Anna Maria of Liechtenstein, Princess of Liechtenstein

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Princess Anna Maria Antonie of Liechtenstein was the first cousin and wife of Josef Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein. Born on September 11, 1699, in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria, Anna Maria was the tenth of the eleven children and the fifth of the six daughters of the future Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein (reigned 1718 – 1721) and Countess Eleonore von Thun-Hohenstein. Her paternal grandparents were Prince Hartmann of Liechtenstein and Countess Sidonie Elisabeth of Salm-Reifferscheidt. Anna Maria’s maternal grandparents were Count Michael Oswald von Thun and Hohenstein, an imperial chamberlain and advisor, and Countess Elisabeth von Lodron.

Anna Maria had ten siblings but only four survived childhood:

• Franz Augustin of Liechtenstein (1680 – 1681), died in infancy
• Eleonore of Liechtenstein (1681 -1682), died in infancy
• Antonia Maria Eleonore of Liechtenstein (1683 -1715), married (1) Count Johann Adam von Lamberg, no children (2) Count Maximilian von Kuefstein, had four children
• Karl Josef Florian of Liechtenstein (born and died 1685), died in infancy
• Anton Ignaz Josef of Liechtenstein (1689 – 1690), died in infancy
• Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein (1690 – 1732), married (1) Princess Maria Gabriele of Liechtenstein, his first cousin, daughter of Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein, had one son who died in childhood (2) Countess Marianne of Thun-Hohenstein, died twenty days after the wedding (3) Countess Maria Anna Katharina of Oettingen-Spielberg, had five children including Johann Nepomuk Karl, Prince of Liechtenstein (4) Countess Maria Anna Kottulinska von Kottulin, had two children who died in childhood
• Innocent Franz Anton of Liechtenstein (1693 – 1707), died in his teens
• Maria Karoline Anna of Liechtenstein (1694 – 1735), married Count Franz Wilhelm von Salm-Reifferscheidt, had one son
• Karl Josef (1697 – 1704), died in childhood
• Maria Eleonore of Liechtenstein (1703 – 1757), married Friedrich August von Harrach-Rohrau, had ten children

Two days before her seventeenth birthday, on September 9, 1716, Anna Maria married her cousin Count Johann Ernst of Thun-Hohenstein, from her mother’s family, the House of Thun-Hohenstein, a family from the Austrian and Bohemian nobility. Six months later, on March 20, 1717, Johann Ernst died at the age of twenty-three.

On June 16, 1712, Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein died. Hans-Adam I had no sons and so the actual heir was his uncle Anton Florian, Anna Maria’s father, but he was not very popular with the family. Instead, Hans-Adam I had chosen his distant cousin Prince Josef Wenzel, the son of Prince Philip Erasmus of Liechtenstein and the great-grandnephew of Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein, as his successor.

In 1718, after negotiations with his uncle Anton Florian, Josef Wenzel decided to hand over the Principality of Liechtenstein in exchange for the Dominion of Rumburk. Anton Florian became Prince of Liechtenstein and Josef Wenzel concentrated on his military career. As part of the negotiations with Anton Florian, Josef Wenzel married Princess Anna Maria of Liechtenstein, his first cousin and Anton Florian’s daughter, on April 19, 1718.

Anna Maria and Josef Wenzel had five children who all died in childhood:

• Prince Philipp Anton of Liechtenstein (1719 – 1723)
• Prince Philipp Anton of Liechtenstein (born and died 1720)
• Prince Philipp Ernst of Liechtenstein (1722 – 1723)
• Princess Maria Elisabeth of Liechtenstein (born and died 1724)
• Princess Marie Alexandra of Liechtenstein (born and died 1727)

Anna Maria’s husband, Josef Wenzel had a successful military career in the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire. He also served as a diplomat for Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI from 1735 – 1740, as envoy to the Prussian court in Berlin and the French court in Paris.

After a three-year reign, Anna Maria’s father Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein died in 1721 and was succeeded by his son and Anna Maria’s brother Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein. In 1732, Josef Johann Adam died and was succeeded by his eight-year-old son Johann Nepomuk Karl. Anna Maria’s husband Josef Wenzel served as regent and guardian of Johann Nepomuk Karl until he reached his majority in 1745. However, Johann Nepomuk Karl died without an heir three years later, and Josef Wenzel and Maria Anna once again became Prince and Princess of Liechtenstein.

Anna Maria predeceased her husband dying on January 20, 1753, in Vienna, Austria, aged 53, and was buried in a crypt at the Pauline Church (link in German) in Vienna, Austria, where her mother had been buried. The crypt no longer exists and the tombs were not preserved. Anna Maria’s husband Josef Wenzel, Prince of Liechtenstein survived her by nineteen years, dying on February 10, 1772, aged 75, in Vienna Austria. He was buried in the Old Crypt at Chuch of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vranov, Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. With no surviving sons, Josef Wenzel was succeeded by his nephew, the son of his brother Prince Emmanuel, as Franz Josef I, Prince of Liechtenstein.

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Works Cited

• Anna Maria von Liechtenstein (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Maria_von_Liechtenstein (Accessed: 22 June 2023).
• Flantzer, Susan. (2021) Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/anton-florian-prince-of-liechtenstein/ (Accessed: 22 June 2023).
• Flantzer, Susan, (2021) Josef Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/josef-wenzel-i-prince-of-liechtenstein/ (Accessed: 22 June 2023).