Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma Biography

Maria Ludovica Leopoldina Franziska Therese Josepha Lucia better known as Marie Louise was the Duchess of Parma. This Austrian Duchess was also Napoleon's second wife and, thus reigned as the Empress of the French from 1810 to 1814. France and Austria were in a state of war during her growing up years. When the war of the fifth coalition ended, Napoleon married the Austrian princess. Mary Louise had been brought up to hate the French and the French empire. However, under crucial circumstances, she agreed to the match and played the part of a dutiful wife. On Napoleon’s part, the marriage was a truce with one of the leading European families to cement the foundation of his new empire. This resulted a brief and peaceful relations between the two countries. She gave birth to a son, who succeeded the emperor as Napoleon II. After Napoleon’s exile to Elba, she was handed over the Duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla. After Napoleon died in 1821, she married Count Adam Albert von Neipperg, an equerry. Her third husband was her chamberlain, Count Charles-René de Bombelles. She died as the Duchess of Parma in 1847, in Parma