Blessed Maria Luisa I, Duchess of Lucca

Maria Luisa of Spain 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.