Maria Luisa of Parma

Maria Luisa of Parma
Portrait of the Queen by Vicente López, after original by Goya (1816).
Queen consort of Spain
Tenure	14 December 1788 – 19 March 1808
Spouse	Charles IV
Issue Detail	Carlota Joaquina, Queen of Portugal Infanta Maria Amalia Maria Luisa, Queen of Etruria Ferdinand VII Carlos, Count of Molina Maria Isabel, Queen of the Two Sicilies Infante Francisco de Paula
Full name Luisa María Teresa Ana
House	House of Bourbon (by birth) House of Bourbon-Parma (by marriage)
Father	Philip, Duke of Parma
Mother	Princess Louise Élisabeth of France
Born	(1751-12-09)9 December 1751 Parma, Italy
Died	2 January 1819(1819-01-02) (aged 67) Barberini Palace, Italy
Burial	El Escorial
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Maria Luisa of Parma (9 December 1751 – 2 January 1819) was Queen consort of Spain from 1788 to 1808 as the wife of King Charles IV of Spain. She was the youngest daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma and his wife, Princess Louise-Élisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of King Louis XV.

Biography

The family of the Duke of Parma.

Born in Parma, she was christened Luisa Maria Teresa Anna, but is known to history by the short Spanish form of this name: María Luisa.^[1] Her parents had been the Duke and Duchess of Parma since 1749, when the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) awarded the duchy to the Bourbon. She, her brother Ferdinand, and her sister Isabella were educated in Parma by Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, a well-known French philosopher.

María Luisa's mother tried to engage her to Louis, Duke of Burgundy, heir to the French throne. However, the young duke died in 1761. In 1762 Maria Luisa instead became engaged to Charles, Prince of Asturias, later King Charles IV of Spain, whom she married on 4 September 1765 in La Granja Palace.

As there was no queen in Spain at that time, María Luisa became the first lady in precedence at the court from the beginning of her residence there. Her husband was the son and heir of the widowed Charles III of Spain, previously Duke of Parma and King of Naples and Sicily.

María Luisa was believed to have had many love affairs, but there is no direct evidence that she had any lovers, not even Manuel de Godoy, her husband's prime minister, whom contemporary gossip singled out in particular as a long-time lover. She was unpopular during her husband's reign, her poor historical reputation being attributed to her support of pro-French political policies that were not deemed beneficial for Spain in the long term.

Due to pressure from Napoleon I, María's husband abdicated the throne of Spain and spent the rest of his life in exile. When Napoleon's army invaded the country, several pamphlets blamed her for the abdication. María Luisa spent some years in France and then in Rome. Both María Luisa and her husband died in Italy in early 1819.

In 1792, the Order of Queen Maria Luisa for women was founded on her suggestion.

Issue

Maria Luisa married her first cousin Charles IV, in 1765. The couple had fourteen children, six of whom survived into adulthood:

