Mariana of Austria

Mariana or Maria Anna of Austria (, ; 24 December 1634 – 16 May 1696) was Queen of Spain from 1649, when she married her uncle Philip IV of Spain, until his death in 1665. She was then appointed regent for their three-year-old son Charles II, and due to his ill health remained an influential figure until she died in 1696. Her regency was overshadowed by the need to manage Spain's post-1648 decline as the dominant global power, along with internal political divisions and a general European economic crisis during the latter half of the 17th century. The inability of her son Charles II of Spain to produce an heir led to constant manoeuvring by other European powers, which ultimately ended in the 1701 to 1714 War of the Spanish Succession. The Mariana Islands chain in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and the associated Mariana Trench, are named after her. Early life Maria Anna was born on 24 December 1634 in Wiener Neustadt, second child of Maria Anna of Spain and her husband Ferdinand (1608–1657), who became Holy Roman Emperor in 1637. Her parents had six children, of whom only Maria Anna and two brothers survived to adulthood; Ferdinand (1633–1654), and Leopold (1640–1705), elected emperor in 1658.