Maria Theresa of Spain

Maria Theresa of Spain (Spanish: María Teresa de Austria; French: Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche;  September 10, 1638 – July 30. 1683), was by birth Infanta of Spain and Portugal (until 1640) and Archduchess of Austria as member of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg and by marriage Queen of France and Navarre.

Her marriage in 1660 with King Louis XIV is made with the purpose of ending the long-standing war between France and Spain.

Famed for her virtue and piety, she sees five of her six children die in early childhood, and is frequently viewed as an object of pity in historical accounts of her husband's reign, since she had no choice but to tolerate his many illicit love affairs.

Without any political influence in the French court or government (except briefly in 1672, when she is named Regent during her husband's absence during the Franco-Dutch War), she dies at the early age of 44 from complications from an abscess on her arm.

Her grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou, inherits the Spanish throne in 1700 after the death of King Charles II (Maria Theresa's younger half-brother) and the War of the Spanish Succession, founding the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon, which reigns with some interruption until present time.

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