Imperial Visit 1765

After renovations to the Bel Étage had been completed, another Imperial visit from the Viennese Court by Emperor Franz Stephan and Maria Theresa marked the ceremonial and splendid inauguration of the Eggenberg Palace and its new gardens in 1765. The Imperial family under Franz Stephan and Maria Theresa had, together with the Archdukes Joseph and Leopold, embarked on a journey to Innsbruck where Leopold was to marry Princess Maria Ludovica of Spain. The sweltering July heat had turned the tiring Court Journey into a torturous trip for all those participating and the party was only too pleased to be able to break for rest at a suitable location. In Eggenberg the revered guests were entertained with much pomp and ceremony for one whole week.

After engaging in their favourite pastime of hunting and paying visits to noble families in Graz, the party was all too pleased to return to Eggenberg to participate in the evening entertainment, which was held in the gardens due to the extreme heat. The Imperial family was extremely impressed by their host Johann Leopold Count Herberstein and as a special privilege he was always invited to attend the Imperial banquets. His wife, Maria Eleonora von Eggenberg, was already too old and frail to take an active part in the Imperial visit. On 9 July, the huge Imperial party set off on the next leg of its difficult and arduous journey to Innsbruck in order to attend the wedding of Archduke Leopold to Princess Maria Ludovica of Naples and Sicily. Not long after the wedding Maria Theresa was to lose her beloved Franz Stephan to the consequences of a stroke in Innsbruck on 18 August, 1765.