Empress Maria Theresia II

HRE Josef II had only one child by his beloved first-wife, Maria Theresia Elisabeth ("Titi"), born in 1762. Now, Titi died young of smallpox (I think) in 1770. By then, Josef had been married again and widowered again, so I think it's fairly safe to say that Titi would be his only surviving child. Meaning that while she couldn't be elected Holy Roman Emperor, her husband could.

So, what if Titi were to survive? What might the future look like for her? And Europe?
 
Habsburg incest happens. She marries her first cousin Francis II, thus the reign of his dad is skipped and Francis becomes the Emperor in 1790 at the age of 22.
 
I think Josef II will be torn between a profound dislike of his nephew and the desire to keep the crown in the family.
 
Young Maria Theresia can not be her father's heiress in any case...
Following the laws of inherithance of the Austrian branch of the Habsburg a woman can be heiress only if all the others branch of the family are extinct in the male line... Until Leopold I female inheritance was not accepted in any case (his eldest son Joseph I left only two daughters and his youngest son Karl VI became Emperor) but that Emperor who had two sons (from his third wife) but still not grandsons and had seen all the other branches of the family extincted in the male line forced his sons to sign a pact of succession who consented female succession in case of the extinction of all the male lines of the family. Under this pact both Joseph and Karl (who at that time was the Habsburg claimant to the Spanish' crown) accepted who if one of them will not have a son his brother will be the heir and if neither of them will have any son Joseph's eldest daughter will be the heiress of both. In the end Karl lost the Spanish's crown, mostly because during the war Joseph I died and, being father of two daughters, Karl became Emperor and his allies decide who they liked better a junior prince from France than the Holy Roman Emperor as new King of Spain. Karl VI's only surviving children were two daughters but he had not any intention to left his crown to his niece and so with the Pragmatic Sanction amended the pact signed with his brother giving precedence to his daughters over his nieces (but left the part who consented to a daughter to became heiress only in absence of male heirs from all the branches of the family intact). As we know in the end Maria Theresia was recognized as Queen but her succession was contested from the husbands of her cousins (the older daughter of Joseph I was married to the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland but Maria Theresia's main rival was the Elector of Bavaria who was married to younger but had much Habsburg blood and so also a claim of his own).

A wedding between young Maria Theresia and Franz II is possible but unlikely because she was six years older tham him and a such wedding will take away the possibility to make two important alliances with their weddings.
 
Actually, there is a more interesting question here. His daughters death has long been attributed as the cause of Joseph IIs untimely death. So if she and he both live, how does Joseph handle the French Revolution?
 
Actually, there is a more interesting question here. His daughters death has long been attributed as the cause of Joseph IIs untimely death. So if she and he both live, how does Joseph handle the French Revolution?

This one is much more interesting because you need to remember who Joseph was much closer to Marie Antoinette than Leopold (and i read who Joseph daughter and Marie Antoinette were also near in age (Antonia was only seven years older than her niece) and good friends)
 
Austria was so committed to the Salic Law that it changed DYNASTIES rather than let a woman or her heirs rule in their own right. Maria Theresa [the one and only] was technically Empress Consort to Emperor Francis (of Lorraine) then CO-Empress to their son Emperor Joseph not actually the Empress Regnant. However; she was the one signed and enacted the laws and policies and everyone knew that she was running the Empire rather than her hapless husband the technical Emperor [and founder of the Hapsburg-Lorraine Dynasty]
Maria Theresa was ALREADY married with children when her father died but Joseph's daughter wouldn't have had that advantage had she lived to his OTL death and I seriously doubt Austria would have been willing to establish ANOTHER dynasty with any future husband of hers [and hope that he was as disinterested in the empire's governance as her grandfather had been].
 
She was. The Dynastic Change was largely cosmetic and irrelevant, which is why the dynasty that followed, though simply the House of Lothringen if we go purely by Salic Law, is and was generally known as the House of Habsburg-Lothringen.

It wasn't Austria that was committed to Salic Law, it was the Holy Roman Empire. In Austria, there was no "<TITLE>-Consort" business going on, she was simply "Queen of Hungary, Queen of Bohemia" etc. She ruled those lands in her own right, and ruled the Empire in fact, as much as anyone in that time period could be said to Rule the Empire.

If push comes to shove the Habsburgs will continue their line through a Woman Again, probably more easily since now the precedence has been set.
 
On the age thing, might her Uncle Max not make a better candidate for future husband, rather than her cousin? Of course, it would require some moving to get him to renounce the electorate of Cologne (in favor of who?), but as Valena pointed out, incest happens.

Not sure about why she might still be childless by Josef's OTL death (she'd be 28 in 1790), even if she does marry Franz II.
 
