ABSTRACT
Maria-Theresa (1717–80) enjoyed the title empress only through her husband, Francis Stephen of Lorraine, who was elected emperor in 1745 and held the office until his death in 1765. She was born an archduchess of Austria in 1717 and in December 1740 on the death of her father, Charles VI, became queen of Hungary and, despite being challenged by the elector of Bavaria, queen of Bohemia. She was never empress of Austria because the Austrian empire did not exist.
