Elisabeth Farnese

Elisabeth Farnese (Italian: Elisabetta Farnese, Spanish: Isabel de Farnesio; 25 October 1692 – 11 July 1766) was Queen of Spain by marriage to King Philip V. She was the de facto ruler of Spain from 1714 until 1746, since she managed the affairs of state with the approval of her spouse. She is particularly known for her great influence over Spain's foreign policy. From 1759 to 1760, she governed as regent.

Elisabeth was born in 1692 in Parma, the daughter of Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma and his wife, Countess Palatine Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg. Elisabeth would be their only child to survive into adulthood, her siblings all dying in infancy. Her father died in 1693, and her mother later remarried to his younger brother (Elisabeth's uncle), Francesco, in hopes for another heir. This never happened, and Elisabeth remained sole heiress. Elisabeth's marriage was considered of great political importance, and she received many proposals, notably from Piedmontese and Modenese princes, ultimately being married to the Spanish king, Philip V, whose first wife, Queen Maria Luisa, had died earlier that year.

Soon after her arrival at the Spanish court, Elisabeth proved to be dominant and strong-willed. With the help of her Italian courtiers, she eliminated the French party at court and capitalized on her husband's frequent mental incapacity to enforce her own will. She pursued an aggressive international policy, attempting to place her husband and children in various European thrones, which granted her the contempt of her subjects and provoked the failed War of the Quadruple Alliance. With the wars of the Polish and Austrian Succession, however, she succeeded in enthroning her male sons in Naples, Sicily and her native Parma, recovering most of the historical Italian territories of the Spanish royal house, while her daughters also married prominently into the French and Portuguese royal families.

She was scorned and admired at the same time by her contemporaries, who regarded her as an authoritarian, scheming and unscrupulous monarch. At times she came to the extent of personally heading divisions of the Spanish Army in her war efforts. Frederick the Great would state about her: "she walks boldly towards the fulfillment of her designs; there is nothing that can surprise her, nothing that can stop her."

Her son Charles (later King Charles III of Spain) would go on to inherit the Duchy of Parma, with Elisabeth's mother as regent. Following multiple transfers of power, including rulers from the House of Habsburg, her son Philip was made Duke. Thus, all further dukes of Parma have descended from Elisabeth.