Marie Louise, The Island of Elba, and The Hundred Days

The Famous Women of the French Court series covers notable women – many of them wives of Napoleon Bonaparte or associated with him – and their lives before, during, and after Napoleon’s reign. Marie Louise (Maria Ludovica Leopoldina Franziska Therese Josepha Lucia; Italian: Maria Luigia Leopoldina Francesca Teresa Giuseppa Lucia; 1791-1847) was an Austrian archduchess who reigned as Duchess of Parma from 1814 until her death. She was Napoleon’s second wife and, as such, Empress of the French from 1810 to 1814.