 In 1741 , the Austrian authorities informed Maria Theresa that Bohemian populace would prefer Charles Albert to her as sovereign . Maria Theresa , desperate and burdened by pregnancy , wrote plaintively to her sister : " I don 't know if a town will remain to me for my delivery . " She bitterly vowed to spare nothing and no one to defend her kingdom when she wrote to the Bohemian chancellor , Count Philip Kinsky : " My mind is made up . We must put everything at stake to save Bohemia . " On 26 October , the Elector of Bavaria captured Prague and declared himself King of Bohemia . Maria Theresa , then in Hungary , wept on learning of the loss of Bohemia . Charles Albert was unanimously elected Holy Roman Emperor on 24 January 1742 . The Archduchess , who regarded the election as a catastrophe , caught her enemies unprepared by insisting on a winter campaign ; the same day he was elected emperor , Austrian troops under Ludwig Andreas von <unk> captured Munich , Charles Albert 's capital . 
