Charles II, Duke of Parma

Charles Louis (; 22 December 1799 – 16 April 1883) was King of Etruria (1803–1807; reigned as Louis II), Duke of Lucca (1824–1847; reigned as Charles Louis), and Duke of Parma (1847–1849; reigned as Charles II).

He was the son of Louis, Prince of Piacenza, and Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain. Born at the Royal Palace of Madrid at the court of his maternal grandfather King Charles IV of Spain, he spent his first years living at the Spanish court. In 1801, by the Treaty of Aranjuez, Charles became Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Etruria, a newly created kingdom formed from territories of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Charles moved to Italy with his parents and in 1803, not yet 4 years old, he succeeded his father as King of Etruria under the name Louis II.

His mother Infanta Maria Luisa assumed the regency while Charles Louis' minority lasted. In 1807, Napoleon of France dissolved the kingdom of Etruria and Charles Louis and his mother took refuge in Spain. In May 1808, they were forced to leave Spain by Napoleon who arrested Charles Louis' mother in a convent in Rome. Between 1811 and 1814, Charles Louis was placed under the care of his grandfather, the deposed King Charles IV of Spain.

After Napoleon's fall in 1815, Infanta Maria Luisa became Duchess of Lucca in her own right and Charles Louis, age 16, became hereditary Prince of Lucca. In 1820, he married Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy. They were a mismatched couple and had only one surviving son.

At his mother's death in 1824, Charles Louis became the reigning Duke of Lucca. He had little interest in ruling. He left the duchy in the hands of his ministers and spent most of his time traveling around Europe. A liberal movement led him to abdicate Lucca in favor of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in October 1847 in exchange for financial compensation, as he wanted to retire to private life. Two months later, in December 1847, at the death of the former Empress Marie Louise, he succeeded her as the reigning Duke of Parma according to what had been stipulated by the Congress of Vienna.

His reign in Parma as Duke Charles II was brief. He was ill-received by his new subjects and within a few months he was ousted by a revolution. He regained control of Parma under the protection of Austrian troops, but finally abdicated in favor of his son Charles III on 14 March 1849. His son was assassinated in 1854 and his grandson Robert I, the last reigning Duke of Parma, was deposed in 1860. In exile Charles Louis assumed the title of count of Villafranca. He spent the last years of his life mostly in France, dying at Nice in 1883.

Biography Early life Charles Louis was born on 22 December 1799 at the Royal Palace of Madrid. His father, a member of the Bourbons of Parma, was Louis, Prince of Piacenza, son and heir of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma. His mother, Infanta Maria Louisa of Spain, was a daughter of King Charles IV of Spain. They had married in 1795 when the Hereditary Prince of Parma came to Madrid in search of a wife. The couple remained in Spain for the first years of their married life. It was for this reason that Charles Louis was born in Madrid at his maternal grandfather's court and he was included in Francisco de Goya's famous portrait of the family of Charles IV, in the arms of his mother.

Charles Louis's early life was overshadowed by the actions of Napoleon Bonaparte who was interested in conquering the Italian states. French troops invaded the Duchy of Parma in 1796. In 1801, for the Treaty of Aranjuez, Charles Louis became Crown Prince of the newly created Kingdom of Etruria, formed from the former territories of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, as heir to his father, whom Napoleon had made King of Etruria in compensation for giving up his right to Parma.

On 21 April 1801, Charles Louis left Spain with his parents. After a short visit to Napoleon in Paris, they moved to Florence taking residence in the Pitti palace, the former home of the Medici family. Only a few months after settling in Florence, the Etrurian royal family was called back to Spain.

After Napoleon's downfall in 1815, the House of Bourbon was not restored to the Duchy of Parma, which was instead given to Napoleon's wife, the Empress Marie Louise. The Congress of Vienna compensated the Bourbons with the Duchy of Lucca, which was given to Charles Louis's mother, with Charles Louis as her heir, bearing the title Prince of Lucca. He was also promised the right of succession to Parma upon Empress Marie Louise's death.

