Queer Places:
Schönbrunn Palace, Schönbrunner Schloßstraße 47, 1130 Wien, Austria
Imperial Crypt, Tegetthoffstraße 2, 1010 Wien, Austria
Isabella
of Parma (Isabella Maria Luisa Antonietta Ferdinanda Giuseppina Saveria
Domenica Giovanna; 31 December 1741 – 27 November 1763) was the daughter of
Infante Felipe of Spain, Duke of Parma, and his wife, Louise Élisabeth, eldest
daughter of Louis XV of France and Maria Leszczyńska. At 18, Isabella was
married to Archduke Joseph of Austria, later Joseph II, with whom she was not
happy, finding more fulfilment in her close friendship with his sister
Archduchess Maria Christina. The difficult birth of her daughter Maria
Theresa, followed by two miscarriages, affected her mental condition, and she
died soon after giving birth to another stillborn daughter.
Born Isabella Maria Luisa Antonietta Ferdinanda Giuseppina Saveria
Dominica Giovanna at Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid, Isabella was an
Infanta of Spain and grew up at the court of her grandfather, Philip V of
Spain. Her father was the Spanish Prince Philip, who was Duke of Parma in
Italy. Her mother was the 14-year-old Élisabeth of France, the eldest daughter
of Louis XV of France. Isabella's parents' marriage was not happy, and for
nearly 10 years Isabella remained an only child. Isabella was very close to
her mother and was distraught when she died of smallpox in 1759. Henceforth,
Isabella was convinced she would die young, as well.
In 1760 a marriage was arranged between Isabella and Archduke Joseph of
Austria, heir to the Habsburg Monarchy. After a marriage by proxy, Isabella
was escorted to Austria. On 6 October 1760, at the age of 18, Isabella married
Joseph II in a ceremony lasting for days. Joseph was thrilled with his new
bride and overwhelmed Isabella with his love. In return, she increasingly
locked herself away, so much so that shortly after their wedding, Isabella was
plunged into melancholy.
The princess spent most of her time in the Viennese court, not with her
husband, but with his sister,
Archduchess Maria Christina, who later became, by marriage, Duchess of
Saxony-Teschen. The two women seemed to have a romantic lesbian affair.[1][2]
During the few years Isabella and Christina knew each other, they exchanged
200 letters and "billets" while living at the same court.[3][4]
They spent so much time together that they earned the comparison with Orpheus
and Eurydice.
Schönbrunn Palace, Schönbrunner Schloßstraße 47, 1130 Wien, Austria
Isabel and Mimi were united not only by a shared interest in music and art
but also by a deep mutual love.[5]
Every day they wrote long letters to each other in which they revealed their
feelings of love. While the letters of Maria Christina showed her happy
nature, Isabel's feelings were mixed and, in her expressions of affection,
showed a certain pessimism, reflecting her growing obsession with death.
In one such letter, Isabella wrote:
- "I am writing you again, cruel sister, though I have only just left
you. I cannot bear waiting to know my fate, and to learn whether you
consider me a person worthy of your love, or whether you would like to
fling me into the river. I cannot tolerate this uncertainty, I can think
of nothing but that I am madly in love. If only I knew why this is so, for
you are so cruel that one should not love you, but I cannot help myself".[6]
In a different letter she wrote: "I am told that the day begins with
God. I, however, begin the day by thinking of the object of my love, for I
think of her incessantly."[6]
Only the letters of Isabella have been preserved; those of Maria Christina
were destroyed after her death.
However, as wife of the heir to the throne, Isabella knew that her duty was
to give birth to a healthy heir. Despite this, the princess developed
disquieted feelings toward her husband, spurred by anxieties over sexual
intimacy and the possibilities of pregnancy.
By late 1761, one year into the marriage, Isabella was pregnant. It was an
especially difficult pregnancy, and Isabella suffered symptoms of physical
illness, melancholy and lingering fears of death. Joseph, infatuated and
inexperienced, failed to fully understand his wife's misery. On March 20,
1762, after nine months of mental and physical strain, Isabella gave birth to
a daughter they named Maria Theresa. Isabella remained bedridden for 6 weeks
after giving birth.
In August 1762 and January 1763 Isabella suffered two separate miscarriages
that aggravated her mental unrest, causing her to fall into a depression that
eroded her will to live.
In 1763, Isabella was six months pregnant with a baby girl when she
contracted smallpox. On 22 November of the same year, this brought on
premature labor ending in the death of the child, who was given the name Maria
Christina, a few hours after birth. In total, out of four pregnancies, only
one child survived infancy.[a]
Isabella followed her daughter in death at Schönbrunn Palace in 1763, a
week after giving birth to her. She was buried in Maria Theresa's vault in the
Imperial Crypt Vaults in Vienna. Joseph could not find comfort and did not
recover from the death of his wife.
His second marriage (January 1765 – May 1767) to Princess Maria Josepha of
Bavaria was unhappy and did not produce children. Subsequently, in August
1765, Isabella's father-in-law Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor died, and Joseph
succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor with the title of Joseph II. (In 1767,
Maria Josepha died of smallpox.)
Isabella had predicted even before her death that their daughter would
follow this same road shortly after. Her forebodings were fulfilled on 23
January 1770, when the little Archduchess Maria Theresa died at age 7 of
pleurisy. The loss was overwhelming for Joseph. After the death of his only
child, Joseph withdrew increasingly from public life.
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Isabella_of_Parma