Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor Francis I, and the brother of Marie Antoinette, Leopold II, Maria Carolina of Austria and Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma. He was thus the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the union of the Houses of Habsburg and Lorraine, styled Habsburg-Lorraine.
The arrival of Isabella of Parma on the occasion of her wedding to Joseph II, 1760 (painting by Martin van Meytens)
Fête organized to celebrate the marriage of Emperor Joseph II to Princess Maria Josepha of Bavaria. The central figures are the three youngest siblings of Joseph, from left to right Archduke Ferdinand as the groom, Archduke Maximilian Franz as Cupid and Archduchess Marie Antoinette as the bride
Coronation of the Archduke Joseph as King of the Romans in the Imperial Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew in Frankfurt, 3 April, 1764 (painting by Martin van Meytens)
Joseph II (right) with his brother Peter Leopold (by Pompeo Batoni, 1769, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum)
House of Habsburg-Lorraine
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The House of Habsburg-Lorraine originated from the marriage in 1736 of Francis III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and Maria Theresa of Austria, later successively Queen of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary, Queen of Croatia and Archduchess of Austria. Its members are the legitimate surviving line of both the House of Habsburg and the House of Lorraine and inherit their patrimonial possessions from their female line of the House of Habsburg and from the male line of the House of Lorraine.
