Princess Amalia d'Este

Amalia was the daughter of the Duke Rinaldo d'Este and Duchess Charlotte of Brunswick-Lüneburg, daughter of John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Calenberg. One of seven children, she was the second daughter of the family. Her parents' marriage had required papal dispensation because of the close interrelationships of the ducal families of Brunswick and Modena. Her mother died in 1710 after giving birth to a dead daughter, leaving five small children behind. Amalia grew up in the Ducal Palace of Modena alongside her siblings Benedetta, Francesco, Gian Federico (who died young) and Enrichetta.

In 1723, her portrait was painted by Rosalba Carriera during the painter's stay in Modena at the request of her father.[1] The portrait is currently kept in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.[2] After the death of her father in 1737, her brother Francesco succeeded him as Duke of Modena. While her brother was fighting in the Russo-Turkish War, Amalia and her sister Benedetta assumed the regency of the duchies.

Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia was proposed as a possible husband for her, but the marriage never materialized. Amalia secretly married an adventurer, the "Marquis de Villeneuf" (¿?-1739), who died fighting at the Battle of Futach in 1739. The couple had no children. Amalia died on July 5, 1778, shortly before her seventy-ninth birthday.[3] She was buried in the Church of San Vincenzo, Modena.