Louise Maximilienne Caroline, countess of Albany

Louise Maximilienne Caroline, countess of Albany (born Sept. 20, 1752, Mons, Austrian Netherlands [now in Belgium]—died Jan. 29, 1824, Florence [Italy]) was the wife of the Young Pretender, Prince Charles Edward, unsuccessful Stuart claimant to the English throne. Later she became the mistress of the Italian poet and dramatist Vittorio Alfieri.

The elder daughter of Gustav Adolf, prince of Stolberg-Gedern, she entered the convent of Saint Waudru in Mons, where as a canoness she was able to receive a good education despite the poverty in which her father’s death at the Battle of Leuthen had left her family. In 1772 she was married to Prince Charles Edward, self-styled Count of Albany, who was 32 years older than she.

In Rome the countess was embarrassed by her husband’s attempts to have her treated as a queen. After they had moved to Florence, it became plain that she would not present him with an heir; his bouts of drunkenness returned, and they became estranged. In 1780 she fled from him and placed herself under the protection of his brother Henry, Cardinal Duke of York. Charles Edward’s ill-treatment of her was the reason given for this move, but the real cause was her liaison with Alfieri, who soon followed her to Rome. When this liaison became known to the cardinal, he withdrew his support and had Alfieri banished. After some wanderings the couple settled in Florence, Louise having obtained a legal separation from her husband in 1784 through the intervention of Gustavus III of Sweden. On a visit to London the countess was received at court and obtained a pension from George III of Britain.

After Alfieri’s death (1803) Louise continued to live in Florence in the company of the French painter François Fabre, to whom she bequeathed all her property. Her house there was frequented by scientists and men of letters, and she enjoyed a reputation for wit.