Elisabeth Farnese - AMBITIOUS Queen Of Spain

Elisabeth Farnese was born in Parma on October 25, 1692. She was the second child and only daughter of the hereditary Duke Odoardo II Farnese of Parma and Piacenze, and his wife Dorothea Sophia of Neuburg. Her father died in September 1693, when she was only one year old. Her mother Dorothea Sophia married her husband's half-brother Francesco Farnese in December 1695, but he was unable to father children, so it became apparent that Elisabeth would probably later inherit the Duchy of Parma. Little is known about Elisabeth's childhood. She was characterized as headstrong. She had a good relationship with her uncle and stepfather, and later kept up a constant correspondence with him when she was Queen of Spain. Her mother, on the other hand, treated her daughter very harshly and they had a cold relationship. Elisabeth was taught in several foreign languages. She was also taught history, geography, philosophy and religion. She was, however, deemed to be unintelligent. The outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession threatened to severely affect the tranquil life of the noble Farnese family and their duchy as a result of possible war entanglements. Francesco Farnese tried to maintain his previous policy of neutrality. At first, a predominantly anti-Austrian attitude prevailed at the court of Parma. Eventually, though, the duchy had to side with the imperial forces and it was declared a German imperial fiefdom by Joseph I. Elisabeth contracted a severe case of smallpox during an epidemic caused by the passage of German armies through the Po Valley, which she survived with difficulty. As a result, her face was disfigured by scars. Despite the danger of this making her less attractive as a marriage candidate, there were plenty of suitors for her hand, including Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, and Francesco III d'Este, the future Duke of Modena. In 1714, the marriage of Elisabeth Farnese and the Spanish King Philip V was negotiated. Shortly after the death of Philip's first wife, Maria Luisa Gabriela of Savoy, Philip was on the outlook for a new bride. Julio Alberoni immediately proposed the marriage between Elisabeth Farnese and the Spanish King. To this end, Alberoni turned to Madame des Ursines, who was the head of the court household of the late Queen Maria Luisa Gabriela and had attained a very influential position in Spain. Alberoni convinced Madame des Ursines that Philip V would find Elisabeth charming and since the Farnese princess was unintelligent, Madame des Ursines could easily dominate her. Moreover, Elisabeth was the heiress to the Duchy of Parma and, as a descendant of Margherita de' Medici, also possessed the immediate rights to the throne of Tuscany. This was significant for Philip V since he had been forced to renounce his Italian territories by the Peace of Utrecht and now had the prospect of regaining a foothold in Italy. With these arguments, the skillful diplomat Alberoni won Madame des Ursines over to his plans so that in June 1714 he was able to announce in a letter sent to Parma that the Spanish court now also considered Elisabeth to be a suitable bride for Philip V. Subsequently, Madame des Ursines acted as a successful intermediary in the marriage project. Philip V trusted her choice. On September 16, 1714, Elisabeth's wedding by proxy to Philip V took place in Parma and a few days later Elisabeth embarked on her journey to Spain. Although Elisabeth intended to travel by sea at first, she became seasick as a result of a heavy storm and decided to travel by land. The slow pace of her carriage annoyed the Spanish king who was eagerly awaiting her. During her voyage to Spain, Elisabeth visited her aunt, the Dowager Queen Maria Anna Neuburg, widow of Charles II of Spain. The exact content of the conversations between the two women are unknown, but Elisabeth may have been warned by her aunt of the domineering behavior and great power of Madame des Ursines. On December 11, 1714, Elisabeth arrived in Pamplona where Alberoni joined her and advised her on how to deal with her future husband and with Madame des Ursines. The diplomat, who had the confidence of the House of Farnese, harbored the intention of becoming the young Queen's most important advisor and, through this, the leader of the Spanish foreign policy. On December 23, 1714, Elisabeth met Madame des Ursines. It was to be the first and only meeting between the two women. What exactly happened between the two during this encounter is not known due to the lack of a direct witness, but in any case it ended with Elisabeth ordering Madame des Ursines' immediate departure from Spain. Elisabeth now quickly traveled on to the nearby city of Guadalajara, where her official wedding with Philip V took place on December 24, 1714. Shortly afterwards, the royal couple set off for Madrid. Their marriage produced six children. Charles III of Spain, who married Maria Amalia of Saxony, Mariana Victoria, who married Joseph I of Portugal, Philip, Duke of Parma and founder of the line of the House of Bourbon-Parma, he married Louise Elisabeth of France. Maria Teresa Raphaela, she married Louis Ferdinand, the Dauphin of France. Louis, who was also known as the Cardinal Infante, he was Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain and Cardinal since 1735. In 1754 he renounced his ecclesiastical titles and became Count of Chinon. In 1776 he married morganatically Maria Teresa de Vallabriga and had issue but without royal titles. And finally Maria Antonia Ferdinanda, who married Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia. Philip V was delighted with his new wife. Elisabeth soon seemed to have complete control over the weak-willed and indecisive king. The Spanish nobility often objected to France's strong influence on Spanish politics and disapproved of the fact that Philip V relied mainly on a French staff of advisors. They hoped that after Elisabeth's accession and the death of Louis XIV of France, the French influence would wane. Due to the banishment of Madame des Ursines, Elisabeth initially had met the nobility's expectations and thus briefly gained popularity, but she mainly pursued Italian interests. Elisabeth established a decisive influence on Spanish politics, which she initially led together with Alberoni until his fall in 1719. With the queen's help, Alberoni reshuffled government positions and dismissed various influential men associated with the French party in order to elevate Italians to key positions in their stead. Elisabeth's favoritism towards her countrymen and her power over the king made her unpopular with the Spanish nobility. Contrary to tradition, Philip V held meetings with his ministers in his consort's chambers and Elisabeth participated in these governmental deliberations in an increasingly dominant role. In general, the king spent most of his time in his wife's rooms instead of his own. His already recognizable tendencies towards melancholy had increased since the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. He also showed less and less commitment to conducting the affairs of government himself. In 1717, Philip suffered from depression and declared that in the event of his death, his wife and Alberoni should reign during the minority of his eldest son from his first marriage, Louis. In 1719, the king confided to Elisabeth for the first time that he wished to abdicate. In January 1724, Elisabeth was unable to prevent her husband from abdicating in favor of his eldest son from his first marriage, the sixteen-year-old Louis, and retreating to the palace of La Graña de San Ildefonso. She followed her husband to La Graña and was able to continue to exert political influence due to the inexperience of the new monarch. After the early death of Louis, who died of smallpox in August 1724, she persuaded Philip to take up power again. Because of Philip V's decrepit state of mind, Elisabeth feared that her husband might abdicate again, this time in favor of his youngest son from his first marriage, Ferdinand. Although the king recovered in 1726, he fell into a severe depression the next year and no longer wanted to rule. Elisabeth was appointed to be regent during Philip's illness. The death in May 1727 of Elisabeth's stepfather, Francesco Farnese, deprived Elisabeth of one of her most important political advisors. Since Francesco's brother, Antonio Farnese, now became the Duke of Parma and married Enricetta d'Este in February 1728, there was a threat, albeit a minor one, to the succession of Elisabeth's sons to the throne of the Duchy of Parma. In 1728, Philip V wanted to secretly send a letter to the Castilian council, convening it for the purpose of accepting his abdication, but Elisabeth managed to intercept this document in time. In the hope that a change of location would improve his depressive state, Elisabeth left Madrid with her husband and moved to Seville. In the meantime, Elisabeth remained concerned that her eldest son Charles might be deprived of the succession to the throne of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza if the reigning Duke Antonio Farnese had offspring. So on November 9, 1729, she signed the Treaty of Sevilla with England, a country she otherwise hated, ending the Anglo-Spanish War. In this treaty, England and France assured their support for the succession of Elisabeth's son Charles in the duchies of Parma and Piacenza, as well as in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Although Emperor Charles VI had not given his consent to this, Pope Clement XII took a favorable view on this agreement. Antonio Farnese died on January 20, 1731, but had previously named his unborn child, whom his wife was expecting, as his heir. It soon turned out, however, that Farnese's widow was not pregnant. Charles VI now accepted the provisions of the Treaty of Sevilla regarding the succession to the throne of Elisabeth's son Charles. Charles moved to Firenze in March 1737, was recognized as Duke of Tuscany in June of that same year and, at his mother's insistence, travelled to Parma in October 1732 to assume the regency there as well. Meanwhile in Spain, Philip V's condition had deteriorated. He did not change his clothes for 19 months and slept most of the time. Elisabeth did not succeed in cheering him up. Meanwhile, the royal couple's long absence from Madrid was greeted with dismay. Many wished Philip's son Ferdinand to take over. In May 1733, the royal couple departed from Sevilla and returned to