26.6 1741 Maria Theresa crowned Queen of Hungary

Before the coronation of Maria Theresa as Queen of Hungary, the crown had to be modified because it was made for a man's head. The ceremony took place in June 1741 in Pressburg.

At the very beginning of her reign, Maria Theresa was crowned Queen of Hungary. Well, actually a king, because that's how she was celebrated. They didn't use the "word" queen. The coronation took place in 1741 in Pressburg. The ceremonial act took place in St. Martin's Cathedral, where the Hungarian Primate and Archbishop of Ostrich, Imrich Esterházy, placed the crown on her head.

The English envoy in Vienna, Thomas Robinson, reported on the coronation to Vienna. "The coronation was splendid, the queen was grace personified, the ancient crown acquired a new beauty on Maria Theresa's head, and the old robe of St. Stephen on her as well as her own rich dress of diamonds, pearls, and various precious gems," said the English envoy in Vienna.

The difficulty, however, was that St Stephen's crown was made for a man's head, not a woman's. Therefore, it had to be altered before the coronation ceremony so that Maria Theresa could wear it on her head at all. However, the crown was too heavy, did not fit well and became more and more crowded. It is no wonder that she took it off her head during the ceremony and placed it on the table in front of her plate.

"After the coronation, the new queen had to go through a series of rituals. These included the traditional ride up the coronation hill. Maria Theresa mounted a solemnly decorated raven and, sword in hand, rode to the top in front of a large crowd, where she stopped the horse andthe sword in all directions, as a sign that she would defend Hungary against all enemies of the country, wherever they might come from. This scene, which has been depicted in many representations, took place in front of the city walls in my"Jan Bauer writes in his book Women of the House of Habsburg.

After her coronation, Maria Theresa and her husband František Štěpán settled for a time in Prespur Castle. Before her coronation as Queen of Hungary, Maria Theresa was also crowned Archduchess of Austria in Vienna, and then in 1743 she was crowned Queen of Bohemia. "After all, the King of Prussia, her arch-enemy, was also famous for various statements. Such as that the Habsburgs finally have a man on the throne - this man is a woman! Or that she was a woman with the heart of a king. And that's when everyone pounced on her. The Prussians marched into Silesia..., the Bavarians, the Saxons..., the Bohemian Estates by accepting the Bavarian Elector Karl Albrecht as king....they stabbed Maria Theresa in the back," writes Slávka Poberová in her book The Loves of Czech Queens: Love Affairs in Czech History.

Jan Bauer, Women of the Habsburg Family, Slávka Poberová, Loves of the Czech Queens.