Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma

Maria Amalia (Maria Amalia Josepha Johanna Antonia; 26 February 1746 – 18 June 1804) was duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla by marriage to Ferdinand I, Duke of Parma. She was born an archduchess of Austria as the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I.

Early life
Maria Amalia, known as Amélie, was born on 26 February 1746, in the Hofburg in Vienna, Austria, as the eighth child of Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg monarchy, and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. She grew up in and near Vienna, in the Hofburg during the winters, and Schönbrunn Palace and Laxenburg castles during the summer.

Education
The sixteen children of Maria Theresa were raised in same-sex groups of two based on age, but as Maria Amalia was born between two boys, she grew up almost as an only child. She was raised to be the ideal consort and taught arts and how to be obedient, dutiful and representative. As a child, she was intelligent, but reserved and stubborn, considered difficult. She showed an interest in hunting early on, and her father took her on his hunting trips from the age of six. She developed a life-long passion for this sport, as well as for nature and animals.

Like her siblings, she was regularly interviewed by their mother, with whom she had a contentious relationship. Of all her daughters, Maria Theresa seems to have had the worst relationship with Maria Amalia. When she debuted as an adult in the society life in Vienna, she was a success because of her beauty. One of her paintings, St. Therese and the child Jesus, still exists today in a private collection.

Marriage
By early adulthood, Maria Amalia became a strong, independent young woman who cared little for her mother's personal and political plans. In 1767, she fell in love with Prince Charles of Zweibrücken. He was heir presumptive of the Palatine Zweibrücken, the Electoral Palatinate, and the Electorate of Bavaria, but Maria Theresa and his chancellor, Prince Kaunitz still considered him a bad match and refused his proposal. Maria Amalia protested, but was forced to accept her fate.

During this time, there were already negotiations with King Charles III of Spain, about Maria Amalia's marriage to the king's cousin, Ferdinand I, Duke of Parma. The empress hoped to strengthen her Italian influence by this union. The marriage was supported by Maria Amalia's eldest brother, the future Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, whose first, beloved wife had been Ferdinand's sister, Princess Isabella of Parma. The marriage was part of a series of unions between daughters of Maria Theresa to members of the House of Bourbon.

Ferdinand was five years younger than Maria Amalia, described as rude, obstinate, and debauched, but also bigoted in his Catholicism. His favourite pastimes were ringing church bells and roasting chestnuts with peasants. When Maria Amalia learned more about her groom, she was devastated. Maria Theresa promised her a splendid dowry and an annuity from the Spanish court, but the bride remained opposed to the match. The wedding, planned for the end of 1768, had to be postponed several times as Pope Clement XIII refused to issue the necessary dispensation because of his disputes with House of Bourbon. When he died in February 1769, his successor, Clement XIV authorised the marriage immediately. The proxy wedding was celebrated in June 1769 in Vienna, and the groom was represented by Maria Amalia's younger brother Ferdinand. The bride appeared tired and stressed during the celebrations, worrying Maria Theresa. Maria Amalia never forgave her mother for forcing her into this marriage.

Duchess of Parma
Maria Amalia left Austria on 1 July 1769, accompanied by her brother, Joseph II, and married Ferdinand on 19 July, at the Ducal Palace of Colorno. She was instructed by her mother to be submissive, obedient, adapt to local customs, and never interfere with politics.

The Duchy of Parma was ruled more or less as a French puppet state by Minister Guillaume du Tillot. Du Tillot kept Ferdinand out of politics, and was favored by his maternal grandfather, Louis XV of France. A letter of Louis XV to his grandson from May 1769 attests to this, counseling his grandson not to despise the minister who served his parents well, as there was no one to replace him. Maria Amalia's marriage had been arranged by Austria and Spain to end the pro-French policy in Parma and replace it with an Austrian and Spanish one. Upon her arrival, Maria Amalia was expected to submit to the wishes of du Tillot, who regarded her with suspicion, immediately causing conflict. In 1771, two years after her arrival in Parma, Maria Amalia secured the dismissal of du Tillot and replaced him with the Spaniard Jose del Llano, was highly recommended by the paternal uncle of Ferdinand, Charles III of Spain. In 1772, Maria Amalia fired del Llano and replaced him with an Italian prime minister and a cabinet of native Parmesans loyal to her rather than to a foreign ruler. This way, she secured that Parma would not become a Spanish puppet state. Duke Ferdinand, happy to spend his life with religious observance and raising his children, left the affairs of state entirely to his wife. After the cabinet change, Maria Amalia was therefore the de facto ruler of Parma.

In 1773, her mother Empress Maria Theresa tasked Count Franz Xaver Wolfgang of Orsini-Rosenberg (1723–1796), her ambassador to Parma to act as Maria Amalia's adviser. Maria Amalia, however, told Rosenberg that she no longer wished to receive letters from Vienna or from Madrid. After this, the diplomatic ties with Austria and Spain were cut.

