Isabella d'Este, Duchess of Parma explained

Consort:yes
Isabella d'Este
Succession:Duchess consort of Parma and Piacenza
Reign:18 February 1664 –
17 August 1666
Issue:Margherita Maria, Duchess of Modena
Princess Teresa
Odoardo, Hereditary Prince of Parma and Piacenza
House:House of Farnese (by marriage)
House of Este (by birth)
Father:Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena
Mother:Maria Caterina Farnese
Birth Date:3 October 1635
Birth Place:Ducal Palace of Modena, Modena
Death Place:Ducal Palace of Colorno, Parma
Date Of Burial:23 August 1666
Place Of Burial:Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Steccata, Parma

Isabella d'Este (3 October 1635  - 21 August 1666) was Duchess of Parma, and second wife of Duke Ranuccio II Farnese. She was the paternal grandmother of Elisabetta Farnese, Queen of Spain.

Princess of Modena

Isabella was a daughter of the Duke of Modena Francesco I d'Este and Maria Caterina Farnese, daughter of Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma. She was the sister of two Dukes of Modena, Alfonso IV d'Este (1634–1662) and Rinaldo (1655–1737). At the death of her mother, her father married again twice.

Duchess of Parma

After the death of his first wife Marguerite Yolande of Savoy, Ranuccio II married in 1663 his cousin Isabella. But the couple only met on 18 February 1664, when Isabella arrived in Parma. For this occasion, a grandiose celebration and musical spectacles were organised. The couple had three children, all of whom would survive childhood. Only the youngest Odoardo, would have issue; he was the father of Elisabeth Farnese, queen of Spain and ancestor of most modern royalty.

But the birth of her son proved fatal to Isabella, who died of complications nine days later on 21 August, at Colorno. She was buried at the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Steccata in the city of Parma on the 23 August. Her husband remarried in October 1668 to her sister Maria d'Este. By her he had a further seven children as well as the last two Farnese Dukes of Parma.

Issue