Archduchess Marianne of Austria

## Marianne Habsburg-Lorraine

Marianne by Hugo Rice, 1847

**Archduchess Marianne of Austria** (Marianne Christian Friedrich Charlotte Augusta; 1 September 1791 – 7 November 1865) was the Viscountess of Maclean from 1792 to 1865. She was the third child and second daughter of Archduke Karl II of Silesia and Austria and Duchess Maria Boleyn, being the eldest surviving child of her mother—when her mother remarried to a new man—she alone inherited the massive family fortune of her father and was styled "Her Royal Highness, The Archduchess Marianne of Silesia and Austria"—as her mother was technically a Duchess, she held both titles similar to the situation of her father. Raised separately from the rest of her "siblings"—the young Archduchess held high standards for her "siblings" and refused to ever stop working even for a minute—the busiest Royal of Europe, she was held in high favor among the courts of Europe and was often found laughing at the slightest of things. She was Viscountess of Maclean by marriage to Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 8th Baronet. She was the mother of Lady Charlotte, Viscountess of Maclean (the eldest and only child of the couple)—the birth of their daughter caused the couple to change the rules of succession for their daughter to be able to inherit the title and style of her father. Despite her Austrian-Prussian-British mixed heritage, she was widely accepted by the people of Scotland—in fact, she as the third daughter of a powerful Austrian-Prussian Archduke and his wife, a British Duchess, she was widely respected despite being a foreign woman. At the age of sixteen, she married her much-beloved husband (Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 8th Baronet), the half-brother of her late fiancé (Sir Hector Maclean, 7th Baronet).

After her husband died in 1847, she became widely known as **Viscountess Maclean** (Scottish Gaelic: *Biocas MacIlleathain*). The Viscountess Dowager briefly moved back to her father`s former homeland of Silesia and became one of the most powerful as well as one of the most respected women of her time—her daughter, Charlotte, similar to her mother would become widely respected in Scotland but extremely scorned and disrespected in Britain—her mother`s foreign roots made her widely unpopular in Scotland`s neighboring country of Britain—the Viscountess even experienced discrimination on the rare occasion she traveled to Britain due to her mother`s Austrian-Prussian heritage.

## Archduchess of Austria

### **Childhood and Education**

Archduchess Marianne was born on 1 September 1791 at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, Austria. She was the third child of Archduke Karl II of Silesia and Austria and his wife, Duchess Maria Boleyn of York and Lancaster. When she was born, the doctor exclaimed happily: "Your Royal Highnesses, it is a girl!" The Archduke replied: "She has the same calm aura as her mother", which made her mother giggle quietly. Though her parents were incredibly delighted by having a second daughter in the family, they worried about the safety of their children—her father`s maternal and paternal uncles hungered for his blood—as to protect his third daughter, she was escorted to the United States, where she lived in a large manor house and interacted often with the young America (who would grow up to become the United States). At the age of two months, she was engaged to Sir Hector Maclean, 7th Baronet—as she grew up, she would often run away from her governess when they were teaching her how to be a proper consort—instead she was often found playing sophisticated games with young female noble children. England (Arthur Kirkland) often noticed her running away from her governess—only truly learning of her identity after the death of her would-be husband and her would-be-husband`s half-brother being granted her hand-in-marriage.

## Engagement and Wedding

### **Engagement**

Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 8th Baronet of Scotland—her bethrored and future husband after the passing of her would-be husband, Sir Hector Maclean, 7th Baronet of Scotland—the two only became formally engaged in 1818, the year of Hector`s death, something which saddened the Archduchess, and enraged both of her parents. According to the tradition of the Maclean Clan, he also received rigorous military training.

In 1819, Sir Fitzroy made another trip to the United States and visited Marianne and the members of her household at Fitzroy Manor—the Archduchess`s household was less than pleased to see him on their doorstep. The purpose of this trip was to see the Archduchess again, to ensure that she would measure up to his standards for a suitable consort. In Scotland, the response to this journey to the United States was far from negative—although she held British heritage, she was raised in the #1 enemy country of the British Empire, the Unite States of America. The Archduchess first visited Scotland herself when she was only nine-years-old in 7 November 1800—her incredible sense of humor and hatred of the British Empire helped to endear her to her future parents-in-law. Before their engagement was finalized in 1818, the Archduchess visited Scotland for the last time before their marriage in 1819, in 7 November 1806 at the age of fifteen. Her parents were less pleased as they had enjoyed the company of Hector far more than his half-brother, Fitzroy—however they relented to the continuation of the courtship due to the happiness it brought their daughter. The engagement of Marianne and Fitzroy was publicly announced on 17 May 1918. The immediate reaction in Scotland was great surprise. The Scottish public welcomed the union and much of them fell in love with her gently-accented lilting Scottish-Gaelic. *The Nova Scotia Times* characterized the young Archduchess "as beautiful as a rose bud, a true treasure to her Scottish husband." The newspaper also praised the fierceness of the wild Duchess and displayed a picture of her as a child, playfully wrestling with her father—the Prussian Court was completely shocked and stunned by the news of the engagement as her existence was never made known to them. They completely disapproved of the engagement—members of the Hohenzollern Dynasty even called her husband-to-be, "low-born scum" and slammed his titles as "inadequate for his future spouse"—the Archduchess was infuriated at their comments and wrote to her husband-to-be regarding this issue, "these completely bigoted individuals who dare to call themselves my relatives spread rumors about the nature of your birth—though they may disapprove of our future marriage, I will always love you regardless of your titles or styles, or even what kind of life you live. My love for you knows no bonds, I hope these words will give you comfort as you return to Scotland from the United States my love."

### **Preparation for the role of Scottish Viscountess**

Her future husband, Sir Fitzroy Maclean campaigned for his future wife to receive the best preparations for her future role as his wife, and the Viscountess of Clan Maclean—this presented many problems and eventually she arrived in Great Britain where she was presented as the Archduchess of Austria and Silesia—Queen Victoria and Prince Albert becoming shocked upon learning who she was, decided to assign her a Scottish maid to prepare her for the role. Her parents who had been vocal critics of the engagement/future marriage since day one sent two members of their Household to prepare her for the role—