#Elisabeth Farnese

[rmelster]

As much as I love Philip, Duke of Parma, and I know his mother had a terrible influence in his family misfortunes, one has to acknowledge that his wife, Louise Elisabeth of France, wasn’t just an ambitious (or bratty) woman. Was she ambitious? Yes. Was she likely to have not had much relationship with her children because of her frequent visits to her family in Versailles? Yes. Was she married off at twelve to a young man seven years her senior who bedded her at an awfully young age, making her a mother at barely fourteen? YES. Was she likely to have not developed a certain fondness for her husband because of the previous fact? YES. Was she repulsed by her domineering mother-in law, to the point that she used to spent her first years in Spain playing with dolls and writing to her father about her unhappiness? YES.

[felipe-v-fanblog]

Portrait of Elisabetta Farnese at the italian court.

Copy of Ilario Spolverini.

[rmelster]

Imagine how she was with her daughter in law Louise-Élisabeth of France. When Philip, Duke of Parma, was in war, Elisabeth wrote to him frantically asking almost angrily whether he loved Louise, writing her name with a sign and not a word. She likely ruined his son’s marriage which didn’t had a great start o begin with) and was invasive and cruel with Louise-Élisabeth.

“Elisabeth Farnese sounds like a terrible queen and evil stepmother.” - Submitted by Anonymous

[archduchessofnowhere]

THE ROYAL BAPTISM AT THE PALAZZO FARNESE

Rome, 29 December 1869

I have just left the Farnese Palace, and I really believe that one can say without exaggeration: Naples is no longer in Naples; it is all in Rome today.

It is doubtful indeed that, even in the middle of his capital, Francis II would have seen himself surrounded by a crowd more numerous and better representing, not only the elite, but all the ranks of the nation of which he is the legitimate sovereign.

Certainly more magnificent pomp could have shone in Naples around the royal cradle. But first of all, could the young princess have hoped to have more august godparents before God and at her entry into the Christian life? The Holy Father, the first and greatest of the world's monarchs, the very Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and in whom the crown of suffering and misfortune heroically borne is added to the majesty of the tiara and the halo of sanctity; The Empress of Austria, who occupied the throne of the Habsburgs and whose sister was that great and pious Queen whom the people, anticipating in some way the judgment of the Church, like to proclaim "the Saint".

(...) The birth of the princess was a universal joy in the kingdom, and for two or three days hundreds of the most eminent people flocked to Rome. At the same time all the trains brought deputations chosen by each province and which the Piedmontese government allowed to pass, for want of being able to oppose a movement which was the expression of popular feeling.

From noon onwards, the vast halls of the Farnese Palace, which is one of the wonders of Rome and has few rivals in Europe, were filled with an enormous audience, composed almost exclusively of Neapolitans. Hardly the Senator of Rome and some Roman princes had been invited. The King, who, like all Bourbons, identifies his family with his country, had wished to be surrounded, with very few exceptions, only by his subjects and servants.

(...) With a delicacy worthy of his great heart, the King had asked the Bishops of the monarchy present in Rome to abstain from appearing at the ceremony: it was not necessary that a mark of religious fidelity should excite against the Episcopate of Naples the passions already so violent of Unitarianism and of the Revolution. On the other hand, fourteen Cardinals had come to pay homage to the majesty of right and wrong.

The number of young men mixed with the defenders who had been whitened in the service of the monarchy was particularly gratifying. After so long an exile, and in the midst of the temptations and seductions which are not spared, the presence and confidence of this generation, which is only just being born into public life, is a most favourable omen. Tradition is perpetuated, and hereditary devotion offers the Crown renewed phalanxes.

All the hope and all the future are there.

The Holy Father was represented by Cardinal Antonelli; the Empress Maria Anna, the godmother, was represented by Her Majesty the Empress [Elisabeth] of Austria, brilliant in beauty, grace, elegance and dignity. The procession of the princes was composed of H. M. the King of the Two Sicilies, H.R.H. the Duke and Duchess of Parma, H.I.H. and RR. the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Tuscany, H.R.H. the Count and Countess of Caserta, the Count and Countess of Girgenti, the Duke and Duchess of Alençon, the Duke of Bari and Princess Maria Immacolata, the Count and Countess of Trapani, the Prince their son and the two Princesses their daughters, the Prince of Hohenzollern.

