Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg

Anna Maria Franziska (R) with her sister Sibylle (L), c. 1690 by an anonymous artist

Anna Maria Franziska was born on 13 June 1673. She was the second child of the reigning duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and Maria Hedwig of Sulzbach, who died when Anna Maria was nine years-old.

With the death of her father Duke Julius Francis on 30 September 1689 the Lauenburg line of the House of Ascania was extinct in the male line. However, female succession was possible by the Saxe-Lauenburgian laws. So the legal female heir to the throne, Duchess Anna Maria Franziska, and her sister Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg fought for the succession of the former, the elder of them. Also Julius Francis' cousin, Eleonore Charlotte of Saxe-Lauenburg-Franzhagen, claimed the succession. Their weakness was abused by Duke George William of the neighbouring Brunswick-Lunenburgian Principality of Lunenburg-Celle, who invaded Saxe-Lauenburg with his troops, thus inhibiting Anna Maria's ascension as Duchess regnant.

Also other monarchies claimed the succession, evoking a conflict further involving the neighbouring duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and of Danish Holstein, as well as the five Ascanian-ruled Principalities of Anhalt, the Electorate of Saxony, which had succeeded the Saxe-Wittenbergian Ascanians in 1422, Sweden and Brandenburg. The conflict was finally settled on 9 October 1693 (Hamburger Vergleich), definitely ousting the dispossessed Anna Maria and her sister. Both sisters never gave up the claim.

Emperor Leopold I rejected Celle's succession and thus retained the Saxe-Lauenburgian exclave of Hadeln, which was out of Celle's reach, in his custody. Only in 1728 his son Emperor Charles VI enfeoffed George II of Great Britain with Saxe-Lauenburg, finally legitimising the de facto takeover by his grandfather in 1689 and 1693. In 1731 George II also gained Hadeln from imperial custody.

Philip William August, Count Palatine of Neuburg, first husband of Anna Maria. A canvas by Pieter van der Werff, 1690

Anna Maria married Philipp Willhelm August of the Palatinate-Neuburg. The wedding took place in Bohemia, at the castle of Roudnice (Raudnitz) on 29 October 1690. He was the eighth son of Philip William, Elector Palatine. They had two children together, one survived to adulthood:

• Countess Palatine Leopoldine Eleonore Elisabeth Auguste of Neuburg (b. Neuburg, 22 October 1691 – d. Reichstadt, 8 March 1693).
• Countess Marie Anne Karoline Louise Franziska of Neuburg (b. Reichstadt, 30 January 1693 – d. Ahaus, 12 September 1751), married on 5 February 1719 to Duke Ferdinand Maria Innocenz of Bavaria (1699–1738), he was the sixth son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria and an Imperial Field Marshal; with whom she had two sons and one daughter:
  • Duke Maximilian Joseph Franz of Bavaria (b. Munich, 11 April 1720 – d. Munich, 28 April 1738).
  • Duke Klemens Franz de Paula of Bavaria, (b. Munich, 19 April 1722 – d. Munich, 6 August 1770), married 17 January 1742 to Countess Palatine Maria Anna of Sulzbach (1722–1790), daughter of Joseph Charles, Count Palatine of Sulzbach and Elizabeth Augusta of the Palatinate, the couple had two sons and two daughters, who all died very young:
    • Duchess Maria of Bavaria (b. and d. 30 September 1748).
    • A son (b. and d. 31 May 1754).
    • Duchess Maria Anna of Bavaria (b. and d. 28 January 1755).
    • A son (b. and d. 23 June 1756).
  • Duchess Therese Emanuele of Bavaria (b. Munich, 22 July 1723 – d. Frankfurt, 27 March 1743).

Philipp Wilhelm died on 5 April 1693.

Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, second husband of Anna Maria. A canvas by Franz Ferdinand Richter, 1737

Ploskovice Chateau, Anna Maria's Bohemian residence; she greatly renovated the house and gardens

Zákupy Castle, another Anna Maria's residence in northern Bohemia

Cosimo III de' Medici coaxed his son into marrying Anna Maria Franziska for dynastic purposes, she was very wealthy, and brought a possible claim to the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg through her father.[2] The Medici family need an heir, Gian Gastone's brother, Ferdinando, had not produced a child. They were married on 2 July 1697 by the Bishop of Osnabruck at Düsseldorf but they lived in the Kingdom of Bohemia, at chateaux of Ploskovice (Ploschkowitz) and Zákupy (Reichstadt).

The new Princess of Tuscany had sprawling estates in the region. At the time of their marriage, contemporaries described the princess as "appalling and immensely fat". Anna Maria Franziska dominated her weak husband, which drove him into the arms of alcohol. He deplored her behaviour, "capriciousness, peevish faces and sharp words". Gian Gastone stayed with his wife for a mere ten months, before fleeing to Prague.[3] The princess refused to leave Reichstadt, despite her husband's constant protestations. She believed that the Medici were in the habit of murdering their consorts.[4]

The Grand Duke attempted to force his daughter-in-law to move back to Tuscany with Gian Gastone. He asked the Pope, Clement XI, to send the Archbishop of Prague to reproach her, and convince her to fulfil her wifely obligations. She replied that there was no point because Gian Gastone was "absolutely impotent". He left without her in 1708.[5] Ferdinando, the heir to the collapsing grand duchy, died in 1713. Therefore, she became the Grand Princess of Tuscany.

Gian Gastone became Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1723, and, she, the Grand Duchess. Her husband continued to live in Florence, Tuscany's capital, and never saw his wife again. Gian Gastone lived a frivolous life there,[6] staying up all night and waking up in the afternoon. As Grand Duchess, Anna Maria Franziska kept to her life of solitude at her castle, where she talked to the horses in the stables. Gian Gastone died in 1737. As the Medici had no male heir, Francis Stephen of Lorraine (later Holy Roman Emperor) ascended the grand ducal throne. She died in 1741.