Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, Queen of Spain

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Given a long string of names, Maria Josepha Amalia Beatrix Xaveria Vincentia Aloysia Franziska de Paula Franziska de Chantal Anna Apollonia Johanna Nepomucena Walburga Theresia Ambrosia, the third wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, Princess Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, was born in Dresden, Electorate of Saxony, now in Saxony, Germany on December 7, 1803.  She was the youngest child of the seven children of Prince Maximilian of Saxony and his first wife Princess Caroline of Parma, who was a granddaughter of Maria Theresa of Austria.   When  Maria Josepha Amalia was only three months old, her mother died and she was sent to a convent to be raised by nuns.  Her childhood in the convent was quite austere and as a result, she was a very ardent Roman Catholic.

Maria Josepha Amalia’s had six older siblings:

The first two (of four) wives of King Ferdinand VII of Spain had died and he had no surviving children.  His choice for a third wife was the nearly 16-year-old Maria Josepha Amalia.  The couple was married in Madrid on October 20, 1819.  The king fell in love with the beautiful, young princess, but her youth and inexperience made the adjustment to marriage difficult.  There was much pressure upon Ferdinand VII to produce an heir.  There were rumors that Maria Josepha Amalia’s devout Roman Catholicism caused her to believe that sexual relations between spouses was wrong and that it took Pope Pius VII to convince her that such relations were permissible.  Nevertheless, the marriage remained childless and Maria Josepha Amalia died of a fever at the age of 25 on May 18, 1829, at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez.  She was buried in the royal crypt at the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo El Real.  King Ferdinand VII eventually got his heir through his fourth marriage to Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies who gave birth to Queen Isabella II of Spain.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Kingdom of Spain Resources at Unofficial Royalty