page_title: Marie Louise d'Orléans
section_title: Queen
hierarchical_section_title: Marie Louise d'Orléans / Life / Queen
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Marie Louise d’Orléans (1662-1689) wearing the Fleur-de-lis, showing her dignity as a Grand daughter of France and the Spanish crown
context_page_description: Marie Louise d'Orléans was Queen consort of Spain from 1679 to 1689 as the first wife of King Charles II of Spain. She was a granddaughter of Louis XIII of France. In her adopted Spain, she was known as María Luisa de Orleans.
context_section_description: In July 1679, Marie was informed by her father, Philippe, and uncle, King Louis XIV of her betrothal to Charles II of Spain. Distressed by the arranged marriage, Marie spent most of her time weeping, since she had fallen in love with her cousin Louis. The proxy marriage took place at the Palace of Fontainebleau on 30 August 1679; standing for the groom was Mademoiselle d'Orléans' distant cousin Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti. Until mid-September there were a series of formal events held in honour of the new Queen of Spain. Marie Louise went to the convent of Val-de-Grâce, before her departure, where the heart of her mother was kept. She would never return to France.
  On 19 November 1679, Marie Louise married Charles in person in Quintanapalla, near Burgos, Spain. This was the start of a lonely existence at the Spanish court. Her new husband had fallen in love with her and remained so until the end of his life. However, the confining etiquette of the Spanish Court (e.g., touching the Queen was forbidden), the King's mental and physical infirmities and her unsuccessful attempts to bear a child caused her distress.
  Her French attendants were accused of plotting against the King and his family and, as a result, one of her personal maids was tortured. Riots occurred outside the palace in Madrid. Unlike the fashionable palaces at Versailles, Saint-Cloud and Paris, her new residences were the forbidding Real Alcázar de Madrid and the even more stark Palacio del Buen Retiro—a country palace where Marie Louise was allowed to stable her French horses. She also spent time in the Palacio Real de Aranjuez, south of Madrid. 
  After ten years of marriage the couple had no children. Marie Louise confided to the French ambassador, that
  she was really not a virgin any longer, but that as far as she could figure things, she believed she would never have children.
  During the last years of her life she became overweight. She was reportedly fond of sweetened lemon and cinnamon drinks which required around thirty-two pounds of sugar per day. After horseback riding on 11 February 1689, she felt a severe pain in the abdomen which forced her to lie down the rest of the evening. She died the following night.
caption: Portrait of Marie Louise wearing a fleur-de-lis dress to signify her relations to France and a Spanish crown to signify her new country.
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