Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony was born on 6 December 1803 as the youngest daughter of Prince Maximilian of Saxony and his first wife Princess Carolina of Parma. Carolina died just four months after her daughter’s birth. Her two elder brothers both succeeded as King of Saxony. She received a strict religious upbringing from nuns in a convent where she was sent after her mother’s death.
This Princess is distinguished no less by the gracefulness of her person, than by the elevation of her mind and appears determined not to take any part in public affairs. 1
On 20 October 1819, Maria Josepha Amalia became the third wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain. He had been widowed for the second time in 1818 and was in desperate need of an heir. He was 19 years older than his new wife. Unfortunately, Maria Josepha Amalia and Ferdinand had no children together, and she withdrew from public life. She was reportedly horrified by intimate acts, and it took a letter from the Pope to convince her that it did not go against her religion. She often stayed in the Palace of Aranjuez and the Royal Palace of Riofrio.
On 18 May 1829, she died of a fever; she was still only 25 years old. She is buried in the Pantheon of the Infantes in El Escorial and not in the Pantheon of the Kings and Queens because she did not leave offspring.
Her husband remarried later that same year to Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies who eventually gave birth to the future Queen Isabella II of Spain.
These poor princesses forced into marriage without the slightest idea of what “intimacy” entailed.Having said that it probably applies to a large percentage of women in past times.