Infanta Amalia of Spain

She was born at the royal Palace of Madrid on 12 October 1834 as the eleventh child and sixth daughter of Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain, younger brother of King Fernando VII of Spain, and his wife, Princess Luisa Carlota of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Infanta Amalia's mother was the niece of her father since her maternal grandmother, Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain, was the elder sister of Infante Francisco de Paula.

Baptized with the full name Amalia Filipina del Pilar Blasa Bonisa Vita Rita Lutgarda Romana Judas Tadea Alberta Josefa Ana Joaquina Los Doce Apostólicos Bonifacia Domenica Bibiana Verónica, she was born during the early reign of her first cousin Queen Isabella II of Spain, while her maternal aunt Queen Maria Christina was regent of the realm. However Amalia's mother, Princess Luisa Carlota of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, quarreled with her sister, and as a consequence they were expelled from Spain by the regent in 1838. The family moved to France living under the protection of their uncle Louis Philippe, King of the French. After Queen Maria Christina fell from power in October 1840, Infanta Amalia' s ambitious mother made the family return to the court of Madrid. Her mother died in January 1844, when she was nine years old. She grew up at the Spanish court and her education, shared with her feeble minded sister, Infanta Christina was rudimentary.[1]

German landscape painted by Infanta Amalia

Portatrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1860).

By the age of twenty Infanta Amalia was the youngest of five unremarkable sisters, who had been almost forgotten at the Spanish court. However, she and her sister Christina were the only ones among the sisters to make a royal marriage.[1]

In 1856, Prince Adalbert of Bavaria, fourth son and ninth child of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen approached the Spanish court in search of a wife and Amalia was offered in marriage. When Prince Adalbert arrived in Madrid, Amalia was given a considerable dowry by her sister in law Queen Isabella. The marriage was celebrated on 25 August 1856 in Madrid. Upon her marriage Amalia became a Princess of Bavaria.[1]

At her arrival at the Bavarian court her father in law, King Ludwig I of Bavaria, a great admirer of female beauty, was disappointed when he met his new daughter-in-law, plump and plain.[1] Infanta Amalia also shocked the court with her smoking habit. Her husband Prince Adalbert was as stout as she, but very tall. He loved drinking and had affairs, but their marriage endured.[1] The couple had five children:[2]

• Ludwig Ferdinand (1859–1949); married Infanta María de la Paz of Spain
• Alfons (1862–1933); married Princess Louise of Orleans, daughter of Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon
• Isabella (1863–1924); married Prince Tommaso, Duke of Genoa
• Elvira (1865–1943); married Count Rudolf von Wrbna-Kaunitz-Rietberg-Questenberg und Freudenthal[3]
• Klara (1867–1941); unmarried

Although Infanta Amalia lived for the rest of her life in Munich, she remained attached to her native country. She visited Spain often and her eldest son Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria was born at the royal palace of Madrid.[1] She spent the winters at the residence of Munich and the summers at Nymphenburg Palace.[1] Her husband died in 1875; Amalia outlived him by thirty years.

Amalia maintained her affiliation with Spain in the next generation. All of her five children spoke Spanish fluently and she encouraged her son Ludwig Ferdinand to marry her niece and goddaughter Infanta Maria de la Paz of Spain. The couple married in 1883.[1]

She died in Nymphenburg Palace, aged 70, on 27 August 1905[2] and was interred at St. Michael's Church, Munich.

Coat of arms of Infanta Amalia, Princess of Bavaria