The altar stood in the room decorated with the magnificent paintings of Salviati.

The young princess was carried on the arms of the Duchess of San Cesario. It was a touching honour for the illustrious and courageous Grand Mistress of the Palace, whose name is inseparably linked to that of the heroine of Gaeta and who deserved to receive the medal of that forever memorable siege; it was a touching honour for her to hold before the sacred font the royal child whose birth has just thrown a lightning bolt of happiness on the fortunes she has nobly shared.

S. Cardinal Patrizi performed the ceremonies and gave the young princess the names of Christina-Pia-Maria-Anna-Elisabetha-Natalina-Ephisa. The Neapolitan nurse in the magnificent costume of the women of her country, from the mountains of Avellino, was noted with interest near the font. These national clothes had a charm and a high significance in the midst of the brilliant finery of the great ladies and the insignia of the court figures.

The princess carried the magnificent christening gown, made of white lace, a gift from three hundred Neapolitan ladies, a masterpiece of taste and a guarantee of fidelity.

After the ceremony, the procession reformed. The Empress, the King, the Princes and Princesses went to the salons. The new Christian was brought to her august mother, whose emotion was deep. The Queen, with tears in her eyes, instructed the Duchess of San Cesario to thank all the faithful Neapolitans who had given, on this occasion, proof of a devotion that survives time, trials and persecutions. The Queen's emotion was so strong that duchess had to withdraw so as not to prolong its duration.

And, in fact, nothing honours a people and touches the hearts of sovereigns like these testimonies of a constancy above all perils, all perils and all sufferings.

The King was radiant with happiness. After ten years of proscription and in the midst of the joys of fatherhood, to find near him the servants who had been the companions of his misfortunes; to see a new generation rising up in the cult of right and duty; to receive the wishes of an entire people who aspire to become free again and to reconquer their nationality and their dynasty: what a consolation, and above all what hope!

Here, then, is at last a dawn of prosperity rising over the House of Bourbon and the kingdom of Naples! It is the harbinger of an even more beautiful day; it is the sign of a forthcoming triumph of good Law and Justice.

De Riancey, Henri (1870). Lettres sur Rome (Translation done by DeepL. Please keep in mind that in a machine translation a lot of nuance may/will be lost)

[jeannepompadour]

Elisabeth Farnese, Queen of Spain by Jean Ranc, 1723

[catherinetheprincessofwales]

Royal Deaths 10th September.

210 BC - Qin Shi Huang, Founder of the Qin dynasty and 1st emperor of a unified China.

918 - Baldwin II, Count of Flanders.

954 - Louis IV, King of France.

1167 - Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England.

1197 - Henri of Champagne, French Crusader, Count of Champagne and King of Jerusalem.

1308 - Emperor Go-Nijō of Japan.

1382 - Louis I, the Great, King of Hungary and Poland.

1419 - John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy.

1547 - Pier Luigi Farnese, Italian Duke of Parma and Piacenza.

1898 - Elisabeth, Empress of Austria.

1948 - Ferdinand I, 1st tsar of modern Bulgaria.

2006 - King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga.

[thehistoryprincesse]

𝒫𝓇𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝐼𝓈𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝒫𝒶𝓇𝓂𝒶 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝒶 𝒞𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝒶, 𝒟𝓊𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒯𝑒𝓈𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓃

Happy pride month everyone!! This month I will be trying to touch on some of my favorite queer icons in history. :)

Maria Christina Johanna Josepha Antonia was born on 13 May, 1742, the fifth daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Empire, and elder sister to Marie Antoinette. Maria was deemed to be her mothers favorite child, which shows obvious in the letters between the two. This favoritism sparked much jealousy in her siblings, teasing and critizing her heavily, this favoritism, of course came with many upsides. She received a stupendous education and was regarded as perfectly speaking french, italian, and english, aswell as being an exceptional painter. But as a mothers favoritism often does, it isolated Maria greatly, which although having fell in love with multiple men in her life, none of the matches were quite supported by her mother.

