[4] She was baptised with the names María Antonia along with Fernanda in honour of her half brother, then the heir to the throne.

Her mother consented to the latter union, but insisted on waiting for Maria Antonia Ferdinanda to reach a more mature age.

[6] The marriage between Infante Philip and Louise Élisabeth occurred in 1739 and eventually her older sister Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela married the Dauphin in 1745.

[7] Her half-brother Ferdinand VI, who had just took the throne, tried to engage Maria Antonia Ferdinanda, his only half-sister that was still unmarried, to the Dauphin, but the idea was snubbed by Louis XV as "incest".

The marriage had been arranged by Maria Antonia Ferdinanda's half brother to strengthen relations between Madrid and Turin, as the two courts had fought on opposing sides during the War of the Austrian Succession, and Charles Emmanuel III was Ferdinand's uncle, as he was his mother's brother.

[2] As a wedding gift, the apartments of the new Duchess of Savoy at the Royal Palace of Turin were remodelled by the architect Benedetto Alfieri.

Her oldest son Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont married Marie Clotilde of France, sister of Louis XVI in 1775.