Description: Amalia Maria


French Queen Marie Amelie Pens a Note to her dear chancellor" Mentioning Grandma Maria Theresa

Cream bifold letter on embossed royal letterhead signed by Queen Marie Amelie of France as "Your very affectionate Marie Amelie". One and a half pages are inscribed in rapid cursive while the third and fourth pages are blank. In very fine condition with expected folds, each page measuring 5" x 7.625".

Queen Marie Amelie wrote this candid and intimate note from the royal palace outside of Paris at Neuilly on August 15, 1844. The addressee is unidentified except for the queen’s passing reference to "her dear chancellor". She writes: "I thank you will all my heart, my dear chancellor, for the copy of the letter of Marie-Therese that you wanted to send me, as well as for the note concerning your poor protegee … I will do all that I can usefully do for your protegee … " Marie Amelie references her grandmother twice in this short note, once formally as "Marie-Therese" and once more familiarly as "grand-mere".

Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (1782-1866) was a descendant of impressive royal lineage. Her maternal grandmother was Maria Theresa (1717-1780) of the Austro-Hungarian and Holy Roman Empires, and her aunt was the executed French queen Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793). Following the Revolution of 1830, Marie Amelie and her husband Louis-Phillipe (1773-1850) ascended the French throne. By all accounts, Louis-Phillipe’s court was comfortable but modest. Although there were occasional state visits, the court more resembled a bourgeoise household than a bastion of luxury. Marie Amelie’s interests were Catholicism, her family, and charitable work. She mentored her daughters, daughters-in-law, and protegees like the one she mentions in this letter, in her court circle.

In our letter, Marie Amelie mentions a letter written by her grandmother Maria Theresa, a prodigious monarch who served as queen and then empress for forty years. Of Maria Theresa’s sixteen children, two daughters became queens and two sons Holy Roman Emperors. She was highly educated and intensely involved in family, national, and international affairs. Maria Theresa produced thousands of letters during her lifetime; our chancellor forwarded a copy of one such letter to the empress's grateful granddaughter.


WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!!"