Prior to her marriage, the Spanish and French royal courts had been on poor terms: the Spanish had been greatly insulted by the French in 1725 when the engagement between Louis XV of France and Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, elder sister of Maria Teresa, was broken off.

Under the influence of her mother Elisabeth Farnese, María Teresa Rafaela was not to go to France until she reached a more mature age.

Addressed as Madame la Dauphine at Versailles, Maria Teresa Rafaela was the highest ranking female in the kingdom after Queen Marie.

[2] Her shy nature further isolated her from the court and she was openly hostile to the King for his affair with Madame de Pompadour.

To make matters worse, the Dauphine's father, King Philip V of Spain had died just 13 days before her on July 9.

[5] Marie Thérèse Raphaëlle was buried at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, the French royal necropolis outside Paris on 6 August 1746.

At her death, her half brother, Ferdinand VI of Spain, proposed that the Dauphin marry her sister the Infanta Maria Antonia Fernanda but Louis XV refused.