Countess Palatine Maria Anna of Neuburg

Maria Anna of Neuburg
Countess Palatine of Neuburg
Duchess of Bavaria
Born30 January 1693
Reichstadt, Bohemia
Died12 September 1751(1751-09-12) (aged 58)
Ahaus, Holy Roman Empire
SpouseFerdinand Maria of Bavaria
IssuePrince Maximilian Francis
Duke Clement Francis of Bavaria
Princess Theresa Emmanuela
Names
Marie Anna Karoline
FatherCount Palatine Philip Wilhelm of Neuburg
MotherDuchess Anna Maria of Saxe-Lauenburg

Maria Anna of Neuburg (Marie Anna Karoline; 30 January 1693 – 12 September 1751) was a daughter of Anna Maria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany's first marriage to Philip William August of Neuburg. She married Duke Ferdinand Maria of Bavaria on 5 February 1719 in Reichstadt, Bohemia, a younger son of Elector Maximilian II of Bavaria. They had three children, only one of whom lived to mature adulthood.

She was still an infant when her father and older sister, Leopoldina, died within a month of one another in 1693. Her mother, a wealthy widow, was married for a second time, against her wishes, on 2 July 1697 in Düsseldorf to Prince Gian Gastone de' Medici, a younger son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, to whom she brought the prospect of inheriting substantial lands in Bohemia. Rather than dwelling in her father-in-law's capital, Florence, the couple initially took up residence at his wife's Bohemian domain, the castle of Ploskovice near Reichstadt. In less than a year Gian Gastone left his wife for Prague, thence resuming residence in Florence, and the couple never again cohabited.

In 1723 Maria Anna's stepfather became Grand Duke Gian Gastone of Tuscany, succeeding his elder brother, and her mother became Grand Duchess of Tuscany, although she never set foot in her husband's realm. Maria Anna's husband died in 1738. She herself died in 1751 aged 58.