Editing Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (section)

==Congress of Vienna and relationship with Neipperg==
[[File:Portrait of Napoleon II by Thomas Lawrence (1818–1819).jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of Napoleon II]]'' by [[Thomas Lawrence]]. Painted in 1819 by which time he lived in Vienna.]] 
In the summer of 1814, Emperor Francis sent Count [[Adam Albert von Neipperg]] to accompany Marie Louise to the spa town of [[Aix-les-Bains]] to prevent her from joining Napoleon on Elba.<ref name="lasagna">Lasagna</ref><ref name="herman">Herman, p. 236</ref> Neipperg was a confidant of Metternich and an enemy of Napoleon.<ref name="lasagna"/><ref name="dsaix"/> Marie Louise fell in love with Neipperg.<ref name="dsaix"/> They became lovers.<ref name="herman"/><ref name="dsaix"/> He became her chamberlain, and her advocate at the [[Congress of Vienna]].<ref name="dsaix"/> News of the relationship was not received well by the French and the Austrian public.<ref>Herre, p. 219</ref>

When Napoleon escaped in March 1815 and [[Hundred Days|reinstated his rule]], the Allies once again declared war. Marie Louise was asked by her stepmother to join in the processions to pray for the success of the Austrian armies but rejected the insulting invitation.<ref name="dsaix">de Saint-Amand, p. ix</ref> She passed a message to Napoleon's private secretary, [[Claude-François de Méneval]], who was about to return to France: "I hope he will understand the misery of my position ... I shall never assent to a divorce, but I flatter myself that he will not oppose an amicable separation, and that he will not bear any ill feeling towards me ... This separation has become imperative; it will in no way affect the feelings of esteem and gratitude that I preserve."<ref name="dsaix"/> Napoleon was defeated for the last time at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] and was exiled to [[Saint Helena]] from October 1815. Napoleon made no further attempt to contact her personally.

The Congress of Vienna recognised Marie Louise as ruler of [[Duchy of Parma|Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla]], but prevented her from bringing her son to Italy.<ref>Herre, p. 236</ref> It also made her Duchess of Parma for her life only, as the Allies did not want a descendant of Napoleon to have a hereditary claim over Parma.<ref name="de Saint-Amand, p. x"/> After her death, the duchy was to revert to the Bourbons.