by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain, Queen of Portugal; Credit – Wikipedia

Archduchess Margaret of Austria was the wife of Felipe III, King of Spain who was also Filipe I, King of Portugal. Born on December 25, 1584, in Graz, Duchy of Styria, now in Austria, Margaret was the eleventh of the fifteen children and the seventh of the nine daughters of Karl II, Archduke of Austria-Styria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria. Her paternal grandparents were Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. Margaret’s maternal grandparents were Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Austria.

Margaret had fourteen siblings:

• Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (born and died 1572), died in infancy
• Archduchess Anna of Austria (1573 – 1598), married Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Sweden, had five children but only one survived infancy
• Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (1574 – 1621), married Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, no children, marriage dissolved
• Archduchess Katharina Renata of Austria (1576 – 1599), unmarried
• Archduchess Elisabeth (1577 – 1586), died in childhood
• Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (1578 – 1637), married (1) Maria Anna of Bavaria, had seven children (2) Eleonore Gonzaga of Mantua, no children
• Archduke Karl (1579 – 1580), died in infancy
• Archduchess Gregoria Maximiliana of Austria (1581 – 1597), died in her teens
• Archduchess Eleanor of Austria (1582 – 1620), a nun
• Archduke Maximilian Ernst of Austria (1583 – 1616), unmarried
• Archduke Leopold of Austria (1586 – 1632), married Claudia de’ Medici, had five children
• Archduchess Constance of Austria (1588 – 1631), married Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, deposed King of Sweden, the widower of her older sister Anna, had seven children
• Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria (1589 – 1631), married Cosimo II de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, had eight children
• Archduke Karl Joseph of Austria (1590 – 1624), Bishop of Wroclaw, Bishop of Brixen, and Grand Master of the Teutonic Order

Margaret and Felipe III’s grandson, King Carlos II of Spain, had a severe type of mandibular prognathism (Habsburg jaw); Credit – Wikipedia

Margaret and her sisters were not considered beauties. The Habsburg jaw, (mandibular prognathism) a disfiguring genetic disorder in which the lower jaw outgrows the upper jaw, was evident in all the sisters.

In 1596, Francisco de Mendoza, Admiral of Aragon, a Spanish nobleman, arrived at the court in Graz to obtain portraits of three daughters of Karl II, Archduke of Austria-Styria: Gregoria, Eleanor, and Margaret, who were potential brides for Felipe, Prince of Asturias, the son and heir of Felipe II, King of Spain. Felipe, Prince of Asturias preferred the portrait of Margaret but his father chose Gregoria because she was the oldest of the three sisters.

Preparations began for the wedding celebrations, which were going to be held in Milan, the capital of the Duchy of Milan, under the rule of the House of Habsburg. On September 17, 1597, Felipe, Prince of Asturias arrived at the court of his future father-in-law in Graz. At this time, sixteen-year-old Gregoria, Felipe’s intended bride, was seriously ill. In addition to the Habsburg jaw, Gregoria had several serious physical disabilities. She died three days after Felipe’s arrival. After the death of her sister, Margaret became betrothed to Felipe. However, because of her young age, the wedding was delayed.

Felipe III, King of Spain in 1600; Credit – Wikipedia

In the meantime, Felipe II, King of Spain died on September 13, 1598, and his twenty-year-old son succeeded him as Felipe III, King of Spain. Besides being King of Spain, Felipe III was also King of Portugal, King of Sardinia, King of Naples, King of Sicily, and Duke of Milan. On April 18, 1599, at Valencia Cathedral in Valencia, Spain, 21-year-old Felipe III married 14-year-old Margaret of Austria. Felipe and Margaret, both children of parents who were an uncle and his niece, were first cousins once removed and also second cousins, adding to more inbreeding in the House of Habsburg.

Margaret and Felipe III’s two eldest surviving children, the future King Felipe IV and the future Queen Anne of France, wife of King Louis XIII of France; Credit – Wikipedia

Margaret and Felipe III had eight children, including King Felipe III’s successor King Felipe IV and Ana María Mauricia (better known as Queen Anne of France) who married King Louis XIII of France. They were the parents of King Louis XIV of France.

• Ana María Mauricia of Austria, Infanta of Spain (1601 – 1666), married Louis XIII, King of France, had two sons Louis XIV, King of France and Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
• Maria of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1603)
• Felipe IV, King of Spain (1605 – 1665), married (1) Elisabeth of France, had eight children including Maria Theresia of Austria, Infanta of Spain who married her first cousin Louis XIV, King of France (2) Marianna of Austria, his niece, had five children, including Carlos II, King of Spain
• Maria Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain (1606 – 1646), married Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, had six children including Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and Marianna of Austria who married her maternal uncle Felipe IV, King of Spain
• Carlos of Austria, Infante of Spain (1607 – 1632), unmarried
• Ferdinand of Austria, Cardinal-Infante of Spain (1609 – 1641), unmarried
• Margarita of Austria, Infanta of Spain (1610 – 1617), died in childhood
• Alonso of Austria, Infante of Spain (1611 – 1612), died in infancy

Like many women of the House of Habsburg, Queen Margaret was a skilled politician. Queen Margaret, Maria of Austria (Felipe’s maternal grandmother and paternal aunt, and the widow of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II), and Maria’s daughter Archduchess Margaret of Austria, a Poor Clare nun, were a powerful Catholic and pro-Austrian faction in the court of King Felipe III.

Tomb of Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain, Queen of Portugal; Credit – www.findagrave.com

On October 3, 1611, at the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in El Escorial, Spain, Margaret died at the age of twenty-six from childbirth complications eleven days after giving birth to her eighth child Alonso who lived for only one year. Margaret was interred in the Pantheon of Kings at the Royal Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Felipe III never remarried. He survived his wife by ten years, dying in Madrid, Spain on March 31, 1621, two weeks before his forty-third birthday, due to erysipelas, a bacterial skin infection. He was interred in the Pantheon of Kings at the Royal Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

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Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. 2022. Margarete von Österreich (1584–1611) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarete_von_%C3%96sterreich_(1584%E2%80%931611)> [Accessed 5 October 2022].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles II, Archduke of Austria – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Austria> [Accessed 5 October 2022].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_of_Austria,_Queen_of_Spain> [Accessed 5 October 2022].
• Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Margarita de Austria-Estiria – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarita_de_Austria-Estiria> [Accessed 5 October 2022].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Felipe III, King of Spain, King of Portugal. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/felipe-iii-king-of-spain/> [Accessed 5 October 2022].