Portrait of Maria Theresa of Austria
Skilled politician, intelligent and upright woman in private and public life, Maria Theresa of Habsburg (1717-1780), Empress of Austria, wife of Francis Stephen of Lorraine and a loving mother of as many as 16 children , including Marie Antoinette of France and Maria Carolina of Naples (see also:https://www.pilloledistoria.it/10633/storia-moderna/maria-teresa-daustria-madre-amorevole-e-severa-un-aneddoto), despite the undoubted seriousness shown from every point of view, yes also distinguished by the ironic and witty attitude towards life, kept intact, it seems, until the end, as evidenced by the anecdote following.
Maria Teresa died on the evening of November 29, 1780, at the age of 63, in her apartments; when her son Giuseppe, after helping her into bed and arranging her pillows, she asked her if she was comfortable enough, she heard the reply: "to die, too much".
Shortly thereafter the great sovereign, one of the most enlightened of the eighteenth century, passed away leaving him, after a period of co-regency, the only heir to the throne.