Infanta Luisa Fernanda, Duchess of Montpensier
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Infanta Doña María Luísa Fernanda of Spain (30 January 1832 - 2 February 1897) was Infanta of Spain and Duchess of Montpensier. She was the youngest daughter of king Ferdinand VII of Spain and his fourth wife Maria Christina of Sicily, the queen-regent.
When her elder sister Isabella II of Spain succeeded to the throne, Infanta Luisa Fernanda was heiress-presumptive to the crown between 1833 and 1851, when Isabella's oldest surviving daughter was born.
Isabella had been engaged to their first cousin Francis of Spain, who was known to be homosexual and rumored impotent. Their kinsman, king Louis Philippe of France calculated that no children will be born from Isabella's marriage, and planned the crown of Spain to eventually devolve to his own grandchildren. For this purpose, Luisa Fernanda was engaged to Antoine, Duke of Montpensier (1824-90), the youngest son of king Louis Philippe, who also was Luisa's mother's first cousin.
Luisa Fernanda, all 14 years old, and Duke Antoine, 22, had their nuptials on 10 October 1846 as a double wedding with Isabella and Francis', and young Antoine was elevated to be an Infante of Spain. The couple moved to Paris and later to Sevilla.
The relationship between Isabella and her sister were tense, due to Antoine's conspiracies against the queen. [1]
Antoine's father, the king of the French, was deposed in 1848. The same year, the then 16-year-old Luisa Fernanda gave birth to her first child. When Isabella's eldest children, born in 1850, soon died, Luisa's premier position returned, until finally a second child, Isabella, born in 1851, survived. Eventually queen Isabella was succeeded by her surviving son Alfonso XII of Spain.
After Isabella's was deposed, the family had to exile. Luisa returned to Sevilla years later, already widowed, when she died. [1] She is buried at Escorial.
[edit] Issue
Luisa Fernanda and Antoine had 10 children, but only six reached adulthood.[2]
- Infanta Maria Isabel (1848-1919), who married her first cousin Philippe, comte de Paris (1838-94), the French claimant, and became known as Marie Isabelle, comtesse de Paris. She had several children.
- Infanta Maria Amelia (1851-70).
- Infanta Maria Cristina (1852-79). After her younger sister Mercedes died, she was engaged to Alfonso XII, five years her junior, but she died before the wedding.
- infanta Maria de la Regla (1856-61).
- Infante Fernando (1859-73).
- Infanta Maria de las Mercedes (1860-78), otherwise Princess Marie des Graces d'Orleans-Montpensier, who married her first cousin Alfonso XII and is historically known as Mercedes of Orleans, queen of Spain. No children.
- Infante Felipe Raimundo Maria (1862-64)
- Infante Antonio (1866-1930), became Duke of Galliera in Italy. He married his first cousin Infanta Maria Eulalia of Spain (1864-1958), daughter of Isabella II, and had two sons:
- Infante Alfonso (1886-1975), 5th Duke di Galliera (1930-37), who married Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh, daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and had three sons, though only the oldest one left issue. General of the Spanish Air Force.
- Infante Luís (1888-1945), who married Marie Charlotte Say (1857-1943). No issue.
- Infante Luis Maria Felipe Antonio (1867-74)
[edit] Descendants
Of all her children, just Marie Isabelle de Paris and Antonio di Galliera left issue. Through Antonio, the now non-royal line of dukes of Galliera continues. Alfonso's grandchildren lost royal status because of non-dynastic marriages. The current Duke di Galliera is Alfonso's great-grandson, Don Alfonso Francesco de Orléans-Borbón y Ferarra-Pignatelli.[2]
Through Marie Isabelle, she became great-grandmother of king Manuel II of Portugal, Luís Filipe, Duke of Braganza, Dukes Amedeo II of Aosta and Aimone of Spoleto, Princess Dolores Czartoryski, princess Esperanza of Orleans-Braganza, Countess Mercedes of Barcelona (king Juan Carlos' mother), and Henri, comte de Paris.
