The death of her aunt Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution and her mother's subsequent dramatic actions emblazoned the event in her memory.

When the French monarchy was abolished and her aunt Marie Antoinette and uncle Louis XVI were executed, Maria Amalia's parents joined the First Coalition against France in 1793.

After the invasion of Naples by Napoleon in 1806, the royal family was once more forced to flee to Sicily, where they again settled in Palermo under the protection of British troops.

[7] While in exile, Maria Amalia encountered her future husband, Louis Philippe d'Orléans, also forced from his home in France[1] due to political complications of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon.

[7] During the first years of her marriage, Marie-Amelie and Louis Philippe lived under British protection in Palermo, in a palace given to them by her father, the Palazzo Orléans.

Despite the monetary worries of the family, the house was returned to its original splendor at a cost to the couple of eleven million francs.

[10] During their tenure as Duke and Duchess of Orléans, her spouse made Palais-Royal a center of high society in Paris when the aristocracy found the royal court, which was organized according to revived l'ancien regime-etiquette, too stiff.

[7] When tumult followed the publication of the Ordinances in 1830 and erupted in the July revolution in Paris, the Orléans family was at the country estate Neuilly.

When rumors arrived that the royalists were going to arrest Louis-Philippe, he evacuated to Raincy and the children were sent to Villers-Cotterêts, but Adélaïde and Maria Amalia remained at Neuilly.

She gave Guerin and her fellow Sister of Providence Mary Cecilia Bailly funds for their schools in the United States, as well as covered their travel expenses.

[7] During the Revolution of 1848, Maria Amalia made an attempt to get Louis-Philippe to take control of the troops, rally the National Guard, subdue the riots on the streets and defend his crown with his life.

[7] When a mob marched toward the Tuileries, Louis Philippe was convinced by his ministers to flee, and he signed his abdication in favor of his grandson against the consent of Maria Amalia.

[7] When the family left the palace, Maria Amalia reportedly turned to minister Thiers and commented: "Ah Monsieur, you were not worthy of such a good king!

[7] The couple were accompanied by their son Antoine, Duke of Montpensier; their daughter-in-law the Duchess of Nemours; their daughter Princess Clementine and her spouse, as well as six grandchildren.

Maria Amalia and Louis Philippe lived for a while in the cottage of a friend in Honfleur, before they left in secret by Le Havre for Newhaven in England.

[7] In England, Louis Philippe and Maria Amalia were well received by Queen Victoria, who let them live in Claremont House in Surrey for life.

After the death of her husband, Maria Amalia continued to live in England where she attended daily Mass and was well known to Queen Victoria.

[15] She spent her remaining years living a private family life, and was joined by most of her children with the exception of the Duke of Montpensier.