Maria Luisa of Spain (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈɾi.a ˈlwisa], 6 July 1782 – 13 March 1824) was a Spanish infanta, daughter of King Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma. In 1795, she married her first cousin Louis of Bourbon-Parma, heir apparent to the Duchy of Parma. She spent the first years of her married life at the Spanish court where their first child, Charles Louis, was born.
In 1801, the Treaty of Aranjuez made her husband King of Etruria, a kingdom created from the former Grand Duchy of Tuscany in exchange for the renunciation of the Duchy of Parma. They arrived in Florence, the capital of the new kingdom, in August 1801. During a brief visit to Spain in 1802, Maria Luisa gave birth to her second child. Her husband's reign in Etruria was marred by his ill health. He died in 1803 at the age of 30, following an epileptic crisis. Maria Luisa acted as regent for their son. During her government in Florence, she tried to gain the support of her subjects, but her administration of Etruria was cut short by Napoleon Bonaparte, who forced her to leave with her children in December 1807. As part of the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Napoleon incorporated Etruria to his domains.
After a futile interview with Napoleon in Milan, Maria Luisa looked for refuge in exile with her family in Spain. The Spanish court was deeply divided and a month after her arrival the country was thrown into unrest when a popular uprising, known as the Mutiny of Aranjuez, forced Maria Luisa's father to abdicate in favor of her brother Ferdinand VII. Napoleon invited father and son to Bayonne, France, with the excuse of acting as a mediator, but gave the kingdom to his brother Joseph. Napoleon called the remaining members of the Spanish royal family to France and at their departure on 2 May 1808, the citizens of Madrid rose up against the French occupation. In France, Maria Luisa was reunited in exile with her parents. She was the only member of the Spanish royal family to oppose Napoleon directly. After her secret plan to escape was discovered, Maria Luisa was separated from her son and placed with her daughter as prisoners in a Roman convent.
Maria Luisa, mostly known as the Queen of Etruria during her lifetime, regained her freedom in 1814 at the fall of Napoleon. In the following years, she continued to live in Rome, hoping to recover her father-in-law's former domains. To put forward her case, she wrote a book of memoirs, but was disappointed when the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) compensated her not with Parma, but with the smaller Duchy of Lucca, which had been created specifically for her family in place of the ancient Republic of Lucca. As a consolation, she was allowed to retain the honours of a queen. Initially stubbornly opposed to accepting this accord, Maria Luisa only took the government of Lucca in December 1817, after her family had been granted the right of reversion to the Duchy of Parma upon the death of the incumbent Duchess, the former Empress of the French, Marie Louise of Austria.
As the reigning duchess of Lucca, she disregarded the constitution imposed by the Congress of Vienna. While spending time in her palace in Rome, she died of cancer at the age of 41.
Born at the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, Segovia, Spain, Maria Luisa was the third surviving daughter of King Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma, granddaughter of Louis XV and the popular Queen Marie Leszczyńska. She was given the names Maria Luisa Josefina Antonieta, after an older sister, Maria Luisa Carlota, who had died just four days before Maria Luisa's birth on 2 July, and her mother.
In 1795, Maria Luisa's first cousin, Louis of Bourbon-Parma, heir apparent to the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, came to the Spanish court to finish his education. There was an understanding between the two royal families that Louis would marry one of the daughters of Charles IV. It was anticipated that he would marry the Infanta Maria Amalia, Charles IV's eldest unmarried daughter. She was fifteen years old at the time and of a timid and melancholic nature, but was not very beautiful. Louis, who was equally shy and reserved, preferred her younger sister, Maria Luisa, who although only twelve, was of a more cheerful disposition and somewhat better-looking. All four daughters of Charles IV were short and not particularly beautiful, but Maria Luisa was clever, lively and amusing. She had dark curly hair, brown eyes and a Grecian nose. Her face was expressive and her character lively, and she was generous, kindhearted, devout and more attractive than her sisters. Both infantas were favorably impressed by the Prince of Parma, a tall and handsome young man, and when he ultimately chose the younger sister, Queen Maria Luisa readily agreed to the change of bride.
Louis was created Infante of Spain and married Maria Luisa on 25 August 1795 at the Royal Palace of La Granja. In a double wedding with her sister, Maria Amalia, who was the original intended bride, married her much older uncle, Infante Antonio. The marriage between the two different personalities turned out to be happy, though it was clouded by Louis' ill health: He was frail, suffering chest problems, and since a childhood accident when he hit his head on a marble table, had epileptic seizures. As the years went on his health deteriorated and he grew to be increasingly dependent on his wife. The young couple remained in Spain during the early years of their marriage, which were to be the happiest period of their lives. In early 1796, the couple traveled through Castile, Extramadura all the way to Portugal.
Maria Luisa was only thirteen when she married, and her first child was not born for another four years. Her first son, Charles Louis, was born in Madrid on 22 December 1799. Afterwards, the couple wanted to go to Parma, the lands they were going to inherit, but the King and Queen were reluctant to allow their departure. They were still in Spain in the spring of 1800 and staying at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez when they were painted with the royal family in Charles IV of Spain and His Family by Goya.
Maria Luisa's life was deeply marked by Napoleon Bonaparte's actions. Napoleon was interested in having Spain as an ally against the United Kingdom. In the summer of 1800, he sent his brother Lucien to the Spanish court with the proposal that would result in the Treaty of Aranjuez. Napoleon, who had conquered Italy, proposed to compensate the House of Bourbon-Parma for their loss of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza by creating the new Kingdom of Etruria for Louis, heir of Parma. The new kingdom was created out of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
To make way for the Bourbons, Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany was ousted and compensated with Salzburg. Maria Luisa, who had never lived away from her own family and was totally inexperienced in political affairs, opposed the plan. One of Napoleon's conditions was that the young couple had to go to Paris and there receive from him the investiture of their new sovereignty, before taking possession of Etruria. Maria Luisa was reluctant to make a trip to France, where only seven years earlier her relatives Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had been executed. However, pressed also by her family, she did as she was told. On 21 April 1801 the couple and their son left Madrid, crossed the border in Bayonne and traveled incognito to France under the name of Counts of Livorno. Napoleon received them with great attentions, at their arrival in Paris on 24 May. At first, the young couple did not make a good impression. In her memoirs, Laure Junot described Maria Luisa's character as a "mixture of shyness and haughtiness which at first gave restraint to her conversation and manners".
On her part, the Infanta did not enjoy her visit to Paris. Ill most of the time, she had a fever, often had to stay in bed and only reluctantly took part in the diversions on her honor. She was anxious about the health of her husband, who depended on her for everything. One day, as Louis got out of the carriage at Château de Malmaison, where they were going to dine, he suddenly fell to the ground during an epileptic seizure. Laure Junot described the scene in her memoirs: