Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma

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Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
Image:Marie Luise.jpg
Born	12 December 1791 Vienna, Austria
Died	17 December 1847 Parma, Italy

Marie Louise (December 12, 1791 - December 17, 1847), the second wife of Napoléon Bonaparte and Empress of the French, also became the sovereign Duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla.

Her Imperial and Royal Highness Maria Luisa Leopoldine Franziska Theresia Josepha Lucia, Princess Imperial and Archduchess of Austria, Princess Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Tuscany, Duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla was born in Vienna, the daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor and of his second wife, Maria Theresa of the Two Sicilies.

On March 11, 1810, Marie Louise married Napoléon by proxy, with a subsequent ceremony taking place in the chapel of the Louvre on 1 April 1810 . The bride's father intended the marriage to strengthen links between the Austrian Empire and the France of the First French Empire. Napoleon sought the validation and legitimation of his Empire by marrying into one of the oldest ruling families of traditional Europe. He also hoped to cement his position by fathering a legitimate heir, and on March 20, 1811, the Empress gave birth to a son, Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, styled King of Rome and later Duke of Reichstadt. The Empress acted as regent from 1812 to 1813 during her husband's absence in the Russian campaign.

After Napoleon's abdication in April 1814, Marie Louise and her son fled Paris to Blois then to Vienna, where she remained until the Treaty of Paris of April 30, 1814 gave her the duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla, with her son as heir. However, in 1815, the Congress of Vienna revised this arrangement and made her Duchess of Parma for her life only, with the details of who would become Duke of Parma after her death unspecified. In 1817, a treaty was signed which would leave the duchies to the Bourbons. However, in 1844 it was said that Guastalla would go to the Dukes of Modena.

In 1821, four months after Napoleon's death, she married, morganatically, her lover, Adam-Adalbert, Count and Lord of Neipperg (1775 - 1829). The couple had already had two children out of wedlock:

• Albertine, Countess of Montenuovo (1817 - 1867, who married Luigi, Count di Fontanellato)
• Wilhelm Albrecht, Count of Montenuovo, later created Prince of Montenuovo (1819-1895), who married Countess Juliana Batthyány von Némét-Ujvár).

Marie-Louise and Neipperg subsequently also had a second daughter, Mathilde, Countess of Montenuovo, in 1822.

In 1834 Marie-Louise married, morganatically, her grand chamberlain, Charles-René, Count of Bombelles (1785 - 1856).

Marie Louise, former Empress of the French, died on December 17, 1847 in Parma. Her status as Duchess of Parma and Piacenza passed to Prince Charles of Parma, the grandson of the last reigning Duke of Parma, but the duchy of Guastalla passed to Duke Francis V of Modena.

Preceded by: Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (titular, actually part of France)	Duchess of Parma 1814-1847	Succeeded by: Charles II Louis
Preceded by: Charles François Lebrun (titular, actually part of France)	Duchess of Piacenza 1814-1847
Preceded by: Part of France	Duchess of Guastalla 1814-1847	Succeeded by: Ceded to Modena