Infanta Maria Josefa of Spain

Infanta María Josefa of Spain (María Josefa Carmela; 6 July 1744 – 8 December 1801) was the second surviving daughter of King Carlo VII of Naples and III of Sicily and his wife, Maria Amalia of Saxony. Born in Naples, she and her family arrived in Barcelona in October 1759 at the age of fifteen. At the accession of her father to the Spanish throne as Carlos III in August 1759, she became an Infanta of Spain. She lived at her father's court, then that of her brother Carlos IV. She died unmarried and childless.

Life Birth and background

Princess María Josefa of Naples and Sicily was born on 6 July 1744 in Gaeta. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Queen Maria Josepha of Austria (1699–1757). Her father had been King of Naples and Sicily as part of a personal union since 1734. Her parents married in 1738 and María Josefa was their first daughter to survive over the age of 5. Her parents' fourth child, at the time of her birth she had an older sister María Isabel Ana (1743–1749).

Marriage proposals

Her younger sister Infanta María Luisa was chosen over María Josefa (1764) to marry the then Grand Duke of Tuscany, son of Empress Maria Theresa.

A princess of Naples and Sicily, she was also an Infanta of Spain through her father. This entitled María Josefa to the style of Royal Highness. Her parents were a devoted couple; her mother Maria Amalia of Saxony died barely a year after the family's arrival to Spain. Her father himself died in 1788. Afterwards, María Josefa lived at a court dominated by her sister-in-law, Maria Luisa of Parma, a granddaughter of Louis XV of France with whom she did not get along.

María Josefa was a candidate for marrying the widower Louis XV, his wife Marie Leszczyńska dying in 1768 when María Josefa was just 24. Louis rejected the idea, being offended at her young age.

Later life and death María Josefa remained unmarried. After the death of her father, she continued living in the Royal Palace with her brother Charles IV. She supported the Carmelite nuns, in whose convent of Saint Teresa she arranged to be buried. boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; 1= 1. Infanta María Josefa of Spain 2= 2. Charles III of Spain 3= 3. Maria Amalia of Saxony 4= 4. Philip V of Spain 5= 5. Elisabeth Farnese 6= 6. Augustus III of Poland 7= 7. Maria Josepha of Austria 8= 8. Louis, Grand Dauphin of France 9= 9. Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria 10= 10. Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma 11= 11. Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg 12= 12. Augustus II of Poland 13= 13. Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth 14= 14. Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor 15= 15. Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick