Margarita Teresa#
b. Madrid (Spain), July 12, 1651, d. Vienna, March 12, 1673, infanta of Spain, first wife of Emperor Leopold I. Their marriage and her birthday on the 1st of July were celebrated with the performance of M. A. Cesti's opera "Il pomo d´oro", the most famous theatrical event of that time. She suffered from goitre from youth and died during her seventh pregnancy. Since M. T., unlike her half-sister Maria Teresa, who had married in France, had not been forced to renounce her claims to her Spanish inheritance, Leopold I based his claim to Spain on his marriage with her ( War of the Spanish Succession).
Literature#
H. Widorn, Die span. Gemahlinnen der Ks. Maximilian II., Ferdinand III. und Leopold I., doctoral thesis, Vienna 1959; Smidt-Doerrenberg, Margarita Maria. Des Velázquez lieblichstes Modell, 1966; B. Hamann, Die Habsburger, 41993; NDB.