Isabel of Parma on the other hand, did not have much love with her mother, Isabella of Bourbon-Parma was born on 31 December, 1741, to Philip, Duke of Parma, and Louise Elisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska. At a young age Isabel was recorded to have threw violent tantrums frequently, which in turn her mother Elisabeth disciplined the girl so severely that isabel’s paternal grandmother Queen Elisabeth Farnese of Spain (de facto), compared the discipline to a military drill, (although Queen Elisabeth was recorded as to promoting this discipline.), soon enough their relationship grew so stressed that Isabel’s mother regarded the young girl as stubborn and unbearable to raise. Isabel after being dropped into the hands of her governess and forgotten about by her mother, quickly turned to mischief and curiousity, being recorded to play all day and night with no break, isabel writing, 'My head was always in the clouds, occupying itself with a hundred thousand ideas at once'.

Due to the influences of Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV and Maria Theresa of Austria came together to strengthen and ally the houses of bourbon, and that of the habsburg. In this alliance resulted many marriages, one of them being of Isabel of Parma, (a bourbon princesse) and Joseph II, Archduke of Austria, and the elder brother to Maria Christina. Her marriage with Joseph seemed to be impartial, he was recorded to have been taken by love (although he wasn’t really sure how to show it) with his new bourbon wife, but it seemed this love was awfully one sided, Isabel having had no opinion on her new husband.

During this period of time, Isabel was said to have grown majorly depressed and borderline suicidal. In a letter to Marie Christine saying; ‘What should the daughter of a great prince expect? Her fate is unquestionably most unhappy. Born the slave of the people’s prejudices, she finds herself subjected to this weight of honours, these innumerable etiquettes attached to greatness… In the end the effort is made to establish her. There she is condemned to abandon everything, her family, her country–and for whom? For an unknown person, whose character and manner of thinking she does not know… sacrifice to a supposed public good, but in fact rather to the wretched policy of a minister who can find no other way for the two dynasties to form an alliance which he pronounces indissoluble–and which, immediately it seems advantageous, is broken off…’

By the Isabel reached the age of twenty she was extremely successful in most everything she did, she continued her education, helped her husbands military strategies, and was said to have painted and decorated many rooms in the schobrunn palace, many of which are still on display today.

In the midst of her life in Vienna, it was obvious that Isabel and Maria had grown awfully close, many letters survive today of their close bond with eachother, clearly showing how Isabel had taken a liking to her husbands sister, instead of him.

“The confusion which reigns in a certain drawer which lives in my room, where are to be found together and without rhyme or reason a political tract, a pile of letters, a comic opera, a vaudeville, a treatise on education, a clavier part, some moral reflections. A sermon jostles a treatise on all types of foolishness, prayers are mixed up in a paper devoted to declaring my love to you, letters from the emperor muddle up with letters of a hundred persons who are indifferent to me, and with those letters which are so dear to me and constitute the sweetness of my life.”

Unfortunately, apart from one responding letter to Isabel, none of Maria’s correspondence to her sister-in-law survived. But it is clear that at some point, Maria had either fallen out with Isabel, or confessed to her that they could no longer continue their rendezvous, this is made clear in a very passionate letter Isabel had written.

“I am writing you again, cruel sister, though I have only just left you. I cannot bear waiting to know my fate, and to learn whether you consider me a person worthy of your love, or whether you would like to throw me into the river…. I can think of nothing but that I am deeply in love. If I only knew why this is so, for you are so without mercy that one should not love you, but I cannot help myself.”

Sadly, shortly after making this letter, Isabel passed away at the age of 21 due to smallpox, aware that she was bound to pass soon, Isabel wrote one last letter to her dear Maria. Advising her on how to navigate and survive the court of Vienna, and how to convince her mother on a marriage.

Clearly, Maria took his letter with utmost sincerity, as after after mourning for much much longer then required, Maria had convinced her mother on a marriage, ending up being the only daughter of Maria Theresa to marry for love, instead of convenience. That suitor being the Prince Albert of Saxony, a man with no fortune or inheritance.

[my18thcenturysource]

"The Family of Philip, Duke of Parma", 1755, Guiseppe Baldrighi, Galleria Nazionale, Parma.

Felipe de Borbón y Farnesio was the Duke of Parma from 1748 to 1765, and also the subject of one of my favourite portraits of the whole 18th century (from a set of 3, I will post those another time). The second son of King Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese, he became the Duke of Parma, that had been ruled by his mother's family for generations, via the Teatry of Aux-la-Chapelle in 1748, founding the House of Bourbon-Parma.

In this portrait we can see Philip sitting next to his wife Louise Elisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of Louis XV of France. They didn't have happy marriage, and she died of smallpox in 1759 at 32 years old.