As the ruler of Parma, Maria Amalia was referred to by the public as La Mata or La Signora. She defended the independence of the Duchy of Parma, strengthened its sense of nationality, supported art, culture, and literature, working efficiently with her ministerial cabinet. Ferdinand did not have political influence, and she openly changed and contradicted his orders and had him sign state documents for her, including her name in his orders as if they were co-rulers. From the beginning, Maria Amalia caused a scandal with her personal lifestyle. She made no effort to conceal her displeasure with her husband or her new circumstances. She used the funds from her mother for her wardrobe, a grand court and parties; she replaced most of her ladies-in-waiting with an entourage of handsome men from the royal guards, cross-dressed as male, spent her nights unaccompanied and incognito on the streets, gambled in the officers' club and, while Ferdinand took mistresses from the peasantry, she enjoyed affairs with members of his guard. All of this became a worry for her mother as she feared that she would stain the reputation of her sisters, especially that of the youngest, Maria Antonia, whom Maria Theresa wanted to marry to the dauphin of France.

Maria Amalia never established a good relationship with her husband, but they were both described as loving parents. She was greatly disliked by the Parmesan nobility, who described her as a shameful Messalina and blamed her for living a life of imperial luxury in such a small state. In turn, she considered them mostly useless and not beneficial to the interests of Parma. She was, however, popular among the public for her generosity toward the poor; at her famous gala parties in Colorno, she had tables set up for both noble and poor guests who enjoyed the same meals. Maria Amalia would remain largely estranged from her mother, except for a brief reconciliation in 1773 when her first son was born, despite her mother's repeated efforts at reconciliation. The duchess resisted her mother's efforts to control her from afar. When her sister Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen, visited Parma in 1775, she reported to their mother that Maria Amalia had lost much of her beauty and glamour and was also less gay. Maria Amalia was in touch with her youngers sisters Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, and Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily, for most of their married lives. The three sisters exchanged letters, portraits and gifts; one of Marie Antoinette's last letters during her imprisonment was written to Maria Amalia. However, her conflicts with their mother put a strain on her relationship with her siblings.

In 1778, her eldest son, Prince Louis injured himself when banging his head into a marble table while playing with his sister. He recovered from a serious concussion, but after this, he suffered from epileptic seizures and was often confused. This crisis contributed to an improvement in the relationship between Maria Amalia and Ferdinand. During the 1780s, Ferdinand was also more interested in state affairs, and the welfare of Parma became another common interest which made their relationship more cordial.

Later life
In May 1796, during the French invasion of Italy under Napoleon Bonaparte, the Duchy of Parma was invaded by French troops. Maria Amalia detested the French after the execution of her sister Marie Antoinette, but Ferdinand was ambivalent on account of being half French. Owing to ties with France's ally Spain, Napoleon offered to refrain from conquering the duchy if they agreed to let troops pass. After receiving no reply, he offered Ferdinand the island of Sardinia (which he did not control) in exchange for Parma. When he refused, Napoleon had French troops occupy Parma under General Jean-Baptiste Cervoni and forced Ferdinand to agree to the terms dictated by the French. Though Ferdinand and Maria Amalia were allowed to keep their titles, they were placed under French guard, and the duchy was ruled by French representatives and used for taxes to finance the French army.

Under the Treaty of Lunéville in February 1801, the Duchy of Parma was annexed to a newly founded French puppet state, the Kingdom of Etruria, which was granted to the son of Amalia, married to an infanta of Spain, daughter of Napoleon's ally. Both Ferdinand and Maria Amalia opposed the treaty, and an agreement was reached that the duchy would not be occupied until Ferdinand's death. The new French governor of Parma, Jean-Andoche Junot, placed them under house arrest, and Maria Amalia reportedly feared for her husband's life. On 9 October 1802, Maria Amalia was appointed head of a regency council set up by the dying Ferdinand. Her official reign lasted only for a short time. On 22 October 1802, the French annexed the duchy and expelled her from Parma. Ferdinand was thought to have been poisoned; there were rumors claiming that Maria Amalia poisoned him to win back her former power, but also that he had been poisoned by the spies of Napoleon.

Widowhood and death
Maria Amalia participated in the funeral procession of her husband alongside their daughters. She was given permission by her nephew, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, to live in Prague Castle with her two youngest daughters, Maria Antonia and Maria Carlotta and a small retinue of servants. In Prague Castle, she suffered from depression, never recovering from the execution of her sister Marie Antoinette who she mourned for the rest of her life, and her two oldest children, Carolina and Louis, died before her, which worsened her depressive state. She died there in 1804 from breast cancer after a series of colds, and her sisters Maria Elisabeth and Maria Carolina went to say goodbye to her, but couldn't come in time before her death. Her body was interred at the royal crypt of the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague (the last royal funeral there), and her heart was taken to Vienna and placed inside urn number thirty-three in her family's Herzgruft Herzgruft.

Issue
Maria Amalia and her husband Ferdinand had nine children: