Duke Of Parma Ferdinando

Notable

Family

Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla from his father's death on 18 July 1765 until he ceded the duchy to France by the Treaty of Aranjuez on 20 March 1801. He was a member of the Spanish House of Bourbon. As the second child and only son of Felipe I, Duke of Parma, and Princess Louise Élisabeth of France, he was considered to be the favorite grandson of his maternal grandfather King Louis XV of France. As a grandson in the male line of King Philip V of Spain, he was also an infante of Spain. As a grandson of King Louis, Ferdinando was also a direct descendant of England's William the Conqueror. As the heir to one of the largest collection of sovereign duchies, Ferdinando was an attractive candidate for many royal ladies of Europe. Ferdinando married the Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria by proxy on 27 June 1769 and in person on 19 July at the Ducal Palace of Colorno where Ferdinando had been born. They had nine children in just under twenty years. He died in Parma on 9 October 1802 at age 51, suspected to have been poisoned. Link to Wikipedia biography