On this day, Louis XV writes to the Duke of Parma:
“I shall announce to the Queen tonight, my dear grandson, that she will receive a letter from you by the next post. The weather is finally warm and fine, and I hope that it will last. The news from Spain is not good regarding the health of the Queen, and it is uncertain whether she can be brought back from Aranjuez. Humanity can cause mistakes, my dear grandson, but it should not make one remiss in one’s duty. You do well not to have an imbecile near you. M de Saint-Vital no longer being able to fulfill his position, he ought to resign it, but I think you would not do well to take it from him. In the meantime, you do very well to make him feel his wrongdoings towards you as well as anyone else in similar cases. I assure you, my dear grandson, of all my friendship and I embrace you very tenderly. Louis.”
Commentary:
The first queen mentioned in this letter is Louis XV’s consort and Ferdinand of Parma’s maternal grandmother, Queen Marie. The second one is Ferdinand’s paternal grandmother Elisabeth Farnese, the mother of Charles III of Spain and the late Philip of Parma, Ferdinand’s father. It is from her that Ferdinand derives his claim to the ducal crown of Parma since she is the niece of the last Duke of Parma of the house of Farnese.
Pictured: Elisabeth Farnese (1692-1766), known in Spain as Isabel de Farnesio, Princess of Parma by birth and Queen of Spain by marriage to Philip V.
The Dowager Queen, who has survived her late husband Philip V by 20 years, has only weeks to live at this date. In the end, she will not be moved from Aranjuez.
Pictured: The palace of Aranjuez near Madrid in 1756. This painting is in the Prado.
The imbecile M de Saint-Vital must be Count Jacopo Antonio San Vitale, the head of one of Parma’s most noble families. The nature of his imbecility is not explained, nor what his wrongdoings might be. Count San Vitale was formerly Parma’s ambassador in Paris. He is also a published poet under the pseudonym Eaco Panellenio. Perhaps by imbecile the King means senile?
Pictured: Count Jacopo Antonio San Vitale (1699-1780).
Ferdinand is only 15 years old at this date and has already been on the ducal throne for nearly a year. He rules with the guidance of his French chief minister, Guillaume du Tillot, but clearly also seeks advice from his maternal grandfather.
If you have questions that I have not addressed in the commentary, please ask in the comments.
‘…Humanity can cause mistakes…but it should not make one remiss in one’s duties’
Sound advice from Louis for everyone, I think.