Neither Duchess of Burgundy nor Archduchess of Austria, but Princess of Asturias: Louis XV of France and the Marriage of his Granddaughter Marie-Louise of Parma

Abstract

This article analyses the behaviour and interference of Louis XV of France in the face of a possible marriage between his granddaughter, Marie-Louise of Parma, and the Archduke Joseph of Austria, heir to the Empress Maria Theresa. The aim is to discern whether the moral arguments put forward by the French monarch were merely a political excuse to avoid this union or if the fears he expressed were genuine. Other cases of royal marriages prior to this one are examined in order to assess this question, as is the extent to which the sovereign used his role as head of the House of Bourbon to impose his will. The negotiation of the engagement of the princess of Parma reveals how dynastic interests still had a strong presence in eighteenth-century Europe, at a time when the ‘national interest’ prevailed as the dominant political element.

Notes

1 Alfred Baudrillart, Philippe V et la Cour de France, 5 vols (Paris, 1890), vol. V, p. 243, (Philip V to Louis XV, 8 December 1744).

2 Claude Bernard Petitot (ed.), Collection des Mémoires Relatifs à l’Histoire de France, Mémoires du Duc de Noailles (Paris, 1829), vol. LXXIII, pp. 444-5.

3 Jean Christian Petitfils, Louis XV (Paris, 2014), p. 468; Bernard Hours, Louis XV, Un Portrait (Toulouse, 2009), pp. 359-67.

4 The king of France was always felt to be the principal head of all the branches of the Bourbon family. An example of this is seen in the letter that Ambassador Ocariz presented to the French foreign minister during the Revolution regarding the fate of Louis XVI during his trial. The Spanish diplomat insisted that the judiciary process against the head of the House of Bourbon could not be seen as something non-relevant to the king of Spain. The letter is quoted in Andrés Muriel, Historia de Carlos IV, ed. Carlos Seco Serrano (Madrid, 1959), vol. I, p. 146.

5 The figure of Marie-Louise of Parma has been dismissed in historiography as frivolous and manipulative. It has always been argued that she was graspingly ambitious, and held the reins of government during the reign of her cuckolded husband Charles IV. This view, constructed by misogynistic detractors and the Liberal historiography of the nineteenth century, has only recently begun to be challenged. The historian Antonio Calvo Maturana, a leading specialist on Maria Luisa, has studied her with a particular attention to gender and has highlighted how two images were constructed for her: the first, in her period as princess of Asturias, as an example of virtue, and the second, in her period as queen, as the personification of evil. See Antonio Calvo Maturana, María Luisa de Parma, Reina de España, Esclava del Mito (Granada, 2007); and ‘“Con tal de que Godoy y la Reina se diviertan”: en torno a la virtud de María Luisa de Parma y la legitimidad de Carlos IV’, Historia y Política 31 (2014), pp. 81-112. On her political role as a consort, see his article, ‘Floridablanca, Aranda, Godoy y el Partido de la Reina: La influencia política de María Luisa de Parma en los primeros gobiernos de Carlos IV’, Revista de Historia Moderna 28 (2010), pp. 121-46; and the chapter ‘El desagrado de Vuestra Majestad hacia mi persona: La primera caída en desgracia del conde de Aranda ante María Luisa de Parma (1789–1790)’, in Elena Hernández Sandoica (ed.), Espacio Público y Espacio Privado, Miradas desde el Sexo y el Género (Madrid, 2014), pp. 241-81.

6 Because the marriage arrangements of Marie-Louise of Parma and the Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain took place at almost the same time and are interrelated, we will refer to the princess of Parma as Marie-Louise and the Spanish Infanta as Maria Luisa. Marie-Louise of Parma’s original name was Luigia Maria, but in Spanish historiography she is known as Maria Luisa and in foreign historiography as Marie-Louise. In the sources she appears simply as Louise. In the case of the Spanish infanta, Spanish historiography refers to her as Maria Luisa, while in German and Italian historiography, after she became grand duchess of Tuscany and then Empress, she is called Maria Ludovika.

7 Honoré Bonhomme, Louis XV et sa Famille (Paris, 1874), pp. 40-43; Casimir Stryiensky, Mesdames de France, Filles de Louis XV (Paris, 1911), pp. 219-22.

