Duchess Violante Beatrice of Bavaria - Grand Princess

Grand Princess

The grand princely couple's lack of offspring after six years of marriage perturbed the Grand Duke. Consequently, much to the Grand Princess's mortification, he commissioned three days' religious observance to remedy their lack of children in April 1694. Any hopes of an heir were dashed when Ferdinando contracted, in 1696, syphilis during the Carnival of Venice, a disease to which he succumbed seventeen years later. The Grand Princess, meanwhile, fell victim to a state of melancholy, which did not escape the notice of her brother-in-law, Prince Gian Gastone, who befriended her as a result. Violante Beatrice rarely alluded to her emotional pain in conversation, but, on one documented occasion, in the presence of her ladies, branded Ferdinando's lover Cecchino de Castris the focus of her woes. That Ferdinando often openly declared his wife "too dull and too ugly" only worsened matters.

The Grand Princess found herself, in 1702, in the middle of a protocolary spat between Tuscany and Spain. The Grand Duke sent an agent to the court of Philip V of Spain with the objective of procuring a license for the Grand Prince and Princess—who, hypothetically, acquired royal dignity with Cosimo III on 5 February 1691 from the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I's, diploma—to use the style Royal Highness in correspondence with Spain. Philip V initially deigned only to sanction his aunt Violante Beatrice's use; however, the agent, Pucci, eventually requisitioned full recognition.

King Philip V and Frederick IV of Denmark paid Violante Beatrice visits in 1703 and 1709, respectively. The former chose to ignore the other members of the Tuscan Royal Family and reluctantly deigned only speak to her. The latter, on the other hand, was taken with Violante, going as far as to refuse to leave the room while she was changing clothes.

The Grand Prince, after much suffering, died from syphilis on 31 October 1713, sparking a succession crisis and leaving his wife a childless and therefore purposeless widow. The Dowager was so distraught that she had to be bled by doctors in order to calm her down. Cosimo III gifted her a set of blue sapphires as a token of mourning. Violante Beatrice considered returning to her homeland when she caught wind of the Electress Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici's, born a Tuscan princess, impending return; the two did not get along. Violante Beatrice, additionally, would be usurped as first-lady of Tuscany. To quell any future tiffs regarding precedence, Cosimo III appointed Violante Beatrice Governor of Siena, whose duties as such kept her away from the Tuscan court, and gave her possession of the Villa di Lappeggi, which became, in the words of historian Harold Acton, "a sort of literary academy". Here, she feted poets Lucchesi, Ghivanizzi and Morandi. Although precedence was laid out cognisant of Violante Beatrice's dignity, the Electress on several occasions disregarded it. Thus, Violante Beatrice refused to appear with her in public.