| Maria Pia of Savoy | |
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| Reign | 6 October 1862 - 19 October 1889 |
| Spouse | Luís I of Portugal |
| Issue | |
| Carlos I of Portugal Afonso, Prince Royal of Portugal |
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| House | House of Savoy |
| Father | Victor Emmanuel II of Italy |
| Mother | Adelaide of Austria |
| Born | 14 February 1847 Royal Palace, Turin, Sardinia |
| Died | 5 July 1911 (aged 64) Palazzina di caccia di Stupinigi, Italy |
| Burial | Basilica of Superga, Turin, Italy |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Maria Pia of Savoy (14 February 1847 – 5 July 1911) was a Portuguese Queen consort, spouse of King Luís I of Portugal. On the day of her baptism, Pope Pius IX, her godfather, gave her a Golden Rose. Maria Pia was married to Luís on the 6 October 1862 in Lisbon. She was the grand mistress of the Order of Saint Isabel.
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Maria Pia was the daughter of Victor Emmanuel II, the first King of Italy, by his wife Adelaide of Austria. Her sister Maria Clotilde was the "princesse Napoléon" as wife of Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte and her brothers were King Umberto I of Italy and King Amadeo of Spain.
As a queen, Maria Pia became known both for her extravagance and for her charity. She had a taste for luxury, parties, balls, fashion and masquerades; at a masquerade ball in 1865, she changed her costume three times. When the Portuguese parliament discussed the queen's excessive expenses, Maria Pia replied saying "if you want a queen, you have to pay for her".
Maria Pia of Savoy was also known in Portugal as "angel of charity" or "mother of the poor" for her compassion and work on social causes.
She did not involve herself in politics, but at a conflict with João Carlos Saldanha de Oliveira Daun, 1st Duke of Saldanha in 1870, she stated: "If I were the king, I would have him shot!"
King Luís died on 19 October 1889 and Maria Pia became Queen Dowager. She was very active as such and continued with her social projects while holding a dominating position at court. She served as regent during the absence of the king and queen.
The Queen Dowager was devastated after the assassination of her son King Carlos I of Portugal and grandson Luís Filipe, Duke of Braganza, on 1 February 1908. During her last years in Portugal, she was showing signs of senility and was rarely seen in public.
Maria Pia was deeply upset by the deposition of her other grandson Manuel II of Portugal by the 5 October 1910 Revolution and the resulting establishment of the Portuguese First Republic. Maria Pia left Portugal with the rest of the royal family to exile in 1910. She returned to her native Italy, where she died on 5 July 1911. She is said to have mourned the loss of Portugal.
Her remains are interred in the royal mausoleum in the Basilica of Superga, near Turin, with most members of the House of Savoy since the 18th century.
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
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| Dom Carlos, Prince Royal of Portugal | September 28, 1863 | February 1, 1908 | Who succeeded him as Charles I, the 33rd (or according to some historians 34th, or even 35th) King of Portugal, murdered in 1908 by the Carbonária. |
| Dom Afonso, Prince Royal of Portugal | July 31, 1865 | February 21, 1920 | Infante of Portugal, Duke of Porto, Viceroy of Portuguese India , and after 1908 Prince Royal. |
| Portuguese royalty | ||
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| Preceded by Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen |
Queen consort of Portugal 6 October 1862 - 19 October 1889 |
Succeeded by Amélie of Orléans |
Media related to Maria Pia of Savoy at Wikimedia Commons
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