However, she remained attached to her native country and was instrumental in arranging the marriage of her eldest son Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria with her niece Infanta Paz of Spain.

Baptized with the full name Amalia Filipina del Pilar Blasa Bonisa Vita Rita Lutgarda Romana Judas Tadea Alberta Josefa Ana Joaquina Los Doce Apostólicos Bonifacia Domenica Bibiana Verónica, she was born during the early reign of her first cousin Queen Isabella II of Spain, while her maternal aunt Queen Maria Christina was regent of the realm.

However Amalia's mother, Princess Luisa Carlota of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, quarreled with her sister, and as a consequence they were expelled from Spain by the regent in 1838.

After Queen Maria Christina fell from power in October 1840, Infanta Amalia' s ambitious mother made the family return to the court of Madrid.

[1] At her arrival at the Bavarian court her father in law, King Ludwig I of Bavaria, a great admirer of female beauty, was disappointed when he met his new daughter-in-law, plump and plain.

All of her five children spoke Spanish fluently and she encouraged her son Ludwig Ferdinand to marry her niece and goddaughter Infanta Maria de la Paz of Spain.