Morganatic marriage
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Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's pos
Charles Ferdinand, Prince of Capua (top), with his morganatic wife, the Anglo-Irish commoner Penelope Smyth (left), and their daughter, Vittoria (right).
Tsar Alexander II
Princess Catherine Dolgorukova
Marie Louise was Duchess of Parma from 11 April 1814 until her death in 1847. She was Napoleon's second wife and as such Empress of the French and Queen of Italy from their marriage on 2 April 1810 un
Morganatic marriage
…to do so because he was close friends with King Frederick II. The king was sympathetic, as he was unable to marry his love due to class differences. Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (by birth an archduchess of the Imperial House of Habsburg, and by her first marriage a French empress) married morganatically twice after the death…
Portrait by Jean-Baptiste Paulin Guérin, c. 1812
The Wedding of Napoleon and Marie Louise by Georges Rouget, 1810
Marie Louise with the King of Rome by Joseph Franque, 1811
Napoleon Bids Farewell to His Guard by Horace Vernet. In April 1814 Napoleon attempted to abdicate in favour of his son with Marie Louise as regent