Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Sardinia

Maria Theresa of Austria and Tuscany (Vienna, March 21 1801 - Vienna, January 12 1855), was a daughter of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany and wife of King Charles Albert of Sardinia.

She was born in Vienna during the exile of her parents due to the invasion of Tusnany by Napoleon Bonaparte. Her father was Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany and her mother Princess Luisa Maria Amelia Teresa of the Two Sicilies, who died one year after Maria Theresa's birth.

After the Restoration of 1814, Ferdinando III was made Elector of the secularized archbishopric Salzburg and the family moved to Würzburg.

Theresa married on September 3 1817 with Charles Albert of Sardinia, and a wedding mass was celebrated on October 2 in the Florence Cathedral.
On March 14 1820 an heir to the throne was born : Victor Emmanuel who would become the first King of a united Italy.
Two more children followed : Ferdinand (1822–1855), 1st Duke of Genoa, and Maria Cristina (1826–1827).

After the death of her husband in 1849 in Oporto, Queen Mother Maria Theresa stopped appearing in public and even returned to Tuscany in 1851, where she died 4 years later.

A convinced Catholic and conservative, she had a great influence on her eldest son.