Maria Louisa, the second wife of Napoleon I., born 12th December 1791, was the daughter of the Emperor Francis I. of Austria. She was married to Napoleon after the divorce of Josephine, 2d April 1810. On 20th March following she bore a son, who was called King of Rome. At the beginning of the campaign of 1813 Napoleon appointed her regent in his absence, but under many limitations. On the abdication of Napoleon, not being permitted to follow him into exile, she went with her son to Schönbrunn, where she remained till 1816, when she received the duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla. In 1822 she contracted a morganatic marriage with Count von Neipperg. She died at Vienna, 17th December 1847.
See Lives by Helfert (1873) and Imbert de Saint-Amand (Eng. trans. 1886), her Correspondance (1887), and the Mémoires of Mme. Durand, her maid of honour (1885).