La construcción de la imagen regia de María Luisa de Orleans

The Spain of Carlos II and Maria Luisa de Orleans was a society of princes, as Lucien Bely has brilliantly explained it, and in it both the social reputation and the political authority of the kings were represented through external symbols that acted as indicators of the status. Among them, clothing was one of the most important and served the purpose of building the regal image. The Monarchy, in its eagerness to consolidate the sovereign authority of the king, intervened actively in the definition of the real image. But the construction of majesty did not imply only the king since it was extended to his queen consort. In this paper, we will analyze the foundations, scope and limitations in the construction of the image of Queen Maria Luisa de Orleans or, what is the same, the unfinished process of Hispanicization of a Catholic queen.