The main role assigned to the queens throughout history was to give birth to healthy heirs, which guaranteed the continuation of the dynasty. Nevertheless, there were sovereigns who could not fulfill their main female destiny - to become a mother. One of them is Maria Louise of Orleans, a beautiful and elegant niece of Louis XIV of France. It was expected that she would give the feeble Spanish monarch an heir. But since the king could not be publicly accused of infertility, Maria Louise had to take the blame.
Royal granddaughter
Maria Louise, who came from the Orleans House, was born in Paris in March 1662 in the Palais Royal Palace. She was the daughter of the Duke of Philip, the younger brother of King Louis XIV and Henrietta Stewart, daughter of Charles I of England.
Maria Louise and her younger sister lost their mother in 1670. However, even before that, parents engaged in court life did not spoil their daughters too much with their attention. Therefore, Maria Louise spent a lot of time with her grandmothers: Henrietta Maria, the mother of the English king, and Anna of Austria, the mother of the French monarch.
The following 1671, Duke Philip married a German princess who managed to replace his daughters with a mother. Maria Louise, until her departure for Spain, maintained close relations with her stepmother.
The little princess received an excellent education and spent a lot of time at Versailles. However, the splendor of court life surrounding it in France was soon to give way to the prim etiquette of the Spanish court.
For political reasons
As you know, princes and princesses are not free to choose their spouses. All decide the political interests of the powers. After waiting for the sixtieth anniversary of Maria Louise of Orleans, her father and uncle found it necessary to arrange her marriage, and at the same time relieve tension in relations with Spain that arose due to France's intervention in the Dutch conflict.
Therefore, Louis XIV informed his niece of his royal will - Mary Louise was to become the wife of Charles II of Habsburg. By then, a marriage agreement had already been signed with the Spanish ambassador.
Despite the fact that her fate was decided, the princess publicly showed her dissatisfaction with the decision to send her for the Pyrenees. She even threatened to become a nun. But in the end, she still had to come to terms.
On the last day of the summer of 1679, a wedding took place in the Fontainebleau Palace. The groom was not present at the wedding. The ceremony was performed by proxy. A similar practice was widespread among the royal houses of Western Europe. The groom was formally replaced by Prince Conde, the cousin of the bride.
From Versailles to Alcazar
This was followed by a celebration in honor of the new Spanish Queen, only on November 3, 1679 her motorcade arrived at the border river Bidasoa. Two weeks later, Maria Louise of Orleans and Carl first saw each other. She is beautiful, healthy and blooming, he is unattractive, thin and painful. Then, near the city of Burgos, a wedding ceremony took place, now by all the rules.
At the beginning of next year, the consort queen arrived in Madrid, where she settled in Alcazar, a dark and cold palace that was so unlike the cheerful and radiant Versailles. She had to get used to the strict and even harsh orders of the ceremonial Spanish court, where, moreover, all French was not too favored.
The relationship of Maria Louise with her mother-in-law, Marianne of Austria, was better than the courtiers expected. The main reason was that the consort queen was not interested in politics. This circumstance completely suited the imperious mother-in-law.
Maria Louise was more worried about satisfying her whims. She loved horseback riding, beautiful outfits, French dishes, because she could not get used to the Spanish cuisine, where too many spices were used. Despite the fact that with the mother-in-law they were complete opposites, the latter repeatedly asked her son to meet the whims of the Frenchwoman.
According to contemporaries, Karl fell in love with his wife from the first moment of their meeting. At first, Maria Louise did not share his passionate feelings, but over time she became attached to her physically inferior spouse.
King of Spain Charles II
For several generations of the Habsburgs, all for the same notorious political reasons, they married close relatives. The result of such incestuous alliances was physical and mental degeneration. The unfortunate Charles II was the last representative of the dying dynasty.
Congenital malformation of the jaw did not allow him to chew food and speak clearly. The king learned to walk late, suffered from epilepsy, diarrhea and scrofula all his life. As a man, he was also untenable. In a word, King Charles II of Spain was an invalid.
The heir who never appeared
Despite the monarch's obvious health problems, the people and courtiers continued to hope for the birth of the infant. For the treatment of "barren" Maria Louise used various dubious means. Several times it was even announced that the queen became pregnant. However, denials soon followed. The frustration over time has given rise to absurd rumors that the queen intentionally provokes abortions.
Marriage to Louise of Orleans was not made happy. In Spain, she lived for almost 10 years, during which she tried in vain to fulfill the duty assigned to her - to give birth to the heir to the Habsburg dynasty.
Queen's death
In early February 1689, after a long horseback ride, Maria Louise suddenly became ill. She began vomiting and severe abdominal pain. The doctors called to her could not help her. After spending all night in great suffering, she died the next day. As is usually the case in such cases, rumors of poisoning spread.
Modern historians, based on documents of that era, believe that there was no conspiracy. Most likely, the queen died from a digestive infection, for example, salmonellosis, or from an acute attack of appendicitis.
Maria Louise of Orleans died on February 12. The remains of the queen were buried in the pantheon of the infants of the Abbey of Escorial.
Controversial Spanish Legacy
Years later, a long military conflict erupted in Europe, called the War of the Spanish Succession. Although Charles II married again, this time to the German princess, but his son was never born. After the death of the last Habsburg, the European powers began to divide the Spanish possessions. The war ended in 1714 with the coronation of the Duke of Anjou. He went down in history under the name of Philip V of Spain.