This manuscript letter, 4 pages,2d and 3d pages blank, size 18.5 cm x 22.5 cm, signed by Maria Luisa Infanta of Spain.

“My dearest friend Paoletta, only today have I learned about your illness. I am greatly saddened by it, and I would like to help you. Please let me know what you need and what you would enjoy.

Tomorrow I am going to Lucca to attend the awards ceremony at the college. I shall not be returning until Sunday, but I shall leave orders to inform us about your request, so merely get I touch with my household. I wish you a speedy recovery. With a fond embrace M. Luisa”.

Maria Luisa of Spain (1782 –1824) was a Spanish Infanta, daughter of King Charles IV and his wife Maria Luisa of Parma. In 1795, she married her first cousin Louis, Hereditary of Prince of Parma. She spent the first years of her married life at the Spanish court where their first child, Charles was born.

Her relationship with Manuel de Gordoy and influence over the King made her unpopular among the people and aristocrats. In total, Maria Luisa had twenty-four pregnancies of which fourteen children were born and ten miscarried. She was rivals with the Duchess of Alba and the Duchess of Osuna attracting popular attention. The death of her daughter-in-law Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, whom she disliked, was said to be the poisoning by the queen. Charles IV abdicated in 1808 and was accompanied by Maria Luisa when Napoleon held them captive in France. She died in Rome in 1819.