Louise de Mérode was a member of the house of Mérode

House of Merode

The princely house of Merode is one of the most important houses of the Belgian nobility.The surname of the family and the name of the House is mostly written de Mérode in but was originally von Merode due to the German descent of the House...

 and Princess della Cisterna by marriage. She was the mother of Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo, Queen of Spain.

Biography

Born in Brussels she was the eldest of seven children born to Count Werner de Mérode and Countess Victoire van Spangen van Uyternesse. Her younger sister Antoinette de Merode was the future wife of Charles III, Prince of Monaco

Charles III, Prince of Monaco

Charles III was Prince of Monaco and Duke of Valentinois from 20 June 1856 to his death. He was the founder of the famous casino in Monte Carlo, as his title in Monegasque and Italian was Carlo III.-Birth:...

.

On 28 September 1846 at Loverval

Gerpinnes

Gerpinnes is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 12,030 inhabitants. The total area is 47.10 km², giving a population density of 255 inhabitants per km²....

 (Belgium) she married Carlo Emanuele dal Pozzo, Prince della Cisterna, an Italian nobleman and one of the few aristocratic families in the Kingdom of Sardinia

Kingdom of Sardinia

The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...

 to bear the title of "prince" as a nobleman

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

. It was a double wedding with her younger sister, Antoinette. Cisterna had been exiled from Sardinia in 1821 having conspired against Vittorio Emanuele I but the couple returned to Turin in 1848.

Her daughter married Prince Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta

Amadeo I of Spain

Amadeo I was the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy...

, son of Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia and Adelaide of Austria and brother of the future Umberto I of Italy

Umberto I of Italy

Umberto I or Humbert I , nicknamed the Good , was the King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his death. He was deeply loathed in far-left circles, especially among anarchists, because of his conservatism and support of the Bava-Beccaris massacre in Milan...

. At the death of her husband in 1864 her daughter inherited the prestigious Pozzo titles and passed them onto her son. Louise herself died at the Palazzo dal Pozzo della Cisterna in Turin.

Issue

1. Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo (1846-1876) married Prince Amadeo of Savoy
   Amadeo I of Spain
   Amadeo I was the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy...
   
    and had issue.
2. Beatrice Giuseppa Antonia Luisa dal Pozzo (1851-1864) died in infancy.

Titles and styles

• 22 May 1819 – 28 September 1846 Countess Louise de Merode
• 28 September 1846 – 26 March 1864 The Princess della Cisterna
• 26 March 1864 – 1 March 1868 The Dowager Princess della Cisterna

Ancestry