8 Lucien Bély, ‘La Révolution Diplomatique de 1756: Une Négociation au Sein de l’État Royal’, in Guy Saupin and Éric Schnakenbourg (eds), Expériences de la Guerre, Pratiques de la Paix (Rennes, 2013), pp. 149-67.

9 Henri Sage, ‘Les ambitions de Louise-Élisabeth de France, Duchesse de Parme, Ses Intrigues a la Cour de Versailles’, Revue de Sciences Politiques 18 (1903), pp. 686-701.

10 Louis de Beauriez (ed.), Une Fille de France et sa Correspondance Inédite (París, 1887), pp 147-52, (Louise-Elisabeth to Philip of Parma, 23 March 1758).

11 Henry Bédarida, A l´Apogée de la Puissance Bourbonienne, Parme dans la Politique Française au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1930), pp. 156-7.

12 María Victoria López Cordón, ‘Pacte de Famille ou intérêts d´ État?: La Monarchie Française et la Diplomatie Espagnole du XVIIIe siècle’, in Lucien Bély (ed.), La Présence des Bourbons en Europe XVIe-XXIe siècle (Paris, 2003), pp. 193-6.

13 This agreement was intended to ensure the succession of Charles III’s son Ferdinand to the throne of Naples, which according to the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) had been intended to pass to his brother Philip, duke of Parma, in the event of his accession to the Spanish crown. To alter this agreement, Charles III ceded half of the Tuscan State of Presidi to the Empress (Art. 5) and in exchange the latter renounced her right of reversion over Parma and Piacenza, securing Philip’s position there (Art. 3), and recognised Ferdinand as the new king of Naples. The possible outbreak of a new conflict on the Italian peninsula was thus avoided. Alejandro del Cantillo, Tratados, convenios y declaraciones de paz y comercio que han hecho con las potencias estranjeras los monarcas españoles de la casa de Borbón desde el año 1700 hasta el día (Madrid, 1842), pp. 461-4.

14 Archivo General de Simancas [hereafter AGS], Estado [hereafter E.], legajo 4559 [hereafter leg.] (marqués de Grimaldi to Fernando de Magallón, El Escorial, 31 October 1763).

15 Hans Otto Kleinmann, Die Politik des Wiener Hofes Gegenüber der Spanischen Monarchie unter Karl III: 1759–1788 (Köln, 1967), pp. 20-66.

16 Franz Xavier Wolf von Orsini und Rosenberg, ambassador of Empress Maria Theresa in Madrid between 1757 and 1765. In the Spanish sources he is noted as ‘Rosemberg’, Neue Deutsche Biographie, vol. 19, p. 596. https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz73785.html#ndbcontent [accessed 4 April 2023].

17 Archivo Histórico Nacional [hereafter AHN], E., leg. 3698 (Ricardo Wall to Count of Mahony, El Pardo, 17 February 1762).

18 Hans Otto Kleinmann, Berichte der Diplomatischen Vertreter des Wiener Hofes aus Spanien in der Regierungszeit Karls III (1759–1788). Despachos de los Representantes Diplomáticos de la Corte de Viena acreditados en Madrid durante el Reinado de Carlos III (1759–1788), 14 vols (Madrid, 1971), vol. II, 247, Number [hereafter no] 103, Staatskanzlei [hereafter Stk.], Spanien Korr [Hereafter Sk], 1762, Faszikel [hereafter Fasz.], 118, fol. 518, p. 238 (Dispatch of count von Rosemberg to Kaunitz, Madrid, 25 November 1762). In the dispatch, Rosenberg notifies Chancellor Kaunitz of the receipt of the twelve points formal response regarding the marriage of the Infanta and the Archduke, contained in note 104, pp. 439-42.

19 Kleinmann, Berichte, vol. II, 251, no. 107, Stk, Sk, Fasz. 118, fols 530, 533, 541, pp. 242-55 (Rosenberg to Maria Theresa, Madrid, 4 December 1762).

20 Kleinmann, Berichte, vol. II, 251, no. 107, Stk, Sk, Fasz. 118, fols 530, 533, 541, pp. 242-55 (Rosenberg to Maria Theresa, Madrid, 4 December 1762).

21 Kleinmann, Berichte, vol. II, 210, no. 65, Stk, Sk, Fasz. 118, fols. 410-11, p. 170 (Rosenberg to Kaunitz, San Ildefonso, 3 August 1762).

22 Didier Ozanam, Un Español en la Corte de Luis XV (Alicante, 2001), pp. 115 (Jaime Masones de Lima to Ricardo Carvajal, Paris, 12 May 1753).

23 AHN, E., leg. 2703, no. 69 (Philip of Parma to Isabella Farnese, Parma, 13 January 1760); Archivio di Stato di Parma, Carteggio Farnesiano e Borbonico Estero-Spagna, Busta 150 (Charles III to Philip of Parma, 22 January 1760).

24 Vicente Palacio Atard, ‘Política Italiana de Carlos III, La Cuestión del Placentino’, Hispania 16 (1944), pp. 438-64.

25 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Magallón to Grimaldi, Paris, 10 January 1764).

26 Kleinmann, Berichte, vol. III, 359, postscript to no. 30, pp. 89-90 (Postscript to the dispatch from Rosenberg to Kaunitz, Aranjuez, 25 May 1764).

27 Kleinmann, Berichte, vol. III, 333, no. 6, Sk, 1764, Fasz.120, pp. 26-7 (Rosenberg to Kaunitz, Madrid, 30 January 1764).

28 Ernest Sanger, Isabelle de Bourbon-Parme, petite fille de Louis XV (Paris, 1991), pp. 322-3.

29 AHN, E., leg. 6544 (Copy of a letter from the Empress Maria Theresa to Charles III, 2 May 1764).

30 AHN, E., leg. 6544 (Copy of a letter from Charles III to the Empress Maria Theresa, Aranjuez, 2 June 1764).

31 Kleinmann, Berichte, vol. III, 382, No. 54, Stk, Sk, 1764, Fasz. 120, pp. 132-47 (Rosenberg to Maria Theresa, San Ildefonso, 28 September 1764).

32 AGS, E., leg. 4559 (count of Fuentes to Grimaldi, Compiègne, Compiègne, 16 July 1764)

33 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 11 May 1764).

34 AGS, E., leg. 6500 (Mahony to Grimaldi, Vienna, 9 June 1764).

35 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 11 May 1764).

36 This was the opinion of the count of Fuentes, who wrote to Grimaldi: ‘I also find it persuasive that if that court obtained the princess of Parma for the king of the Romans, they could place another archduchess in Spain for our Prince [Charles]’. AHN, E., leg. 6544 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 11 May 1764).

37 AGS, E., leg. 4559 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Compiègne, 16 July 1764).

38 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Minuta sobre la accesion del Rey N.S al Tratado entre la Francia y Viena en 1756 […]), Articles 2 and 3.

39 Choiseul made Louis XV believe that he shared his dynastic views, for it was on the King’s confidence that he remained in the Ministry. Hamish Scott, ‘Choiseul et le Troisième Pacte de Famille’, in Bély, La Présence des Bourbons, p. 218.

40 AHN, E., leg. 6544 (Copy of letter from Charles III to Louis XV, Aranjuez, 4 June 1764).

41 AHN, E., leg. 6544 (Grimaldi to Fuentes, Aranjuez, 4 June 1764).

42 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Grimaldi to Fuentes, Aranjuez, 4 June 1764).

43 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 15 June 1764). The Archduke Joseph and Isabella of Parma had one daughter, the Archduchess Maria Theresa, born in 1762. The little princess died in 1770 when she was eight.

44 Didier Ozanam, ‘Un Project de Mariage entre l’Infante María Antonia, Soeur de Ferdinand VI et le Dauphin, Fils de Louis XV’, Estudios de Historia Moderna, 2 vols (Barcelona, 1951), vol. I, pp. 129-77. Ferdinand VI had wanted to marry his sister Maria Antonia to the recently widowed Dauphin. Louis XV’s refusal caused relations between Versailles and Madrid to cool, leading to Ferdinand’s neutrality with regards to the Family Pact.

