Louis of Etruria

Louis
King of Etruria
Reign	1801-1803
Successor	Charles
Consort	Maria Louisa of Spain
Issue
Charles, King of Etruria, Duke of Parma Maria Luisa Carlota, Crown Princess of Saxony
Full name
Louis Francis Philibert
Father	Ferdinand, Duke of Parma
Mother	Maria Amalia of Austria
Born	5 July 1773(1773-07-05) Piacenza
Died	27 May 1803(1803-05-27) (aged 29) Florence

Louis (5 July 1773 – 27 May 1803) was the first of only two Kings of Etruria.

Louis was the son of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma and Maria Amalia of Austria, the second surviving daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Biography

Swap of Parma and Etruria

While Louis was staying in Spain, the Duchy of Parma had been occupied by French troops in 1796. Napoleon Bonaparte, who had conquered most of Italy and wanted to gain Spain as an ally against England, proposed to compensate the House of Bourbon for their loss of the Duchy of Parma with the Kingdom of Etruria, a new state that he created from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. This was agreed upon in the Treaty of Aranjuez.

Louis had to receive his investiture from Napoleon in Paris, before taking possession of Etruria. Louis, his wife and his son travelled incognito through France under the name of the Count of Livorno. Having been invested as King in Paris, Louis and his family arrived at his new capital Florence in August 1801.

In 1802, both Louis and his pregnant wife travelled to Spain to attend the double-wedding of Maria Luisa's brother Ferdinand and her youngest sister Maria Isabel. Offshore at Barcelona, Maria Louisa gave birth to her daughter Marie Louise Charlotte. The couple returned in December of that year, after having been notified of the death of Louis's father.

Back in Etruria, Louis's health worsened, and in May 1803, he died at the age of thirty, possibly due to an epileptic crisis.

He was succeeded by his son, Charles Louis as King Louis II of Etruria, under the regency of his mother Maria Louisa.

Marriage and issue

In 1795, Louis came to the Spanish court to finish his education and also to marry one of the daughters of King Charles IV of Spain. On 25 August 1795, he married his first cousin Maria Louisa of Spain at Madrid and was made an Infante of Spain.

The marriage between the two different personalities turned out to be happy, though it was clouded by Louis's ill health: He was frail, suffering chest problems, and since a childhood accident when he hit his head on a marble table, suffered from symptoms that have been identified as epileptic fits. As the years went on, his health deteriorated, and he grew to be increasingly dependent on his wife. The young couple remained in Spain during the early years of their marriage.

The couple had two children:

• Charles Louis Ferdinand (1799–1883)
• Maria Luisa Carlota, Crown Princess of Saxony (1802–1857), married to Crown Prince Maximilian of Saxony, widower of her aunt Caroline, as his second wife and remained childless.

Ancestry

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 5 July 1773 – 21 March 1801 His Royal Highness the Prince of Piacenza
• 21 March 1801 – 27 May 1803 His Majesty the King of Etruria

External links

Media related to Louis of Etruria at Wikimedia Commons

Louis of Etruria House of Bourbon Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty Born: 5 July 1773 Died: 27 May 1803
Regnal titles
Preceded by New Creation	King of Etruria 1801–1803	Succeeded by Charles Louis

Persondata
Name	Etruria, Louis Of
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	5 July 1773
Place of birth	Piacenza
Date of death	27 May 1803
Place of death	Florence