Children of Queen Maria Luisa

Name	Portrait	Lifespan	Notes
Carlos Clemente Infante of Spain		19 September 1771 – 7 March 1774	Born and died at El Escorial; baptized on the same day he was born, with Charles III representing "the Holy Father" at the christening. Pope Clement XIV celebrated Carlos' birth and sent the infant consecrated swaddling clothes.[2]
Carlota Joaquina Queen of Portugal and the Algarves		25 April 1775 – 7 January 1830	Born at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, she married John VI of Portugal in 1785 and became Queen consort of Portugal in 1816. Had issue, including the future Pedro I of Brazil. She died at Queluz National Palace.
Maria Luisa Infanta of Spain		11 September 1777 - 2 July 1782	Born and died at the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso.[3]
María Amalia Infanta of Spain		9 January 1779 - 22 July 1798	Born at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, she married her uncle Infante Antonio Pascual of Spain in 1795. She gave birth to a stillborn son in 1798 and died shortly thereafter.
Carlos Domingo Infante of Spain		5 March 1780 - 11 June 1783	Born at the Royal Palace of El Pardo and died at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez.[3] After his birth, his father pardoned all of the convicts from Puerto San Julián as a sign of celebration.[4]
Maria Luisa Queen of Etruria Duchess of Lucca		6 July 1782 - 13 March 1824	Born at the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, she married Louis, King of Etruria in 1795 and had issue, including Charles II, Duke of Parma. Became Duchess of Lucca in her own right in 1817 and died in Rome in 1824 of cancer.
Carlos Francisco de Paula Infante of Spain		5 September 1783 - 11 November 1784	Twins, born and died at the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso.[5] Their birth was an important event for the people of Spain and provided security for the succession, a security which was truncated with the early deaths of Carlos and Felipe.[6]
Felipe Francisco de Paula Infante of Spain		5 September 1783 - 18 October 1784
Fernando (VII) King of Spain		14 October 1784 - 29 September 1833	Born and died at El Escorial, he succeeded his father as King in 1808, but was deposed by Joseph Bonaparte one month later. Married Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily in 1802, no issue. Re-instated as King in 1813. Married Maria Isabel of Portugal in 1816, had issue. Married Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony in 1819, no issue. Married Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies in 1829 and had issue, including the future Isabella II of Spain. Died in 1833.
Carlos María Isidro Benito Count of Molina		29 March 1788 - 10 March 1855	Born at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. Married Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal in 1816 and had issue. Married Maria Teresa, Princess of Beira in 1838, no issue. First Carlist pretender to the throne of Spain as "Carlos V". Use the title "Count of Molina" between 1845 and his death in 1855.
María Isabel Queen of the Two Sicilies		6 July 1789 - 13 September 1848	Born at the Royal Palace of Madrid, she married Francis I of the Two Sicilies in 1802 and had issue, including the future Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies. Queen consort between 1825 and 1830, her husband's death. Died at the Palace of Portici in 1848.
Maria Teresa Infanta of Spain		16 February 1791 - 2 November 1794	Born at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez and died at El Escorial[7] of smallpox.[8]
Felipe Maria Infante of Spain		28 March 1792 - 1 March 1794	Born at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez and died at the Royal Palace of Madrid.[7]
Francisco de Paula Duke of Cadiz		10 March 1794 - 13 August 1865	Born at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, he married Princess Luisa Carlotta of Naples and Sicily in 1819 and had issue. Died in Madrid in 1865.

Gallery

• 

  Maria Luisa of Parma (1765), by Anton Raphael Mengs, Prado Museum, Madrid.

• 

  Maria Luisa of Parma in court dress (1789), by Goya, Prado Museum, Madrid.

• 

  Maria Luisa of Parma with mantilla (1799), by Goya

• 

  The Queen's Coat of arms^[1]

1. ^ Queen Arms description. Encuadernación Real Biblioteca. Royal Library. Royal Palace of Madrid (In Spanish).

Ancestry

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maria Luisa of Parma.

Bibliography

• EPTON, Nina, The Spanish mousetrap: Napoleon and the Court of Spain (London: Macdonald, 1973).
• HILT, Douglas, The troubled trinity: Godoy and the Spanish monarchs (Tuscaloosa; London: University of Alabama Press, 1987).
• HUGUES, Robert, Goya (London: Harvill Press, 2003).

See also

Princesses of Asturias Leonor (2014–present) (suo jure) Queen Letizia of Spain (2004–2014) Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (1802–1806) Princess Maria Luisa of Parma (1765–1788) Infanta Barbara of Portugal (1729–1746) Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans (1722–1724) Princess Elisabeth of France (1615–1621) Queen Mary I of England (1554–1556) Infanta Maria Manuela of Portugal (1543–1545) Archduchess Margaret of Austria (1497) Blanche II of Navarre (1468–1474) Catherine of Lancaster (1388–1406)