45 The Infanta Maria Theresa and the dauphin of France had a daughter named Maria Theresa. The child was born in 1746 and died two years later in 1748.

46 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 15 June 1764).

47 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 15 June 1764).

48 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 15 June 1764).

49 Ozanam, ‘Un Project de Mariage’, pp. 129-77.

50 Deuteronomy, 25:5. New International Version: https://www.biblestudytools.com/deuteronomy/25-5.html [accessed 4 April 2023].

51 Leviticus, 20:21. New International Version: https://www.biblestudytools.com/leviticus/20-21.html [accessed 4 April 2023].

52 Levíticus, 18:18. New International Version: https://www.biblestudytools.com/leviticus/18-18.html [accessed 4 April 2023].

53 Antoine, Louis XV, p. 72; Hours, Louis XV, pp. 154-60.

54 Ozanam, ‘Un Project de mariage’, pp. 129-77.

55 Pío Zabala y Lera, El Marqués de Argensón y el Pacto de Familia de 1743 (Madrid, 1928), pp. 53-150.

56 Antoine, Louis XV, pp. 372-80.

57 Maurice Lever, Luis XV (Barcelona, 2002).

58 Hours, Louis XV, pp. 620-67.

59 Frédérick Masson (ed.), Mémoires et Lettres de François-Joachim de Pierre, Cardinal de Bernis (1715–1758) (Paris, 1878), vol. II, p. 71.

60 Pablo Vázquez Gestal, Una Nueva Majestad: Felipe V, Isabel de Farnesio y la Identidad de la Monarquía (1700–1729) (Madrid, 2013), pp. 263-73.

61 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 15 June 1764).

62 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 15 June 1764).

63 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 15 June 1764).

64 AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 15 June 1764).

65 Didier Ozanam, ‘Le secret du Roi et l’Espagne (1764–1765)’, in Coloquio Internacional Carlos III y su Siglo: Actas, 2 vols (Madrid, 1989), vol. I, pp. 827-38.

66 Louis XV and the royal family were delighted with this event when they received the news of the wedding, which took place on 16 February 1764. AGS, E., leg. 4555 (Fuentes to Grimaldi, Paris, 27 February 1764).

67 AHN, E., leg. 2509 (Louis XV to Charles III, Versailles, 16 November 1767).

68 ‘H.M. […] had the determination and desire to marry his grandson, the duke of Parma, and that another of the archduchesses could be thought of for him […].’, AHN, E., leg. 4110 (Grimaldi to Fuentes, San Ildefonso, 3 September 1766).

69 M.E. Boutaric (ed.) Correspondance Secrète Inédite de Louis XV sur la Politique Étrangère avec le Comte de Broglie, Tercier …  (Paris, 1866), vol. I, pp. 148-9.

70 AHN, E., leg. 4110 (Grimaldi to Fuentes, San Ildefonso, 3 September 1766).

71 AHN, E., leg. 2473, no. 4 (copy of letter from Charles III to Louis XV, San Ildefonso, 21 September 1764).

72 Amiguet, Lettres de Louis XV à l’infant Ferdinand de Parme, pp. 35-36 (Louis XV to Ferdinand of Parma, Compiègne, 12 August 1765).

73 AHN, E., leg. 2473, no. 1 (Copy of letter of Charles III to Louis XV, San Ildefonso, 14 August 1765).

74 AHN, E., leg. 2473, no. 6 (Louis XV to Charles III, Versailles, 27 August 1765)

75 Amiguet, Lettres de Louis XV, p. 36 (Louis XV to Ferdinand of Parma, Versailles, 26 August 1765).

76 Archivo General de Palacio [hereafter AGP], Histórica [hereafter H.], caja 234 [hereafter caj.], ‘Notizia de quanto se dispuso para el viaje de la Señora Ynfanta Archiduquesa D[oñ]a Maria Luisa, y benida de la Prinzesa de Asturias D[oñ]a Luisa de Borbon […] hasta su llegada al Real Sitio de San Ildefonso; y sus felizes desposorios’.