Standing behind them there's their daughter Isabella of Parma, here wearing a lilac robe de cour, she would later marry Marie Antoinette's older brother, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, and would become very close (some people think that suspiciously close) to her sister in law Maria Christina. She died of smallpox after a difficult birth followed closely by two miscarriages at the age of 21.

At the front there are the Ferdinand (later Duke of Parma) and Maria Luisa (future wife of Charles IV and then Queen of Spain, yeah her cousin because of course).

At the front there's Ferdinand and Maria Luisa (aren't they the CUTEST?!). Both of them were born in 1751, and she's keeping his toy sword away from him, playing and pissing him off, like all siblings should. Ferdinand would become the Duke of Parma in 1765 at 14 years old and be later married to his bother in law's sister Maria Amalia of Austria. In 1801 he ceded the Duchy of Parma to France in the Treaty of Aranjuez.

Maria Luisa of Parma would become the Queen of Spain since she married Charles, then Prince of Asturias in 1765. He was mainly interested in hunting and mechanics and she in state affairs, so she became an influential and dominant figure in court. If this telenovela is not already sad enough for you, her father died unexpectedly in 1765 in Alessandria after having accompanied her to sail for Spain to be married to the Infante Charles.

There's also the profile figure of Marie Catherine de Bassecourt y Thieulaine the children's governess. She was a maid of honour of Phiilip's mother Elisabeth Farnese, and she joined Maria Luisa when she went to Spain and remained in the Spanish court since then. In 1765 Philip gave her the title of Marchese of Borghetto, thanking her services and merits.

And finally, some pets and music. Didn't find anything about the dog nor the bird BUT I love them both. Especially the super fancy collar.

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Sofonisba Anguissola (Italian, c.1532-1625) Portrait of Prince Alessandro Farnese (1545-1592), later Duke of Parma and Piacenza, c.1560 National Gallery of Ireland

This is a portrait of Prince Alessandro Farnese. He was a 15-year-old aristocrat who was the son of the Duke of Parma and grandson of King Charles V of Spain. He was educated at the Spanish court and he became a military general, fighting in campaigns against the Turks, French and English.

Sofonisba Anguissola painted the prince a short time after her arrival at the Spanish court, where she was lady-in-waiting to the Spanish queen Elisabeth of Valois.

[venicepearl]

Marie Anne de La Trémoille, princesse des Ursins (1642 – 5 December 1722), was a French courtier and royal favourite known for her political influence, being a de facto ruler of Spain from 1701 until 1714. She spent most of her life as an agent of French influence abroad, at first in Rome, and then in Spain under the new Bourbon dynasty, followed by a final period at the exiled Stuart court in Rome. She played a central role in the Spanish royal court during the first years of the reign of Philip V, until she was ousted from the country following a power struggle with the new queen consort, Elisabeth Farnese.

[ousontlesfemmes]

Isabelle de Bourbon-Parme (1741-1763)

Des histoires de princesses mortes trop jeunes et tombées dans l’oubli, ce n’est pas cela qui manque dans l’Histoire de l’Humanité. Mais l’histoire d’une princesse morte trop jeune, oubliée dans l’Histoire et potentiellement bisexuelle voire lesbienne ? Venez découvrir une brève biographie d’Isabelle de Bourbon-Parme, première épouse de Joseph II, le frère aîné de Marie-Antoinette !

Ou la princesse qui a épousé un prince mais a crush sur sa belle-sœur !

Isabelle de Bourbon-Parme est une figure relativement connue en France, notamment grâce à la sortie, il y a déjà quelques années, de sa correspondance à Marie-Christine, sœur aînée de Marie-Antoinette, laquelle dépeint un véritable attachement à la jeune femme. Certains disent amitié forte, d’autres répondent « et elles furent colocataires » comme le veut la fameuse blague concernant le manque de visibilité lesbien dans l’Histoire en général.

Mais résumer Isabelle à sa potentielle orientation sexuelle serait injuste et réducteur.

Isabelle naît le 31 décembre 1741 à Madrid. Son père est Philippe I de Parme, fils Philippe V (lui-même petit-fils de Louis XIV) et de la puissante Elisabeth, dernière descendante de la famille italienne des Farnese. Sa mère est la princesse Louise-Elisabeth, fille aînée de Louis XV et de Marie Leszczynska.

Que du beau monde, donc.

Quand Isabelle naît, sa mère n’a que quatorze ans ! D’ailleurs, le mariage entre ses parents n’est pas des plus heureux et Elisabeth trouve tous les prétextes possibles pour quitter la Cour d’Espagne et rejoindre son Versailles natal, de telle sorte que quand naîtra son second enfant, un fils, Ferdinand, il y aura un écart de dix ans entre le frère et la sœur !

A la Cour de son grand-père maternel, Isabelle est très appréciée.

Isabelle reçoit une éducation soignée et c’est une âme érudite : elle apprend le violon, lit des livres de philosophie, d’histoire et de théologie. Elle aime particulièrement les écrits de Bossuet et de Law.

Ses parents sont très stricts : son père est pour les punitions corporelles et sa mère fait en sorte qu’elle les reçoive. Selon les propres mots de la princesse, elle était une enfant malicieuse avec un besoin de bouger. Elle aimait chasser les papillons, monter à cheval et effectuer des acrobaties avec une corde (peut-être l’ancêtre de la corde à sauter) mais cela a été assez vite brimé.

Une éducation stricte, peu de compagnon de jeu, une mère qui jalouse sa nounou…

Rien d’étonnant que cela vrille pour notre héroïne du jour.

Dès ses seize ans, Isabelle a des pensées morbides et vit avec l’idée qu’elle mourra jeune, ce qui est terriblement prophétique. Aujourd’hui, nous savons que la pauvre adolescente souffrait de dépression. Certains évoquent la possibilité d’une bipolarité héréditaire.

La vie d’Isabelle prend un terrible tournant : le 06 décembre 1759, sa mère meurt à Versailles de la variole et sa fille de dix-huit ans se retrouve à devoir prendre soin de son frère Ferdinand (1751-1802) et de sa petite sœur Marie-Louise (1751-1819). Je vous précise que Ferdinand et Marie-Louise ne sont pas jumeaux, c’est juste que le fils est né en janvier et la fille en décembre de la même année.

Le 06 octobre 1760, alors qu’elle va avoir 19 ans, elle épouse le futur Joseph II (1741-1790), le frère de Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793)

Joseph est enchanté par son épouse et en tombe follement amoureux. D’ailleurs, Isabelle est assez bien accueillie par sa belle-famille, laquelle loue sa beauté, son intelligence et son sens politique. Isabelle dira de son beau-père, François, qu’il est un homme bon, honorable, un vrai ami, même s’il a tendance à écouter les mauvais conseils.

Le 20 mars 1762, Isabelle donne naissance à sa fille, une petite Marie-Thérèse qui sera la prunelle des yeux de son père. D’ailleurs, il assiste à l’accouchement.

Si on pourrait croire à une vie heureuse, la réalité est toute autre : Isabelle, malgré l’amour de Joseph, ne parvient pas à aimer cet homme et ne le voit que comme un époux envers qui elle a des devoirs.

Son coeur bat ailleurs…

Il bat pour sa belle-sœur, Marie-Christine, dite Mimi, la propre sœur de Joseph !

Marie-Christine et Isabelle se sont très vite entendues et ont lié une véritable amitié. La vie de cour et les obligations les séparent, donc elles s’écrivent énormément.

Elisabeth Badinter a sorti cette correspondance dans Je meurs d'amour pour toi et pense qu’Isabelle et sa belle-sœur entretenaient une relation saphique. D’autres historiens, comme Antonia Fraser, pensent que si Isabelle était en effet amoureuse, Marie-Christine n’a jamais vu Isabelle autrement que comme une amie.

Le mystère reste donc entier.

Mais je vous copie, ici, quelques extraits des 194 lettres qui sont sorties dans le recueil de Badinter.

« Je vous aime à l'adoration et mon bonheur est de vous aimer et d'être assurée de vous. »

« Vous me faites tourner la tête […] Je suis dans l'état le plus violent, la sueur me coule sur le front, je suis sans haleine… »

« Je baise votre adorable cul en me gardant bien de vous offrir le mien qui est un peu foireux. »

Isabelle étant une femme dévote et de devoir, cette passion interdite la fait souffrir, d’autant plus qu’elle se sait espionnée.