Madrid. With the outbreak of the War of the Polish Succession in 1733, Elisabeth's plans for her children became even more ambitious. She thought of placing one of her children on the vacant Polish throne and another on the throne of Naples, Sicily. At his mother's insistence, Charles, now declared of age, successfully set out in February 1734 to conquer Naples and Sicily. Following the preliminary Peace of Vienna, Charles renounced the duchies of Parma and Piacenza in favor of Emperor Charles VI and, in return, was recognized as King of Naples, Sicily. In the final version of the Peace of Vienna, Charles' royal title was confirmed. In return, Charles agreed that in the event of his succession in Spain, there would be no personal union with the Spanish crown. After a legal dispute with the Holy See, Elisabeth, who had in the meantime ceased her efforts to obtain the Polish throne for Charles, had been able to obtain the title of Cardinal for her eight-year-old son Louis in 1735. Elisabeth now used her foreign policy ambitions to strengthen the position of her son Philip. In 1739, she was able to arrange his marriage to Louise Elisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of Louis XV, which meant a further strengthening of relations between the Spanish and the French Bourbons. The same purpose was pursued by the marriage of the Infanta Maria Teresa to the Dauphin Louis. For Elisabeth, the support of France was significant in achieving her political goals in Italy. During the War of the Austrian Succession, Franco-Spanish troops conquered Parma, Piacenza and Milan for Philip in 1745, but lost these cities again in 1746. It was not until the Treaty of El La Chapelle that Philip was granted the Duchy of Parma in Piacenza. With the dynastic successions for her sons Charles and Philip in Italy, Elisabeth became the founder of the Bourbon collateral lines Bourbon-Sicily and Bourbon-Parma. During her time as Queen, Elisabeth Farnese, who, according to the Duke of Saint-Simon, held the Spanish people in low esteem, surrounded herself with a small group of courtiers whom she appointed as confidants. She relied almost exclusively on men. Especially in the second half of Philip V's reign, the main burden of governmental responsibility rested on Elisabeth's shoulders due to her husband's depressed state of mind. In addition to her great influence on the King, who rarely refused her anything, her relationship with ministers such as José de Patiño y Rosales was also very significant for her to carry out the business of government and to assert her interests in power. On July 9, 1746, Philip V suffered a stroke and died a few hours later in Elisabeth Farnese's arms. Elisabeth's daughter Maria Teresa died only 13 days later. For a long time Elisabeth had been dreading the moment when she would become a widow and the loss of power that would come with it, especially since the heir to the throne, Ferdinand VI, was not her own son but Philip's last surviving son from his first marriage. She was unpopular with the Spanish people and had treated Ferdinand, who now became the new king, less than warmly in the past. She had also forbidden Ferdinand any contact with foreign envoys. After Ferdinand came to power, Elisabeth was nevertheless allowed to stay in Madrid for the time being. However, she had to move out of the royal palace in the Buen Retiro and relocate to the Palacio de los Afligidos. For Ferdinand VI, the economic recovery and modernization of Spain was paramount. Recalling the Spanish troops fighting in Italy for Elisabeth's son Philip, Philip suffered military setbacks in the upper Italian territory and returned to Spain. However, due to Elisabeth's intrigues and to get rid of his half-brother, Ferdinand VI had the Spanish troops sent back to Italy. At the insistence of his wife Barbara de Braganza, Ferdinand finally ordered the dowager queen to leave Madrid in July 1747, but allowed her to stay at the palace of La Graña de San Ildefonso. Ferdinand VI died on August 10, 1759, leaving no children. His wife had already passed away in August 1758. Thus the way was clear for Elisabeth's eldest son, who at that time ruled the kingdom of Naples, Sicily, to become Charles III of Spain. Ferdinand had appointed Elisabeth as regent in his will until Charles's arrival from Italy. This aroused fear among her political opponents, who had welcomed Elisabeth's removal from power under Ferdinand VI. For a few months the dowager queen, who had returned to Madrid, now held political reigns again as regent until her son, who had risen to king, arrived in Madrid in December 1759. Charles III treated his mother with the necessary respect, but kept her away from all political business from the start. The now frail and almost blind dowager queen was allowed to continue to live at the royal court. However, she did not get along with her daughter-in-law Maria Amalia of Saxony. The new queen considered Elisabeth to be unpleasant and unintelligent. Eventually, the dowager queen retreated to San Ildefonso. Elisabeth Farnese died on July 11, 1766 at the age of 73 in the palace of Aranjuez and, in accordance with her will, was buried in the chapel of the royal tombs of La Graña de San Ildefonso next to her husband. Thank you for watching.