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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bart9349, post: 2579293, member: 5682&quot;](Note: This is an edited version of something I wrote a few years back for a site dealing with history.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Marie Louise (or Maria Luigia), the Duchess of Parma, was the eldest daughter of the Austrian emperor Francis I. She was used as a bargaining chip to forge an alliance between Napoleon and the Austrian Emperor. Napoleon had previously divorced his wife Josephine who failed to give him an heir.</p><p><br /></p><p>She was not yet nineteen years old when she married Napoleon. When informed of the secret decision for her to marry Napoleon and asked for her consent, she replied, &quot;I wish only what my duty commands me to wish.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]559568[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Marie Louise dutifully agreed to marry Napoleon (more than two decades her senior) in 1810 and came to love and admire him. (Marie Louise, however, may have been haunted by thoughts of her great aunt Marie Antoinette who also went to France but whose fate ended with tragic results.) She later wrote her father, &quot;I assure you, dear papa, that people have done great injustice to the Emperor. The better one knows him, the better one appreciates and loves him.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>After Napoleon&#039;s defeat in 1814, the former Empress of France was made ruler of the Duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla according to the terms of Treaty of Fontainebleau (which was later reaffirmed and revised at the Congress of Vienna).</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]559564[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]559563[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Parma. Maria Luigia gold 20 Lire 1815,</b> <b>KM-C31, AU58 NGC,</b></p><p>(My coin, not my picture.)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Marie Louise adapted quickly to her new setting and became very popular in Parma. She even chose to be called by her Italian name Maria Luigia, instead. She brought with her to Parma the French culture, as well as the fragile violet flower. With the help of a local monastery, she created her own perfume from the leaves and flower of the violet that is still popular today.</p><p><br /></p><p>She remained the beloved Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla till her death in 1847 at the age of 56.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]559560[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Daguerreotype of Marie Louise taken in 1847, shortly before her death.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Marie Louise imported to Parma the best ideas of the French enlightenment and liberalism.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Duchess promoted many building projects in her duchy: an important bridge, public parks and gardens, a library, museums, schools, and medical clinics for both women and the mentally ill. She loved music and supported theaters, music schools, and scholarships (including one for the young Giuseppe Verdi who later dedicated an opera to her).</p><p><br /></p><p>Marie Louise, despite her belonging to the House of Habsburg, tried to temper the bloody and tyrannical rule of the Austrians in Northern Italy, including her insane cousin Francis IV, Duke of neighboring Modena. She granted amnesty to the Italian revolutionaries in the early 1830s.</p><p><br /></p><p>Marie Louise (called by the people of Parma &quot;the good duchess”) embodied a combination of beauty, grace, and sophistication. She possessed a deep understanding and compassion for human suffering. This is why she is still admired today in Parma.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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