by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was located in present-day northwest Italy. It existed, with a few interruptions, from 1569 – 1859. Tuscany was ruled by the de Medici family from 1434–1494 and from 1512 until the extinction of its senior branch in 1737. In 1569, Pope Pius V elevated Tuscany to a Grand Duchy and Cosimo I de’ Medici became its first Grand Duke.

In 1737, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine obtained control of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.  François Étienne, Duke of Lorraine exchanged the Duchy of Lorraine for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Stanisław I, the father-in-law of King Louis XV of France, had abdicated the throne of Poland in 1736 and now became the Duke of Lorraine.

Except for a period of thirteen years from 1801 – 1814 during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine retained the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, as a part of the unification of Italy. In 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy.

Two Grand Dukes of Tuscany were also Holy Roman Emperors: Francesco II Stefano, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1737 – 1765) also Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1745 – 1765) and Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1765 – 1790) also Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1790 – 1792).

• Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Luisa of Naples and Sicily was the first wife of Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Luisa Maria Amalia Teresa was born on July 27, 1773, at the Royal Palace in Naples, Kingdom of Naples, now in Italy. She was the second of the seventeen children and the second of the ten daughters of King Ferdinando IV of Naples and III of Sicily, later Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies, and his first wife Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria. Luisa’s paternal grandparents were Carlos IV, King of Naples and Sicily, later Carlos III, King of Spain, and Maria Amalia of Saxony. Her maternal grandparents were Maria Theresa of Austria, in her own right Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia and Francis Stephen, Holy Roman Emperor, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Duke of Lorraine.

Luisa had had sixteen siblings but only seven survived childhood. Seven of her siblings died from smallpox. However, her surviving four sisters all married sovereigns although her sister Maria Antonia died before her husband became King of Spain.

• Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily (1772 – 1807), married her first cousin Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor (later Franz I, Emperor of Austria), had twelve children
• Carlo of Naples and Sicily (1775 – 1778), died in early childhood from smallpox.
• Maria Anna of Naples and Sicily (1775 – 1780), died in childhood from smallpox.
• Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies (1777 – 1830), married (1) Maria Clementina of Austria, had two children (2) Maria Isabella of Spain, had twelve children
• Maria Cristina of Naples and Sicily (1779 – 1849), married Carlo Felice, King of Sardinia, no children
• Gennaro of Naples and Sicily (1780 – 1789), died in childhood from smallpox
• Giuseppe of Naples and Sicily (1781 – 1783), died in early childhood from smallpox.
• Maria Amelia of Naples and Sicily (1782 – 1866), married Louis Philippe d’Orléans, Duke of Orléans, later King of the French, had ten children
• Maria Carolina of Naples and Sicily (born and died 1783)
• Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (1784 – 1806), married Infante Ferdinand of Spain, Prince of Asturias, later King Ferdinand VII of Spain, no children, died from tuberculosis
• Maria Clotilde of Naples and Sicily (1786 – 1792), died in childhood from smallpox
• Maria Enricheta of Naples and Sicily (1787- 1792), died in childhood from smallpox
• Carlo Gennaro of Naples and Sicily (1788 – 1789), died in infancy from smallpox
• Leopoldo of Naples and Sicily (1790 – 1851), married his niece Clementina of Austria, had two children
• Alberto of Naples and Sicily (1792 – 1798), died in childhood
• Maria Isabella of Naples and Sicily (1793 – 1801), died in childhood

Luisa was not considered to be good-looking. In 1790, Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun, a prominent French portrait painter of the late 18th century, visited Naples to paint portraits of Luisa’s family and later stated: “Princess Luisa Maria was extremely ugly, and I would have gladly done without finishing her portrait, but in the end, I modified some features of the princess in order to make her at least presentable.”

In 1790, Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany had been elected Holy Roman Emperor as Leopold II upon the death of his childless brother Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, and he abdicated the throne of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in favor of his second son who became Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Leopold wanted his son Ferdinando to be married as soon as possible and turned to his sister Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily, and a match was made between the double first cousins Luisa and Ferdinando. Luisa’s father Ferdinando I, King of Naples and Sicily was the brother of Ferdinando’s mother Maria Luisa of Spain. Luisa’s mother Maria Carolina was the sister of Ferdinando’s father Leopold.  Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1765 – 1790), later Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1790 – 1792)

On August 15, 1790, in Naples, Kingdom of Naples, now in Italy, Luisa married by proxy Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The couple married in person in Vienna, Austria on September 19, 1790. At the Tuscan court, there was gossip about Luisa’s lack of attractiveness. However, many considered the gossip about her looks superficial and saw Luisa as a person who showed great kindness to everyone.

Luisa and Ferdinando had five children:

• Archduchess Carolina Ferdinanda of Austria (1793 – 1802), died in childhood
• Francesco Leopoldo, Grand Prince of Tuscany (1794 – 1800), died in childhood
• Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1797 – 1870), married (1) Maria Anna of Saxony, had three daughters including Auguste of Austria who married Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria (2) Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies, had ten children including Leopoldo II’s successor Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany
• Archduchess Maria Luisa of Austria (1798 – 1857), unmarried
• Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (1801 – 1855), married Carlo Alberto I, King of Sardinia, had three children including Carlo Alberto’s successor Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, later King of Italy

In 1801, Napoleon conquered Tuscany and Ferdinando was forced by the Treaty of Aranjuez to leave Tuscany to make way for the Kingdom of Etruria. Ferdinando and his family went into exile in Vienna, Austria. In 1807, Napoleon dissolved the Kingdom of Etruria and integrated it into France. After Napoleon’s downfall in 1814, Tuscany was restored to Ferdinando.

While the family was in exile in Vienna, Austria, Luisa, aged 29, died in childbirth delivering a stillborn son on September 19, 1802, at Hofburg Palace. She was buried with her stillborn son in her arms in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria. Twenty years after Luisa’s death,  52-year-old Ferdinando married 25-year-old Princess Maria Ferdinanda of Saxony. The couple had no children. Ferdinando survived his first wife Luisa by twenty-two years, dying at the age of 55, on June 18, 1824, in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy. He was buried in the Medici Chapel at the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy.

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Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Luisa of Naples and Sicily – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_of_Naples_and_Sicily> [Accessed 26 September 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinando-i-king-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 26 September 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Archduke of Austria. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinando-iii-grand-duke-of-tuscany-archduke-of-austria/> [Accessed 26 September 2021].
• It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Luisa Maria Amalia di Borbone-Napoli – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_Maria_Amalia_di_Borbone-Napoli> [Accessed 26 September 2021].
• Wilson, Peter, 2016. Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.