Maria Clementina: An Intimate Portrait of a Forgotten Princesss

II. The New Princess

II. The New Princess
The marriage between Clementina and Leopold was not a marriage with love, but rather a marriage with indifference. Clementina suffered from poor health, even during her childhood, and had long stays in her homeland to try and 'overcome' it. However, these long stays have been questioned, and many believe it was just an escape from their bad relationship. One of the most known affairs Leopold had during his marriage with Clementina was with Fanny Elssler, an Austrian dancer. Elssler, born Franziska Elßler, was the daughter of Johann Florian Elssler, a second-generation employee of Prince Nikolaus I of Esterházy, who was soon elevated to the position of valet to Joseph Haydn, himself an Austrian composer. Fanny's elder sister, Therese Elssler, was, too, a dancer. Fanny Elssler soon became pregnant and returned to Vienna, where she gave birth to Franz Robert Xaver Elßler—a son, in June 1827. She did not take care of the child herself and instead took him away to another family. The child died in 1873 due to suicide. Clementina did not openly resent the affairs her husband had; it is said that Leopold's infidelity "accepted Princess Maria Clementina with attitude ...".
The years 1817, 1818, and 1819 were years of change for Clementina. In 1817, Clementina's elder sister, Leopoldina, married Pedro I of Brazil, a son of King John VI of Portugal and Brazil, and Carlota Joaquina of Spain. Leopoldina left Austria and traveled to Brazil, where she would, in 1822, become the new Empress of Brazil. In 1818, particularly on 12 July 1818, Clementina became the Lady of the Order of the Noble Ladies of Queen Maria Luisa. She also belonged to the Order of the Star Cross and participated in a multitude of charity events under the Order's name. In the early months of 1819, Clementina became pregnant. Clementina gave birth to a daughter on 16 September 1819. Unfortunately, her daughter was stillborn and did not survive the birth. Clementina survived the terrible event but was not pregnant until July or August 1821. She gave birth to a daughter, who was named Maria Carolina Augusta, possibly in honor of Clementina's grandmother, the late Queen of Naples and Sicily, on 26 April 1822. Clementina and the child survived the birthing process unscathed. Clementina was again pregnant two years later, and on 19 July 1824, Clementina gave birth to a son, Lodovico Carlo. The child only lived a few months until he died on 7 August 1824. On 5 February 1829, Clementina, at the age of thirty, gave birth to a stillborn daughter. The only child of Clementina's that survived infancy was Maria Carolina. Maria Carolina, given the moniker "Lina" since her birth, seemed to look like her mother; she had blonde hair and blue-like eyes.
            Under the supervision of Clementina, she was raised in Austria, at the Imperial court. There she was introduced to society life. On 30 November 1836, Clementina, Leopold, and their daughter Lina intended the installation of eleven knights of the order of the Golden Fleece. The thirty-second letter in volume two of Vienna and the Austrians, with some account of a journey through Swabia, the Tyrol, and the Salzbourg, by Frances Milton Trollope, published in 1838, describes the entry of Clementina, Lina, and Leopold, "Then followed the tall and majestic Archduchess Sophia, consort of the Archduke Francis, leading her two little boys,- the eldest of them being presumptively "the
hope of the fair state." Next to her came the Archduchess Clementina, Princess of Salerno, leading her fair little girl; and then the very pretty young Archduchess Maria Theresa, who in a few weeks is to become Queen of Naples ...". Leopold, the Prince of Salerno, "and three young archdukes,
followed, completing the party admitted to the tribune of
the empress ...". During the event, Lina was aged fourteen, and would soon travel back to Naples to live there officially with her mother and father.
Lina received many suitors. During the 1830s and 1840s, there were not many European princesses on the marriage totem poll. On 25 November 1844, Lina, at the age of twenty-two, married Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale. Henri was the son of King Louis Philippe I of the French and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Maria Amalia was the fifth daughter of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria, the mother of Clementina's own mother, Maria Teresa. Henri wrote to his own teacher, Alfred-Auguste de Cuvillier-Fleury, describing Lina as, "not nice, but nothing unpleasant about herself". De Cuvillier-Fleury agreed, but stated that Lina had an "exquisite appearance". The marriage took place in Naples, at the request of Henri himself. On 15 November 1845, Lina gave birth to their first child—a son, whom they named Louis Philippe Marie Léopold. The child survived infancy and childhood. Lina would give birth to seven more children, however, only Louis would survive past the age of eighteen, but he himself would soon die at the age of twenty. Lina's fifth child, a son named François Louis Philippe Marie, was born in 1854 but would die at the age of eighteen.

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