En effet, Marie-Anne, l’une des sœurs aînées de Joseph avec laquelle elle ne s’entend pas, est réputée pour suspecter cette passion adultérine, au point qu’Isabelle aurait conseillé à Marie-Christine de protéger leurs lettres des yeux de son adelphe.

Joseph ignore l’histoire entre sa femme et Marie-Christine mais il n’accepte pas le comportement de Marie-Anne à son égard. Il ne ne lui pardonnera jamais et le lui fera payer, même bien après le décès de son épouse.

Isabelle ne se contente pas d’être archiduchesse : elle prend également la plume et rédige des traités, notamment Réflexion sur l’éducation dans lequel elle fustige l’éducation qu’elle a reçue de ses propres parents et explique que l’éducation et l’instruction d’un enfant incombent totalement aux auteurs de ses jours et que reléguer cette tâche à d’autres est faire preuve de paresse.

Elle dénonce également les punitions corporelles et les conséquences qu’elles ont sur un enfant : loin de les corriger, elle exacerbe les défauts et peut en créer des bien plus graves. Faire preuve de violence envers un enfant était un abus de pouvoir alors que la meilleure façon d’élever un enfant était au contraire de faire preuve de compassion et de bienveillance.

Ses pensées la rendent populaires puisque dans l’air du temps.

Mais elles sont aussi terriblement visionnaires puisque ces questions sont encore d’actualité en 2024, où le débat sur l’utilité de la fessée fait encore rage.

Dans son traité sur le Sort des princesses, elle dénonce également le fait que des pauvres jeunes filles comme elles servent pour forger des alliances entre les pays et que cette méthode n’est pas la meilleure.

Elle rédige Le Traité sur les hommes dans lequel elle dit que la femme est l’égale de l’homme : elle est aussi capable que lui, peut-être meilleure sur certains points. Elle fait aussi preuve d’une bonne dose de misandrie en les décrivant, sous couvert de l’humour, comme des créatures inutiles qui n’existent que pour semer le chaos et la confusion. Pour elle, l’asservissement des femmes aux hommes existe parce que les hommes ont conscience que les femmes leur seraient supérieures.

En août 1762 et en janvier 1763, Isabelle fait une fausse couche, avant de retomber enceinte dans l’année 1763.

Durant l’été, la famille impériale se repose à Schönbrunn et Isabelle, alors enceinte, ne veut pas retourner à la Hofbourg, fatiguée et se pensant enceinte de jumeaux. Cependant, en novembre, elle est contrainte de revenir.

La fin est proche.

Le 18 novembre, Isabelle, malade, est diagnostiquée : c’est la vérole !

Sa fièvre provoque le travail et elle accouche le 22 novembre d’une petite Marie-Christine, laquelle mourra le même jour.

Epuisée, elle meurt le 27 novembre 1763, à un mois de ses 21 ans.

On l’enterre à la hâte avec son bébé, son corps étant encore contagieux.

Joseph est dévasté et ne se remettra jamais de la mort d’Isabelle. Son second mariage à Marie-Josèphe de Bavière sera bref et terriblement froid.

Quant à leur petite Marie-Thérèse, elle meurt à l’âge de 7 ans en 1770 d’une pleurésie.

Cette nouvelle perte plonge l’homme un peu plus dans la douleur et il écrira à la gouvernante de son enfant :

«Si la décence le permettait, ce serait avec vous seule que je déverserais le chagrin qui transperce mon âme. J'ai cessé d'être père : c'est plus que je ne peux supporter. Malgré ma résignation, je ne peux m'empêcher de penser et de dire à chaque instant : « Ô mon Dieu, restaure-moi ma fille, restaure-la-moi. ». J'entends sa voix, je la vois. J'étais étourdi quand le terrible coup est tombé. Ce n'est qu'après être rentré dans ma chambre que j'en ai ressenti l'horreur totale, et je continuerai à la ressentir tout le reste de ma vie puisqu'elle me manquera en tout... En tant qu'unique héritier de ma fille, je viens de donner l'ordre de ne garder que ses diamants. Vous devez avoir tout le reste. Une chose que je vous demanderais de me donner est sa robe de chambre blanche brodée de fleurs, et certains de ses écrits... »

- Marina Ka-Fai

Si toi aussi tu veux en lire plus sur Isabelle, tu peux aller regarder ces sources :

-Ernest Sanger, Isabelle de Bourbon-Parme : La Princesse et la Mort, Bruxelles, Racine, 2002.

