Maria Isabella of Spain (Spanish: María Isabel de Borbón y Borbón-Parma; 6 July 1789 – 13 September 1848) was Queen of the Two Sicilies from 4 January 1825 until 8 November 1830 as the wife of Francis I of the Two Sicilies.
Maria Isabella was the youngest daughter of King Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma, the second daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma, and Louise-Élisabeth of France, and thus a granddaughter of King Louis XV and Queen Marie Leszczyńska. Maria Isabella's siblings included King Ferdinand VII of Spain, Carlota Joaquina, Queen of Portugal, and the Count of Molina.
Maria Isabella was born into political turmoil, coinciding with the events of the French Revolution and the rise of Manuel Godoy. She received a rudimentary education and was featured in the painting Charles IV of Spain and His Family, painted by the famed Goya.
Considered by her mother as a potential Empress of France, Maria Isabella instead married her cousin Prince Francesco, Duke of Calabria, later King Francis I of the Two Sicilies, and had many children. The family was forced to flee to Sicily in early 1806 when after several attempted invasions by Joachim Murat, brother-in-law of Emperor Napoleon, who had already succeeded in becoming King of Naples. However, they were returned to the mainland in Naples with the intervention of the British military.
In 1812, her husband was appointed regent for his elderly father and in 1825, the old king died, making Maria Isabella Queen consort of the Two Sicilies. She was known for her frivolity, and kept an active correspondence with her family in Spain, later marrying a young nobleman of the House of Baux. She died in 1848 at the age of 59; many of her children making marriages to their Spanish and Portuguese relatives.
She was the youngest daughter of King Carlos IV of Spain and his wife Maria Luisa of Parma a granddaughter of King Louis XV and his popular wife Queen Marie Leszczyńska. Maria Isabella's birth coincided with the rise to power in Spain of her mother's favorite, Manuel Godoy. Court rumour attributed Maria Isabella's paternity not to the king, but to the young Godoy, who became Spain's prime minister in 1792.
The Infanta's childhood coincided with the events of the French revolution and political turbulence in Spain. The youngest surviving daughter in a large family, Maria Isabella was spoilt by both of her parents and her education was rudimentary. She and her family members were painted by Francisco Goya in his 1800–1801 portrait Charles IV of Spain and His Family.
In December 1800, Lucien Bonaparte arrived in Spain as the new French ambassador. Through him, Queen Maria Luisa offered Maria Isabella in marriage to Napoleon Bonaparte in April 1801. Then First Consul, Napoleon had been married to Joséphine de Beauharnais for two years, but it had been suggested that he should divorce her to marry a princess of royal blood. Napoleon had a low opinion of the House of Bourbon and commented privately, "If I would have to remarry, I wouldn't look in a house in ruins for my descendants"
Anxious to find a crown for María Isabel, in the spring 1801, her mother looked to marry her to her paternal first cousin the Duke of Calabria, Prince Francesco of Naples and Sicily, whose wife, Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria, was then still alive, but died of consumption in November of that year.
The idea came from the French diplomat Alquier, who had been ambassador in Madrid and Naples. His plan was to bring the Kingdom of Naples, an ally of England and hostile to France, into the recently formed Spanish-French alliance, proposing a closer relationship between the two families through double marriages. Infanta María Isabel and her eldest brother, Fernando, Prince of Asturias, would marry their first cousins: Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily and Prince Francesco, Duke of Calabria. The Queen, Maria Carolina of Austria, who hated France and mistrusted Spain for its good will toward Napoleon, opposed the match. Infanta María Isabel was only twelve years old; even at a time when princesses married very young, she was unusually so for a bride. But her early marriage was justified by the need to secure the hasty resumption of close relations between Spain and Naples at a particularly critical time for the European courts, struggling with the expansionist policy of Napoleon.
The contracts of the two marriages were signed in Aranjuez in April 1802. On 6 July 1802, her thirteenth birthday, Maria Isabella married in Madrid her 25-year-old cousin, Francesco by proxy, as his second wife. Her brother Ferdinand stood in the ceremony in place of the groom. The Spanish royal family traveled to Barcelona on 13 August. The two couples were married in person on 4 October at the arrival of Francesco and his sister. The festivities lasted until 12 October when María Isabel, in Italian Maria Isabella, left Barcelona towards Naples.
Maria Isabella did not evoke a good impression upon her arrival at the court of Naples. All four daughters of Charles IV (Carlota Joaquina, María Amalia, María Luisa and María Isabel) were short and plain. María Isabella had regular features and was relatively better-looking compared to Carlota Joaquina and Maria Amalia, but she looked even younger than her thirteen years. She was described as "little, and round as a ball". Her mother-in-law, Queen Maria Carolina, had been close to her son's first wife, who was also her niece. She had an unfavorable first impression of the young Maria Isabella, about whom she wrote:
A fine, fresh, healthy face, not Bourbon in the least, but white and red, with black eyes. She is very stout and sturdy, yet her legs are very short. So much for her exterior. The rest cannot be described because I myself cannot understand it. She is null in every respect, knowledge, ideas, curiosity. Nothing, absolutely nothing. She speaks a little Spanish but neither Italian nor French, and only monosyllables, Yes or No, indiscriminately. She smiles all the time, whether she is pleased or not...Francis's child aged four has far more intelligence. Francis has engaged masters to teach her Italian and the rudiments of geography and arithmetic. She knows nothing except a little piano. I have tried to praise and enliven her. She feels nothing; she laughs. She is an automaton which might acquire certain attitudes but never real maturity. Were I the ambitious, intriguing woman I am said to be, I should be enchanted to have such a daughter in law who will never become anything, but I am too conscientious for that. I tried every means to mold her as a companion for her husband, even if this may turn her against myself. Believe me this child is a tight present, for she will neither ennoble nor improve our race. All the numerous Spanish clique, all their projects and schemes, have received a knock out blow by the arrival of this Princess and her perfect nullity.
She was only fifteen years old when her first daughter, Luisa Carlotta, was born in Portici on 24 October 1804. She also had a step-daughter, Princess Carolina, who would marry the French-born Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry (the second son of the future King Charles X of France).
Maria Isabella's life was deeply marked by Napoleon's actions. Fearing for his crown, King Ferdinand joined the Third Coalition against Bonaparte. Napoleon's troops defeated the allied armies at the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805 and the Neapolitan corps at Campo Tenese. Following these victories, Napoleon's forces occupied Naples in 1806. The Emperor gave the crown of Naples to his brother Joseph Bonaparte, and four years later to his brother-in-law Joachim Murat.
Maria Isabella, with the rest of the royal family, had to flee from Naples to Sicily in February 1806. Despite successive attempts by Murat to invade the island, King Ferdinand and Maria Carolina held their status and power in Sicily under the protection of British troops, but would be unable to challenge French control of the Italian mainland. The real power in Sicily was held by Lord William Bentinck, commander of British troops on the island. The king spent the following years hunting, appearing at Palermo only when his presence was required.