77 AGP, H., caj. 234, ‘Notizia de quanto se dispuso para el viaje … ’.

78 AHN, E., leg. 2504, no. 60 (duke of Santisteban to Grimaldi, Villaverde, 23 August 1765).

79 AGP, H., caj. 234, ‘Notizia de quanto se dispuso para el viaje … ’.

80 Antoine, Louis XV, pp. 69-72.

81 AHN, E., leg. 2473, no. 7 (Copy of letter from Charles III to Louis XV, San Ildefonso, 5 September 1765).

82 AHN, E., leg. 2473, no. 5 (Grimaldi to Magallón, San Ildefonso, 4 September 1765).

83 Spanish envoy to Paris. Magallón replaced the count of Fuentes on an interim basis when the latter retired from the embassy.

84 AHN, E. leg. 2473, no. 8 (Magallón to Grimaldi, Paris, 16 September 1765).

85 On 2 March 1767, the king of France informed Ferdinand of Parma that the portraits of the prince and princess of Asturias had arrived in Paris. On 8 March he announced that he finally had them in his possession and said that Prince Charles had the air of an English gentleman and that he resembled his father, Charles III. Of Marie-Louise he remarked that she was still a child and with a touch of regret said that his granddaughter had the same eyes as her mother, Louise-Elisabeth, noting that she had always been his favourite daughter. Amiguet, Lettres de Louis XV, pp. 73-74 (Louis XV to Ferdinand of Parma, Versailles, 2 and 8 March 1767).

86 Amiguet, Lettres de Louis XV, pp. 74-75 (Louis XV to Ferdinand of Parma, Versailles, 30 March 1767).

87 Amiguet, Lettres de Louis XV, pp. 93-94 (Louis XV to Ferdinand of Parma, Versailles, 14 and 21 December 1767).

88 Louis XV told his grandson all about Marie-Louise’s childbirth. On 10 November 1766, he wrote that it was suspected that she was pregnant, and on 15 December he denied the rumour. On 25 January 1768 it was once again said that the princess of Asturias was pregnant, but she did not confirm this to her grandfather, who doubted the facts. On 30 January 1769, the King received letters from Charles III and Marie-Louise informing him that the Princess was pregnant, and the Madrid court urged him to keep the secret until the Princess entered the third month of pregnancy. Unfortunately, on 27 February, he wrote that he had learned that Marie-Louise had suffered a miscarriage. On 20 March he agreed with his grandson that the young woman was possibly pregnant again. On 18 September a new miscarriage was reported, and the King consoled himself by saying that probably after so many miscarriages many children would follow, as had happened to the Dauphine Marie-Josèphe, but it was clear that he was exasperated. On 3 June 1771, Charles III reported that the princess of Asturias was in her sixth month of pregnancy, which gave hope that the child would finally survive. Finally, on 29 September 1771, Louis XV wrote that Marie-Louise had given birth to a boy, the Infante Carlos Clemente, an event that was eagerly awaited by both the king of Spain and himself. It was no small relief, for it had taken the Princess six years to give birth to an heir to the Spanish crown. On 6 January 1772 it was again rumoured that the princess of Asturias was pregnant, but on 4 May this was denied. Amiguet, Lettres de Louis XV, pp. 64-5, 97, 124, 125-6, 127, 138, 180, 188, 195-6.

89 The Princess wrote to the king and queen of France during her nuptial journey. The letters were sent in sheets to the marqués de Grimaldi, who delivered them to the marquis d’Ossun, ambassador of Louis XV, who forwarded them to Versailles. AHN, E., leg. 2504, no. 51 (Santisteban to Grimaldi, Corral de Grimaldi, Corral de Almaguer, 21 August 1765).

90 Four letters were sent, one to Louis XV, one to Maria Leszczyńska, one to the Dauphine and one to Madame (it is not specified which one), all of them in a dispatch sent to Paris. AHN, E., leg. 6547, (Grimaldi to Magallón, Madrid, 23 de december 1765).

91 Most of the pieces that have come down to us were finished in 1774, but Louis XV died on 10 May of the same year and this, together with the difficulty of their manufacture, probably caused the delay in their shipment to the Spanish court. Dorothée Guillemé Brulon, Le Service de la Princesse des Asturies (Paris, 2003).