-Isabelle de Bourbon-Parme : « Je meurs d'amour pour toi » - Lettres à l'archiduchesse Marie-Christine 1760-1763, éditées par Elisabeth Badinter, Paris, Tallandier, 2008.

[felipe-v-fanblog]

My Questions:

What is your favorite portrait of Felipe V and why?

What is Felipe V known for?

Is it true that he lived life thinking he was a frog?

ah thank you for asking about him !! he is my hyperfixation forever and ever <3 always happy to talk about any historical figure anyway

i will make a long-ass post i must confess that i dont know when to shut the fuck up:

FIRST OF ALL i really like the hyacinthe rigaud portraits. specially the last one, which i know one of the copies is at Versailles along with a portrait of his brother le petit Dauphin and his father le grand Dauphin and I believe there is one of Charles, duc de Berry too? which is also his brother. Anyway I am insane about all of them so of course its my favourite. BUT my favourite version of that portrait is this one:

he has a heart ! on his wig. over his forehead. there. i think its funny. This portrait has a lot of version which are too similar to eachother but this one is the only one with that weird thing on his wig. Also this one isnt actually for the public display that is why its on a very low quality its being sold. which is a Shame. Its from his second reign as that was the moment he started using the ponytail.

WHAT is felipe v known for is a eh interesting question as i think everybody knows the upside down portrait of him in Xátiva, near Valencia, which is the autonomous comunity which hates the most Philip V as far as I know ? SO he got a lot of hate during the war of spanish succession (1701-1714, starting approximately when he was 17, as he gets to Spain at 16 - it finished around the end of 1714, the year he marries his second wife, Elisabeth Farnese - also a very interesting character which i know a lot of people love a lot) . So eh the important stuff is that spaniards hated bourbons because Spain hates frenchmen ? for some reason ? but im british so im supposed to hate them too. So anyway after the war of succession which is ! ofc after charles ii death which i know you like a lot :3 i also really love him iiii I will keep talking about philip v as to not change subject. So. eh he was also the grandson of Louis XIV which I know spaniards hated because he was in war with the Habsburgs - its a conflict since Louis XIII s times - and they were very culturally different. In fact Philippe suffered a lot when he came to the spanish court a la Marie Antoinette because it was too different. But its like the contrary of Marie Antoinette, because he was suffering because spanish was boring and he didnt even knew spanish. He also felt pity against the gente de placer because they had different morals in the french court (ofc the activity its bad in itself but i will not state the obvious, yet in the court of louis xiv there are many examples of mentally ill or desfigured people which were supported by the state. ofc the majority of them were part of the royal family but anyway philippe knew he shouldnt make fun of these people - he was rather disturbed by the group). So anyway the habsburg faction was against him but he was rather welcomed to Spain, he himself didnt felt spanish enough to be king - and even had to be reassured of keep being king since very young, years before abdicating.

Clearing that out, because the story about Philippe going to Spain, or his childhood, or his first marriage; are all stuff I would talk on and on about, eh, I will proceed to talk about other stuff he is known for. During his first reign his first prime minister, which was a frenchman that Louis XIV send to fix Spain, did fix Spain; ofc not as good as Charles III would later do it, but did the first steps towards it. He also send to made very important buildings of Spain like el Palacio de la Granja, where he is actually buried along with his second wife Farnese. He is also known for being the first Bourbon king in Spain, may say the first bourbons were Isabel de Francia (first wife of Philip IV - sister of Louis XIII) and Maria Luisa de Orléans (first wife of Charles II - daughter of Philippe d Orleáns, brother of Louis XIV - you probably know the tale about Don Juan José negotiating the marriage ! its a funny story). There is also very peculiar characters during his reign like Don Blas de Lezo or the Cardinal Alberoni (which Philip himself made sure to make cardinal by spamming letters to the pope about making him a cardinal - Philip was very fond of him, and even made him his prime minister and Archobisp of Malagá), there is also Louis-Joseph of Vendôme (Luis José de Borbón, as he is known in Spain), which Philip also gave him his life and made him virrey de Cataluña, heir of the throne in case he did without childs, and marshal of Spain. He has a thing for giving the people he loves everything they ask for and more. Louis-Joseph is one of the most important military figures of the war of succession along with the duke of Berwick and the count of Tessé (marshal of France since Vendôme was exhiled from there. also a funny story. Vendôme was a real weird guy and I dont get to understand why Philippe liked him so much).

