Monarchs

1714 - 1746

Daughter of Odoardo Farnese (1666-1693), Prince of Parma, and Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg (1670-1748), sister of Maria Anna of Neuburg (1667-1740), second wife of Charles II of Spain (1661-1700), Elisabeth Farnese’s upbringing was supervised by her mother, who saw to it that she received a solid artistic and cultural education. Betrothed to the King of Spain in 1714, at the urging of the diplomat Jules Alberoni, of Parma, and the Princesse des Ursins, the chief chambermaid and confidante of the King's first wife, Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy (1688-1714), her marriage to Philip V (1683-1746) was celebrated in Guadalajara on 24th December 1714. A woman with a strong personality, one of her first measures was to banish the influential Princesse des Ursins, the person responsible fo...

1788 - 1808

Daughter of the Infante Philip (1720-1765), Duke of Parma, and of Louise-Élisabeth of France (1727-1759), Maria Luisa of Parma was the granddaughter of Philip V of Spain (1683-1746) and Louis XV of France (1710-1774). Her marriage to Charles, then Prince of Asturias and future Charles IV, was held at the Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia) on 4th September 1765. During her first years in Spain, she found it difficult to adapt to the austere court of her father-in-law, Charles III (1716-1788). The royal couple had fourteen children: the Infante Carlos Clemente (1771-1774); the Infanta Carlota Joaquina (1775-1830), Queen of Portugal by marriage to John VI (1767-1826); the Infanta Maria Luisa (1777-1782); the Infanta Maria Amalia (1779-1798), married to her uncle, the Infant...