Charles II, Duke of Parma

Who was Charles II, Duke of Parma?

Charles Louis of Bourbon-Parma was King of Etruria, Duke of Lucca, and Duke of Parma.

He was the only son of Louis, Prince of Piacenza, and his wife Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain. Born at the Royal Palace of Madrid at the court of his maternal grandfather King Charles IV of Spain, he spent his first years living at the Spanish court. In 1801, by the Treaty of Aranjuez, Charles became Crown Prince of Etruria, a newly created kingdom formed from territories of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Charles moved to Italy with his parents and in 1803, not yet four years old, he succeeded his father as King of Etruria under the name Charles Louis I.

His mother Infanta Maria Luisa assumed the regency while Charles Louis minority lasted. In 1807 Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the kingdom of Etruria and Charles Louis and his mother took refuge in Spain. In May 1808 they were forced to leave Spain by Napoleon who arrested Charles Louis' mother in a convent in Rome. Between 1811 and 1814 Charles Louis was placed under the care of his grandfather, the deposed King Charles IV of Spain.

After Napoleon's fall, in 1817, Infanta Maria Luisa became Duchess of Lucca in her own right and Charles Louis, age sixteen, became hereditary Prince of Lucca. In 1820 he married Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy. They were a mismatched couple and had only one surviving son.