Maria Theresa of Savoy (1803-1879)

Childhood and Youth

Maria Theresa of Savoy was born in the Palazzo Colonna in Rome on September 19, 1803. She was the daughter of Victor Emanuel I , King of Sardinia from Maria Theresa of Austria . Together with her was born a twin sister, Maria Anna of Savoy , the future empress of Austria. Both princesses were baptized by Pope Pius VII . The godparents of the girls were grandfather and grandmother on the mother's side, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and Maria Beatrice Modenskaya , Duchess of Massa and Carrara ^{[4] [5]} .

Five years before her birth, the possessions of the Savoy house on the continent were annexed by France and the royal family was forced to go into exile, first to Florence , then to Rome. When, in 1806, the French army invaded the Papal States, they moved to Sardinia . In the royal palace in Cagliari, Maria Teresa of Savoy spent her childhood. She received a good home education under the guidance of governess Giovanna Battista Terzi. She was brought up in the spirit of Catholic piety. Having survived a serious illness, she thought of getting a haircut as a nun , but did not dare ^{[4] [6]} .

In 1815, after the return of the Savoy dynasty of possessions on the continent following the results of the Vienna Congress , she left Cagliari with her mother and sisters and arrived at the port of Genoa , from where she arrived in Turin , where their father was already waiting for them ^{[4] [6]} .

Duchess

In 1819, Maria Theresa of Savoy was engaged to Karl Louis of Bourbon-Parma . On August 15, 1820, a proxy marriage was made in Turin at Villa Real. The bridegroom was represented by Karl Felix of Savoy , Duke of Genoa. Soon, Maria Theresa of Savoy left for Viareggio , where her husband met her, and on September 7, 1820, they arrived at the court of his mother, the Duchess of Lucca ^{[4] [6]} .

The marriage was dynastic. The couple did not have common interests. Maria Theresa of Savoy was a religious woman, a secular member of the Order of Repentance of St. Dominic . Karl Louis Bourbon-Parma, a handsome man with an eccentric character, preferred entertainment and travel to prayers. Most of their married life they lived far from each other. In their marriage, a daughter and a son were born, but only a son survived, the daughter died in infancy. After the death of the authoritarian mother-in-law on March 13, 1824, Carl Louis of Bourbon-Parma became the Duke of Lucca under the name of Charles I, and she received the title of Duchess of Lucca ^{[4] [6]} .

Tests in his personal life, endless trips with her husband to the cities of Europe shook the nervous system of Maria Theresa of Savoy. Since 1833, she stopped accompanying her husband on his trips and settled in a . Karl Louis Bourbon-Parma sent their son to receive education in Germany and Austria. Sympathizing with Protestantism , he did not want to raise his son in the spirit of Catholic piety. In 1838, the Duchess moved to a villa in San Martino in Vignale . In September 1847, due to revolutionary unrest, she first moved to Massa, then to Genoa, where she was met by cousin Carl Albert of Savoy , the new king of Sardinia ^{[4] [6]} .

On December 17, 1847, after the death of the wife of Napoleon I, the former Empress Maria Louise of Austria , in accordance with the decision of the Congress of Vienna , Charles I exchanged the Duchy of Lucca for the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza and became the sovereign of the latter under the name of Charles II, and Maria Theresa of Savoy received the title of Duchess of Parma and Piacenza ^{[4] [6]} .

During the revolution of 1848, when her husband was forced to accept the terms of the interim government, she moved to relatives in Turin. After the restoration of power, Charles II in 1849 moved first to Massa, then to Lucca and, finally, again settled in a villa in Pianor. In March 1849, Carlo II abdicated the throne in favor of the son of Carl Ferdinand, who became the new Duke of Parma and Piacenza under the name of Charles III. Since that time, Maria Theresa of Savoy carried the title of Countess Villafranca ^{[4] [7]} .

Recent years

Maria Theresa of Savoy lived in a villa in Viareggio until the tragic death of her son ^[8] . In 1854, Charles III was killed by a carbonarius . Then she moved to a villa in San Martino in Vignale near Lucca. Here, Maria Theresa of Savoy led a very secluded life, accepted only a confessor , to whom she transferred her memoirs in 1855. In 1857, at the Dominican monastery in Lucca, she was at a secret audience with Pope Blessed Pius IX , who visited the city. In the last years of her life she suffered from progressive cerebral arteriosclerosis ^{[4] [6]} .

Maria Theresa of Savoy died on July 16, 1879 in a villa in San Martino in Vignale. After the requiem in St. Martin’s Cathedral (according to another version in the ) in Lucca, according to her will, she was buried in the attire of a secular member of the Order of Penance of St. Dominic in the chapel of the Dominicans in the Verano cemetery in Rome ^{[4] [6]} .

In Turin, on August 15, 1820, by proxy, a marriage was made between Maria Theresa of Savoy, Princess of Sardinia and Karl Louis Bourbon-Parma (12/22/1799 - 04/16/1883), Infant of Spain, Duke of Lucca under the name of Charles I, former king of Etruria under the name of Louis II and the future Duke of Parma and Piacenza under the name of Charles II, son of Louis I , King of Etruria and Maria Louise of Spain , the Infanta of Spain and the Duchess of Lucca. Wedding celebrations lasted until September 5, 1820 ^{[9] [10] [11]} . In this marriage two children were born:

• Princess Louise Francis of Bourbon-Parma (10/29/1821 - 8/9/1823), infante of Spain, died in infancy;
• Prince Karl Ferdinand of Bourbon-Parma (14.1.1823 - 27.3.1854), the infant of Spain, the Duke of Parma and Piacenza under the name of Charles III, married Princess Louise Maria of France (21.9.1819 - 1.2.1864) ^[12] .

The title of Maria Theresa after marriage: Infanta of Spain, Duchess of Lucca (March 13, 1824 - December 18, 1847), Duchess of Parma and Piacenza (December 18, 1847 - May 17, 1849), Countess Villafranca (May 17, 1849 - July 16, 1879). Some Jacobites consider both the Queen of Scotland under the name of Mary II and the Queen of England, Ireland and France under the name of Mary III, since her elder sister Maria Beatrice of Savoy married her uncle through her mother Francis IV , Duke of Modena and Reggio. However, the marriage of the elder sister was allowed by the Holy See , so most of the Jacobites do not recognize these claims ^[13] .

• Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía. Anales de la Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía : [ Spanish ] . - Madrid: RAMHG, 2008 .-- P. 377–378. - 497 p.

• Elvio Ciferri. Maria Teresa di Savoia, di Savoia, duchessa di Lucca, poi duchessa di Parma e Piacenza (neopr.) . Treccani - An article about Maria Theresa of Savoy in “Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani” (2008), Volume LXX. (ital.)
• Maria Teresa Ferdinanda Felicia Gaetana Pia - (1803 - 1879). Princess of Savoy and Sardinia (Neopr.) . Women of History. - An article about Maria Theresa of Savoy in Women of History. (eng.)