserve the Sladonian language.

## Early Life

Maria Annunciata was born on July 31, 1876 in the town of Reichenau (present-day Austria, but at the time part of Austria-Hungary), to Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria and Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal, who had married married three years earlier. She was the eldest child of the union, but had four half-siblings from her father's previous marriages: Archdukes Franz Ferdinand, Otto Franz and Ferdinand Karl of Austria, and Archduchess Margrete Sophie of Austria. Two years after her birth, her parents had another child, Elisabeth Amalie. She was known by her family as 'Miana'.

Her parents had an unhappy marriage, due to her father's frequent bullying of her mother. As such, she became distant from him. Despite this, her mother rose to be one of the most influential figures in the Austrian court, after Empress Elisabeth effectively withdrew from public life. Her mother often stood in for the Empress during formal occasions.

In 1894, while staying with her brother, Franz Ferdinand, she met Duke Siegfried in Bavaria, and the two fell in love. He proposed to her and the couple were very happy together. However, when he was involved in a horse riding accident, she found that his personality had drastically changed, and broke off the engagement. He fell victim to bouts of insanity and died in 1952.

## Marriage and Crown Princess

While recovering from the ordeal, Maria Annunciata considered becoming a nun, but ultimately decided against it. Her father died in 1896 after returning from the Middle East, and her brother became the heir to the Austrian throne. Her mother arranged for Maria Annunciata and her sister to meet Prince Charles Léopold of Sladonia, the second-born son of Léopold II. Though he was not set to inherit the throne, he was still thought of as a highly eligible bachelor.

It was assumed that he would chose the younger and prettier of the two, Elisabeth, but he found Maria Annunciata much more interesting in conversation. The couple were engaged on May 1, 1897. The wedding took place on November 2, at the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas the Assessor. The ceremony was performed by the Cardinal of Duligo. Notable attendees included Franz Joseph I of Austria, George V of the UK, Nicholas II of Russia and Oscar II of Sweden.

The couple had four children; Marie-Thérèse in 1899, Léopold Charles in 1904, and twin daughters Adélaïde Clothilde and Louise Léopoldina in 1909. A month before the birth of her first child, her father-in-law, King Léopold II, died, and her brother-in-law became Alexandre II. He had no children, and Maria Annunciata and her husband became Crown Prince and Crown Princess, however, it was expected that Alexandre would marry and have children in the next few years.

In 1901, she began to study the Sladonian Language, which had not been spoken by a member of the royal family for over two hundred years prior. She took quickly to the language, and had mastered in within a few years. In 1903, she, Tomàs Éetres, María Cabras and Perenelle Florente wrote a university thesis on the language, which was published as a book in 1915.

In 1914, Maria Annunciata's brother, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated, an event which led to the outbreak of the First World War. During the first half of the war, she and Charles Léopold were very popular among the Sladonian people, and they often visited hospitals and wounded soldiers. In 1916, Charles Léopold travelled to the front line, along with his brothers, Alexandre II, Philippe and Guillaume. The four were stationed in Belgium, Italy and France over the next two years. On May 19, 1917, Alexandre was killed from a bullet wound, making Charles Léopold and Maria Annunciata king and queen of Sladonia.

## Reign

Despite succeeding his brother as king, Charles Léopold did not return to Sladonia until the end of the war in 1918. Maria Annunciata acted as regent from 1917 until her husband's return in January 1919. She personally wrote over ten thousand letters to the families of World War One casualties, endearing her to the people and further increasing the monarchy's popularity.

She and her husband were crowned on Christmas day, 1919, in the Cathedral of Sainte-Laurens. They then embarked on a nine-month-long tour of the world, visiting Australia, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Japan, Egypt, Brazil, Mexico and the US.

In 1920, she and Éetres, Cabras and Florente compiled the first Sladonian dictionary, along with outlining the grammar rules. It forms the basis for the teaching of the language today. Additionally, she translated the works of Charles Darwin, Jane Austen, Shakespeare and Leo Tolstoy.

In 1930, Maria Annunciata travelled to Paris to stay with her daughter, Louise, who was expecting her first child. Louise went into premature labour on January 28, and died of complications a day later. Maria Annunciata was grief-stricken, and wore black in mourning for the next six months.

She often helped her husband to write speeches and served as regent while he was away. She was a close friend of Queen Mary of the UK, and often stayed with her sister in Liechtenstein. In January 1935, she suffered a broken wrist, after which she abstained from public appearances for several months. Rumours circulated that it had been broken by her husband in a fit of rage, but she later told the newspapers that it was a result of arthritis. Her health deteriorated over the next few years, and her daughters often replaced her at formal occasions.

She spent the summer of 1938 in Paris, but returned to Sladonia amidst the lead-up to the Second World War. Sladonia declared war on Germany along with the UK, and Maria Annunciata, reflecting Queen Mary of the UK, instituted rationing among the royal household. She seldom left the palace due to her fragile condition, but she made the journey to the Port of Duligo to rally over three thousand soldiers who were being sent to help the allied forces in Italy.

By 1943, Maria Annunciata had regained her independence, and regularly broadcast patriotic messages via radio. In 1944, her mother died, but she could not attend the funeral due to her limited mobility. Instead, a small private service was held for her in the chapel at Galisia Palace. By the end of the war, her husband had developed liver cancer, and their son, Léopold, acted as regent from 1946 until his father's death on October 17, 1951.

## Issue

The Children of King Léopold III and Maria Annunciata of Austria
(aged 72)
 Léopold Charles Louis Joseph Francis Maria Miguel
(King Léopold IV of Sladonia)
(aged 67)
 Adélaïde Marie Clothilde Françoise Louise
(aged 60)
(1903-1997)
* Marie-Clothilde
* Léopoldina
 Louise Léopoldina Ignacia Aregunde Hildegard
(aged 20)