I finish the last section of this post. Which is getting big asf. The frog thing. Its very weird for me to see many people which make jokes about that ? I guess people think its funny ? but its not the only think he had issues with ? must say he was melancholic aka disordered since all his life. He was not know for being a normal kid, he was very quiet and shy. I know for a fact that he was bulimic, but he also presented a mood disorder, which has been mainly theorized to be Bipolar II, which I am actually okay with that version as he presented many of these traits - more tentative to depression, known as a hypomaniac state, and more tentative to psychosis. Even with that, psychology is very stained with a mysoginistic and racist history, and the diagnosis of male historical figures with bipolarity is one of them. First because they dont actually diagnose him with Bipolar II thats my own suggestion because spanish historians do their job terribly and dont even try to take it seriously enough to stand what kind of bipolarity are they talking about - they just threw off bipolarity because the mainstream idea of bipolarity is someone who tends to be happy for some moments and then deeply depressed. SO after throwing off my own agenda I will state the facts. He was deeply depressed and then went on a manic state from the sound of music. He employed an italian castrato - the most famous one ! - Farinelli to sing and play music for him, as he rested on the bed, and made him repeat the songs over and over again. He would have loved spotify. And after a lot of repetitions he even sang the songs himself, as these made him very happy. He also made Farinelly his prime minister (this guy seriously had problems with giving everything to the people he loved). He also had a very fucked up sleep schedule, making his ministers met him at the bed of his wife at 2 AM, as he never left these chambers. He had a big fear of dying, normal between Bourbons, and a big religious trauma since his childhood - he had a very severe tutor, which is actually a remarkable figure in the reign of Louis XIV; and even the spaniards were weirded out by how much he used to confess himself with Alberoni. He also had paranoid delusions, which are known to be bizarre, such as the time he thought his clothes were shining weird, and that they had poison, and because of that he started to use his wife s clothes (this is, well, a thing that happened for some reason. He ordered to only let nuns make his clothes for this). He was also hypersexual, and there is not a funny part about it, but I always joke about the fact that he was the first guy to drag a dildo to Spain (fun fact). So thats all. Ah he also thought for some time that his body parts would fall off and that he was a frog. Which the first is Cotard delusion and the other is just a bizzare delusion, as many psychotic delusions are. He liked to watch the gardens a lot, and used to be fascinated by the frogs jumping around it. This was a very small moment of his later years, when he barely left the bed, as he was very depressed. Thats the answer to the question. Now you know a lot about Philip V mental state which may or may not be funny. I think the frog thing was made popular by tiktok? but that was a very small part of his mental disorders. I love him a lot hehe. I personally think he had BPD as he was very fond of the people he loved and had many trust issues, and BPD also can make people more tentative to psychotic disorders and bipolarity. Spaniards tend to lie about the bourbons or exaggerate stuff because the historical records are tainted by habsburg faction, so the majority of my information comes from french people of the time. Feel free to ask questions or dont READ THIS AT ALL this is A BIGASS POST. I can also recommend free pdfs to read about his time blablabla I specially like Liselotte (Elizabeth of the Palatinade) letters and the memoirs of Saint-Simon, even if he talks a bit too badly about Louis-Joseph or le grand Dauphin.

[exoexid]

crying so bad rn i was just revising some notes i took centuries ago during this one modern era history lesson and on a random page i wrote "elisabeth farnese = svt jun" so i was like ????? but then i looked her up and um. i still see it 😭🫶🏼

[valkyries-things]

MARIE ANNE DE LA TRÉMOILLE // PRINCESSE DE URSINS

“She was a French courtier and royal favourite known for her political influence, being a de facto ruler of Spain from 1701 until 1714. She spent most of her life as an agent of French influence abroad, at first in Rome, and then in Spain under the new Bourbon dynasty, followed by a final period at the exiled Stuart court in Rome. She played a central role in the Spanish royal court during the first years of the reign of Philip V, until she was ousted from the country following a power struggle with the new queen consort, Elisabeth Farnese.”

[jeannepompadour]

Elisabeth Farnese, Queen of Spain by Giovanni Maria della Piane, c. 1715