| Infanta María Josefa | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Portrait byAnton Raphael Mengs (1761–9) | |||||
| Born | (1744-07-06)6 July 1744 Gaeta,Kingdom of Naples(now Italy) | ||||
| Died | 8 December 1801(1801-12-08) (aged 57) Royal Palace of Madrid,Madrid, Spain | ||||
| Burial | El Escorial, Spain | ||||
| |||||
| House | Bourbon | ||||
| Father | Charles III of Spain | ||||
| Mother | Maria Amalia of Saxony | ||||
Infanta María Josefa of Spain (María Josefa Carmela; 6 July 1744 – 8 December 1801) was the second surviving daughter of KingCharles VII of Naples and III of Sicily and his wife,Maria Amalia of Saxony. Born inNaples, she and her family arrived inBarcelona in October 1759 at the age of fifteen. At the accession of her father to the Spanish throne asCharles III in August 1759, she became anInfanta of Spain. She lived at her father's court, then of her brotherCharles IV's. She died unmarried and childless.
Princess María Josefa of Naples and Sicily was born on 6 July 1744 inGaeta. She was named after her maternal grandmother, QueenMaria Josepha of Austria (1699–1757). Her father had been King of Naples and Sicily as part of apersonal 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 sisterMaría Isabel Ana (1743–1749).
Her younger sisterInfanta María Luisa was chosen over María Josefa (1764) to marry the thenGrand Duke of Tuscany, son of EmpressMaria Theresa.
A princess of Naples and Sicily, she was also anInfanta of Spain through her father. This entitled María Josefa to the style ofRoyal Highness. Her parents were a devoted couple; her motherMaria 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,María Luisa of Parma, a granddaughter ofLouis XV of France with whom she did not get along.[citation needed]
María Josefa was a candidate for marrying the widowerLouis XV, his wifeMarie Leszczyńska dying in 1768 when María Josefa was just 24. Louis rejected the idea being offended at her young age.[citation needed]
María Josefa remained unmarried. After the death of her father, she continued living in the Royal Palace with her brother Charles IV.[1] She supported the Carmelite nuns, in whose convent of Saint Teresa she arranged to be buried.[1]
She died at the Royal Palace of Madrid aged 57, before her brotherCharles IV lost the throne and was exiled in 1808. In 1877 her body was transferred toEl Escorial.[1]
%2c_Ornaments_as_single_women.svg)
| Ancestors of Infanta María Josefa of Spain[2] |
|---|
Media related toInfanta Maria Josefa of Spain at Wikimedia Commons
.svg)
