Charles VI is wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece and St Stephen’s crown, the Holy crown of Hungary, used for the coronations of the Kings of Hungary, can be seen to the right. Charles succeeded his brother Joseph I as Holy Roman Emperor in 1711. In 1708, he married Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. One of his chief concerns was the regulation of the Habsburg succession. In 1713, he promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction, whereby Austria’s lands were to pass undivided to his female heirs in the absence of male descendants. As his only son died early, he bequeathed his inheritance to his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa. His death in 1740 sparked the War of the Austrian Succession. The identity of the miniaturist is unknown.