After 1833, Charles Louis, chronically short of money, stayed abroad less frequently. In 1836, he returned to Vienna. In 1838, after being in Milan for the coronation of Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, he went to France and then to Britain where he contracted debts. In 1837, he authorized the opening of a casino in Pieve Santo Stefano. The same year he promoted a reform of the State Council and the Council of Ministers. In 1840, while he was staying in Rome, his minister Ascanio Mansi died. Mansi's death heralded a new period during which Charles Louis took the initiative more, but his court drew adventures from different nationalities and Lucca became a haven for liberals fugitives from other states. Some of them were unscrupulous adventures of dubious reputation. He chose Antonio Mazzarosa, an eminent man, as presidency of the Council of State, but under Austrian pressure, he appointed Fabrizio Ostuni as Foreign Minister to represent him at the Austrian court. Ostuni's tenure lasted only three years (1840–1843) and coincided with a period of increasing financial distress. The economy of the duchy was in decline since 1830 and deteriorated further with the years. In 1841, the paintings of the Palatine Gallery had to be sold. The irregularities committed by Ostuni were discovered and denounced by Thomas Ward, who became the Duke's new right-hand man.

Charles Louis rarely saw his wife, who, after 1840, retired from public life and lived in religious seclusion in Pianore.

The suggested name was that of the Crown Prince of Lucca, by virtue of his relationship with Ferdinand VII of Spain and his links with the French and Austrian monarchies. Negotiations with the French government advanced to the point that the constitution of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata adopted a political system close to the centralist constitutional monarchy, in 1819. The project supported by the government of Buenos Aires was to propose Carlos de Borbón, prince of Lucca, as king of the Río de la Plata and consolidate the rapprochement with the Kingdom of Portugal, through his marriage to a Portuguese infanta. However, when these negotiations were known, the provincial leaders of the provinces opposed it, causing the civil war that would culminate with the Battle of Cepeda, on February 1, 1820, which meant the end of the Directory of the Provinces of the Río de la Plata and the monarchical attempts in the Southern Cone.

Duke of Parma

Charles Louis wandered from Modena to his German estates.

Last years

After his abdication Charles Louis assumed the title of Count of Villafranca. Living as a private man, he dedicated his time to hobbies, alternating his stays between Paris, Nice and the castle of Weistropp in Saxony.

Always short of money, he sold his Austrian estate of Urschendorff to his friend Thomas Ward. In 1852, he went to Spain to recognize his cousin Isabella II as rightful queen. He began to return to Lucca where its citizen still had some sympathy for their former ruler despite his sale of the city. He was allowed to attend a family reunion held at Pianore in April 1853.

His only son, Charles III, age 31, was assassinated on 27 March 1854. In 1854, Charles Louis moved to Paris. In 1856, he visited his son's tomb in Viareggio and saw his wife. His grandson, Robert I, who was reigning in Parma under the regency of his mother, Louise Marie Thérèse, lost his throne in March 1860 during the Italian unification. Charles Louis, unlike other dethroned Italian monarchs, welcomed the unification of Italy as a positive development.

After 1860, Charles Louis was able to come to Italy more freely. He visited Lucca with increasing frequency staying in the Villas of Montignoso and San Martino in Vignale. His wife, Maria Theresa, who lived in complete retirement as a nun in villa San Martino in Lucca, died on 16 July 1879. Charles Louis was in Vienna at the time and only in October came to pay respect to her remains. His great-granddaughter Archduchess Louise of Tuscany, later Crown Princess of Saxony, described him in her memoirs: "My maternal great grandfather, Duke Charles of Parma and Lucca, was one of the most amusing and original men. He had estates in Saxony, to which he retired when he became weary of court life. He was always a protestant at Meissen, where his favorite castle was situated, and when he was remonstrated with on the subject by his spiritual advisers he replied. 'when I go to Constantinople I shall be a Mohammedan; In fact wherever I go I always adopt, for the time being, the religion of the country, as it keeps me so much more in tone with the local color scheme.'"

Charles Louis survived his wife for less than three years. He died at Nice on 16 April 1883, aged 83. He was buried at the large property at Viareggio belonging to the Parma family.

Heraldry

Ancestry