.
Early life She was the youngest daughter of
Philip, Duke of Parma, the fourth son of
Philip V of Spain, and
Louise-Élisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of King
Louis XV and his Polish-born wife, the popular Queen
Marie Leczinska. Born in
Parma, she was christened
Luisa María Teresa Anna after her maternal grandparents and her mother's favourite sister
Anne Henriette of France, but is known to history by the short Spanish form of this name: María Luisa, while Luisa was the name she used in private. 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
Bourbons. Maria Luisa, her brother
Ferdinand and her sister
Isabella are traditionally said to have been educated by
Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, a well-known French philosopher. However, Condillac did in fact not arrive in Parma until 1768. Maria Luisa dominated Charles IV and thus the government, but was in turn reputed to be dominated by prime minister
Manuel de Godoy. María Luisa was reputed to have had many love affairs. The most infamous of them was with the prime minister Manuel de Godoy, whom contemporary gossip singled out as a long-time lover; in 1784 a member of the guard, he was promoted through several ranks when Charles and Maria Luisa succeeded to the throne, and was appointed prime minister in 1792. Godoy was also rumored to be the natural father of several of Luisa's children. In 1791, minister Floridablanca lost his office after accusing Godoy of being the lover of the Queen. Several other men have been pointed out as her lovers, among them her courtier Mallo. Several contemporaries, such as the French ambassador Alquier, reported on these rumors, and they appeared in the diplomatic correspondence of the time. The veracity of that testimony, however, remains disputed. King Charles IV never expressed any suspicions or doubt about the queen's fidelity. There is no doubt that Maria Luisa and Godoy had a close relationship regardless of the nature of it, as their correspondence illustrates that she spoke to him of such intimate matters as the discontinuation of her menstruation and the depression caused by her menopause, and was given comfort by him and assured that she would find her new state in life fulfilling as well. Aside from her purported affairs, other rumors about Luisa circulated. When the Queen's rival, the duchess of Alba, died in 1802, she was rumored to have been poisoned by the Queen. When her son's wife,
Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, died in 1806, she was also rumored to have been poisoned by the Queen. Maria Luisa was interested in music and art, and known as a protector of artists, most notably
Francisco Goya. The Queen's purported relationship with prime minister Godoy, in combination with her reputed political influence, exposed her to the public's discontent over Godoy's Treaty with Napoleonic France, in which French troops were stationed in Spain. In one incident, the Queen was threatened by a mob and had to be protected by her life guard. In 1808, the popular discontent over the policy against France resulted in an uprising in Aranjuez.
Later life , 1819 On 19 March 1808, Charles IV abdicated the throne in favor of his son
Ferdinand VII due to pressure from
Napoleon I. In April 1808, Maria Luisa accompanied Charles IV and Manuel Godoy to a meeting with Napoleon in
Bayonne in
France to persuade the emperor to intercede and assist her husband in reclaiming the Spanish throne from their son. Their son Ferdinand VII also attended the meeting. At the meeting, however, Napoleon forced both Charles IV and Ferdinand VII to renounce their claims to the throne in favor of his brother
Joseph Bonaparte and declared the
Bourbon dynasty in Spain deposed. When Napoleon's army invaded Spain, several pamphlets blamed her for the abdication. After the forced abdication, Maria Luisa lived with Charles IV and Manuel Godoy as state prisoners of Napoleon in France. First in
Compiègne and
Aix-en-Provence, they were allowed to relocate to
Marseille, where they lived for four years. In 1812 they were allowed to settle under the protection of the Pope in the
Barberini Palace in
Rome. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, her son Ferdinand VII was reinstated upon the Spanish throne. However, he banned his parents as well as Godoy from returning to Spain. During Napoleon's temporary return to power in France during the
Hundred Days in 1815, Maria Luisa, Charles and Godoy left for France, but after his final fall, they returned to Rome where they settled permanently. During their residence in Rome, Maria Luisa and Charles created a large art collection of paintings by artists
Titian,
Correggio, Leonardo,
Lucas Cranach,
Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Bronzino, Palma El Viejo,
Tintoretto, Veronese, Poussin, Gaspar Dughet, and Alessandro Turchi. This collection was later transferred to Madrid. Both María Luisa and her husband died in Italy in early 1819. María Luisa reportedly died of
consumption. Manuel Godoy was made universal heir in her will, with the statement that he had shared their exile and lost his property for it. ==Legacy==