Background
She was the second child and elder daughter of Luis de Silva y Fernandez de Henestrosa, 10th Count of Pie de Concha and his wife, María de los Dolores Fernández de Henestrosa, herself the daughter of the 9th Marquis of Villadarias.
She was the second child and elder daughter of Luis de Silva y Fernandez de Henestrosa, 10th Count of Pie de Concha and his wife, María de los Dolores Fernández de Henestrosa, herself the daughter of the 9th Marquis of Villadarias.
Doña Maria was granted the title "Duchess of Talavera de la Reina", made a grandee of Spain and accorded the style of Highness on 25 June 1914, gazetted 2 September of that year. Doña Maria was 56 when, on 17 May 1927, Maria Teresa"s brother, King Alfonso XIII, made her an infanta de gracia (by "royal grace") and gave her the elevated treatment of Royal Highness, allowing her to fully share her husband"s title and rank. Infante Ferdinand of Spain, Prince of Bavaria and Infanta Maria Luisa, Duchess of Talavera de la Reina had no children.
Titles and styles 3 December 1880 – 25 June 1914: Doña María Luisa de Silva y Fernandez de Henestrosa 25 June 1914 – 1 October 1914: Her Highness Doña María Luisa de Silva y Fernandez de Henestrosa, Duchess of Talavera de la Reina, Grandee of Spain 1 October 1914 – 17 May 1927: Her Highness Doña María Luisa de Silva y Fernandez de Henestrosa y de Baviera, Duchess of Talavera de la Reina, Grandee of Spain 17 May 1927 – 2 April 1955: Her Royal Highness Doña María Luisa de Silva y Fernandez de Henestrosa y de Baviera, Infanta of Spain, Duchess of Talavera de la Reina Honours.
Four days after Doña Maria de Silva was made a duchess in Spain, her fiancé renounced his dynastic rights as a member of the Bavarian Royal Family, 29 June 1914, completing the transfer of the prince"s allegiance from Germany to Spain shortly before the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria led to World War I, although the legalities and logistics of the inter-dynastic re-arrangement of assets were disrupted and protracted by the war.