Joseph maintained for most of his life very good relations with the Habsburg family. In 1739 the Emperor Charles VI appointed him Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the dynastic order of the Habsburgs. On 13 March 1741 he represented King August III of Poland as godfather of the young Archduke Joseph, the son of the Empress Maria Theresa. This illustrates how close he stood to the new Empress, whose close friend he was to remain the rest of his life.