. Elisabeth enjoyed hunting and wore male riding attire while doing so. She was described as an excellent shot and rider, and often hunted with the king. She spent extravagantly, both on herself and on her confidants. Her circle of confidants consisted, except her nurse
Laura Pescatori, of her Italian doctor Cervi and Marquis Scotti, who were also a part of her Italian retinue. Her favorites among her ladies-in-waiting was first her Flemish attendant La Pellegrina, who acted as the go-between for her and minister Patino, and the Duchess of Saint-Pierre; after the former had married and the latter departed for France in 1727, she favored the Marchioness Las Nieves, who had the task to act as the queen's informant and who by 1736 was said to be the one who should be courted for supplicants to the queen. She respected her chief lady-in-waiting, Countess de Altamira, who managed her ladies-in-waiting very strictly. The queen collected Italian works from the 16th and 17th centuries, including masterpieces by
Correggio,
Guido Reni,
Francesco Salviati and Flemish works by such celebrated artists as
Anthony van Dyck, and the
Bruegel family. Initially, Queen Elisabeth was popular because her dismissal of des Ursins made her seem as the savior of Spain from French dominance, but her increasing influence over the monarch soon made her as unpopular as des Ursins. Elisabeth was also unpopular among the Spanish nobility for the decline of formal Spanish etiquette court life, and pamphlets of the "Spanish party" typically accused her of keeping the king in slavery, benefiting foreigners and trying to murder her stepsons.
Political influence With the advice of Alberoni and Cardinal del Giudice, Elisabeth became the confidante of Philip and proceeded to eliminate the French party at court. They were replaced with her own followers through a network of clients and supporters, created with the help of her Italian nurse
Laura Pescatori. Her chief adviser was Alberoni, who guided her as to how to protect the interests of herself and Parma, while he himself, as a foreigner, had only her to rely on for his power. Despite early accounts of her submissive stance, Queen Elisabeth gained strong influence over Philip and his advisors. Reportedly she had charm and purposefulness, she was intelligent and could converse, be happy, jovial and charming. But she was also ambitious for glory, approval and popularity. According to the French ambassador the
Duke of Saint-Aignan, she got the king to believe that what she willed was what he wanted, and she shared his tastes and whims. Also, depressive episodes often left Philip V paralyzed and unable to handle government affairs, during which she handled them. Such periods occurred in 1717, 1722, 1728, 1731, 1732–33 and 1737, when Elisabeth seems to have dedicated herself exclusively to caring for his health. In contrast to what was customary for a Spanish monarch, Philip preferred to share the queen's apartments rather than have his own separate ones, and it was in the queen's apartments he met with his ministers. Elisabeth was therefore present at all government meetings from the start, and while she initially sat by the side embroidering, she soon participated more and more and eventually speaking for her spouse while he sat quiet. The king did not live in his own apartments but in the queen's, where he spent the whole night. When he awoke, he discussed the government business with the queen, after which the couple, still in their dressing gowns, conferred with their ministers in the queen's bedroom while the government business was spread over the queen's bed by her ladies-in-waiting. From 1729, they seldom emerged from the queen's quarters before two in the afternoon, after which they very swiftly performed their official functions. Philip did not like ceremonial court life and preferred to live in the smaller hunting palaces such as
El Pardo or
Aranjuez, where ceremonial court life could not properly occur. The royal couple's absence from court life and lack of public visibility became so marked that they were criticized for it, especially Elisabeth. After the dismissal of Alberoni in 1719 she was effectively the sole ruler in Spain. In 1724, entreaties failed to prevent the abdication of Philip, who gave up the throne in favour of his firstborn (
Louis I), heir from his first marriage. Phillip then retired to the
Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso. Also in 1724, Elisabeth acquired the
San Ildefonso Group for him from the
Odescalchi family. During the reign of Louis Elisabeth kept her hold of power. Seven months later, however, the death of the young king recalled Philip to the throne. It was Elisabeth who, with the aide of the ministers, the papal nuncio, theologians and her network of contacts, pressured him to retake the crown.
Foreign policy Queen Elisabeth was uninterested in domestic policy and preferred foreign policy, where her goal was to enforce the Spanish presence in the Italian states, combined with her ambition for her own sons, who were initially not expected to succeed in Spain because of her stepsons. Elisabeth's influence was exerted altogether in support of Alberoni's policy, one chief aim of which was to recover the ancient Italian possessions of Spain. She also gave her support to the
Cellamare conspiracy, where Philip was to be installed as regent of France, a position which would have given her simultaneous control of France and Spain. Her influence also led the seizure of
Sardinia and
Sicily, causing the
War of the Quadruple Alliance. So vigorously did she enter into this war that when the French forces advanced to the
Pyrenees, she placed herself at the head of one division of the Spanish army. In April 1719, the queen accompanied the king on his campaign to the front upon the French invasion; dressed in a habit of blue and silver, she continuously reviewed and encouraged her troops on horseback. Her ambition, however, was grievously disappointed. The Alliance thwarted her plans when
British troops raided Vigo, and by 1720 the allies made the banishment of Alberoni a condition of peace. Sicily and Sardinia also had to be evacuated. During the later years of Philip V, when he was nearly senile, Elisabeth directed the whole policy of Spain so as to secure thrones in Italy for her sons. In 1731 she had the satisfaction of seeing her favored scheme realized with the recognition by the powers in the
Treaty of Vienna of her son Don Carlos (afterwards
Charles III of Spain) as the
Duke of Parma, and after the
1738 Treaty of Vienna his accession to the thrones of
Naples and
Sicily. Her second son,
Philip, became Duke of Parma in 1748. ==Queen Dowager==