Background
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.
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.
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. 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. 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.
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. In 1792, the Order of Queen Maria Luisa for women was founded on her suggestion.
The couple had fourteen children, six of whom survived into adulthood:
In addition, Maria Luisa had ten other pregnancies who ended in miscarriages:
A miscarriage of a daughter in the 4th month of pregnancy (19 December 1775).
A miscarriage of a daughter in the 6th month of pregnancy (16 August 1776). A miscarriage in the 1st month of pregnancy (22 January 1778).
A miscarriage of a son in the 4th and a half month of pregnancy (17 January 1781). A miscarriage in the 1st month of pregnancy (4 December 1789).
A miscarriage in the 1st month of pregnancy (30 January 1790).
A miscarriage in the 1st month of pregnancy (30 March 1790). A miscarriage of a son in the 5th and a half month of pregnancy (11 January 1793). A miscarriage of a son in the 4th and a half month of pregnancy (20 March 1796).
A miscarriage in 1799.