Portrait of the Empress of Austria Maria Theresa
The great empress of Austria Maria Theresa (1717-1780) had by her beloved husband Francesco Stefano di Lorena she had 16 children and, unlike what usually happened at the time in families of such a high lineage, she took care of their upbringing personally in a careful and assiduous way, even modeling it on their personal attitudes, an aspect which is also far from usual in the eighteenth century.
A woman of great intelligence, political abilities and morality, Maria Teresa was a loving and affectionate mother, but also severe and often uncompromising:frivolity and whims at court were not allowed (see https://www.pilloledistoria.it/6891/storia- modern / Maria-Theresa-and-Marie-Antoinette-reproaches-from-mother-daughter).
For the daughters in particular, she drew up a daily schedule herself that had to be observed point by point without distractions or deficiencies:scrupulous personal hygiene, study and prayer were essential commitments for the girls.
In short, a decidedly spartan life of young princesses, with little entertainment.
Also at the table one had to behave in a certain way and no complaints and antics of any kind were tolerated:when Giovanna Gabriella she, once, she refused to eat the fish that was served, if she saw it reappear, always the same, for days and days, until she was forced to eat it, after which she was taken to visit a trout farm .