Londinium you have everything wrong...
Maria Theresa was Archduchess and Queen Regnant (King in the case of Hungary) of all her hereditary lands while Francis Stephen was the Holy Roman Emperor (who at that time was a title and little more) and Maria Theresia's Prince Consort who had not any power to rule anything (excluding the Holy Roman Empire (almost nothing) and Tuscany, where he was the ruling sovereign).
Austria and the other Habsburg Austrian possession (the Spanish branch had other rules inhereited mostly from the kingdom of Castile and in part from the kingdom of Aragon) followed the Salic Law until Leopold I and Karl VI who fearing the total extintion of the House changed the Salic Law with the Semi-Salic Law (who accepted female inheritance only in the case of the totale absence of male heirs in the male line). So Maria Theresia who had not uncles or cousins in the male line was the heiress but her granddaughter had plenty of both (Joseph II had four younger brothers and the two of them who married had a total of fourteen sons).

JCVocke
The House of Habsburg became Habsburg-Lothringen and not Lothringen mostly because Francis Stephen was forced to give away his own inheritance for marry Maria Theresia sure he was compensated with the Gran Duchy of Tuscany but that not changed the fact who he was a prince without hereditary lands married to a rich heiress (Philip of Castile, Emperor Maximilian, Leopold and Albert of Saxe-Coburg had all lands of their own or at least were sons of sovereign so they were able to give their surname to their children while Francis Stephen's situation was like that of the Kings Consorts of Portugal or the Duke of Edimburgh or Prince Daniel of Sweden today)

Kellan likely Max age wise will be a better candidate as age for her but as I already said Archduchess Maria Theresia is not and will never be her father's heiress because the Habsburg's ereditary lands are still ruled by the Semi-Salic Law and under this law a male sixth cousin in the male line (or also a still more distant relative) will came always before a daughter in the line of succession
 
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Isabella's right. Josef II's daughter was heiress in the same way that Grand Duchess Olga was before Alexei's birth; that is to say not at all. However, I suppose that there's a remote possibility that Josef could copy Emperor Sigismund and make a future son-in-law his heir. It might be against the succession laws, but chances are Josef II (considering his micromanaging laws and ability to issue thousands of decrees) could change the law if he wanted to.
 
If Joseph want his descendents on the trone of Austria he will marry Maria Theresia to Franz (who is the heir presuntive) because is the only way to do it.
 
Probably, I think, she would have had a similar fate to that of Maria Augusta Nepomucena of Saxony, only surviving daughter of Frederick Augustus I King of Saxony, the "Infanta of Poland": many suitors, but nobody groom.
What interest could there be to marry her?
She was heir of nothing, not a reign or other possessions.
What's more, marry her would be a big expense, having to provide for her a dowry, which, being daughter of the Emperor, would be significant and considerable, at least to save the image of the power and richness of the House.
 
If Joseph want his descendents on the trone of Austria he will marry Maria Theresia to Franz (who is the heir presuntive) because is the only way to do it.
Well, same as I posted it:) Keeping stuff in family is the way of the dynasty - and the princess belongs to the weird "intermediate generation" - all the important marriage alliances used her aunts, she's only 7 years younger than the youngest of her aunts.
So marrying her off to the cousin who'll be the King of Romans anyway will be the only way to "play it safe" as the marriage will be of no mercenary value, while first cousin match is a Habsburg tradition.
That frees first (and second) wives of Franz to marry elsewhere. His first one was a non-entity, while the second one...gives interesting possibiliites given how her sisters married.
 
Well, same as I posted it:) Keeping stuff in family is the way of the dynasty - and the princess belongs to the weird "intermediate generation" - all the important marriage alliances used her aunts, she's only 7 years younger than the youngest of her aunts.
So marrying her off to the cousin who'll be the King of Romans anyway will be the only way to "play it safe" as the marriage will be of no mercenary value, while first cousin match is a Habsburg tradition.
That frees first (and second) wives of Franz to marry elsewhere. His first one was a non-entity, while the second one...gives interesting possibiliites given how her sisters married.

Well, I read somewhere that there was an offer for the OTL grand duchess of Tuscany (Maria Luisa) to be married off to GD Konstantin Pavlovich, so maybe her sister ends up in St Petersburg instead of Vienna?
 
Well, same as I posted it:) Keeping stuff in family is the way of the dynasty - and the princess belongs to the weird "intermediate generation" - all the important marriage alliances used her aunts, she's only 7 years younger than the youngest of her aunts.
So marrying her off to the cousin who'll be the King of Romans anyway will be the only way to "play it safe" as the marriage will be of no mercenary value, while first cousin match is a Habsburg tradition.
That frees first (and second) wives of Franz to marry elsewhere. His first one was a non-entity, while the second one...gives interesting possibiliites given how her sisters married.
Elisabeth of Württemberg a non-entity? Look at her family and see who were her siblings... She was the younger sister of the future Empress Maria Feodorovna (and a such a very desiderable bride) and Württemberg is still an important state of the Holy Roman Empire...
In any case if she will not marry Franz Maria Theresia will mary some important german prince (a sovereign, an heir or a second son with serious chance of succeding)
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