MARIE LOUISE, (1791-1847). Empress of the French; second wife of Napoleon I.
Document Signed ("Maria Louisa") as Duchess of Parma, granting a pension to the widowed Anna von Collin and an annual contribution to the education of her daughter.
1 page folio in German with paper seal and integral address leaf, also signed by her chief minister and morganatic second husband Count Adam von Neipperg. Parma, 1 January 1825.
After the fall of Napoleon Marie Louise had been granted the Italian Duchies of Parma, Piacenza asnd Guastalla, which she ruled with unexpected ability and clemency. There seems little doubt that the charming and able half-French, half-Austrian general Count Adam de Neipperg was the real love of her life. Their liaison started shortly after Napoleon's first abdication in 1814 and was the real reason for her refusal to join him on Elba. According to some sources their first child was born as early as 1815, and their son Guillaume, born in August 1821, was obviously conceived in Napoleon's lifetime. It is believed that Marie Louise and Neipperg were privately married in September 1821, although the marriage was never announced.
Some splitting along centre horizontal folds has been professianlly repaired.
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