Order of Queen Maria Luisa

Royal Order of Noble Ladies of Queen Maria Luisa Real Orden de Damas Nobles de la Reina María Luisa
Badge of the Order Sash of the Order, belonging to the Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
Award of the Kingdom of Spain
Type	Order of knighthood for women
Royal house	House of Bourbon
Sovereign	King Felipe VI
Grand Mistress	Queen Letizia (De facto)
Grades	Dame Grand Cross, Dame
Statistics
Established	April 21, 1792 De facto extinct
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of Charles III
Next (lower)	Order of Isabella the Catholic
Ribbon of the order

The Royal Order of Noble Ladies of Queen Maria Luisa is an Order created by King Charles IV of Spain by royal decree in April 21, 1792 at the request of his wife Queen Maria Luisa, to have a way to reward noble women who distinguished themselves for their services and talents, so it was established as a distinction reserved only for women.

The Order was defined as a strictly female reward system, ruled by the Queen and composed of thirty bands reserved for the Spanish high nobility. The first secretary of the Order was Don Miguel Banuelos and Power, retired Knight of the Order of Charles III, and General Stewart of the Army.

In 1796 the King raised the Order to a nobiliary dignity, granting their holders and their spouses the protocolar treatment of excellence, equating to Grandee of Spain and Knights Grand Crosses of the Order of Charles III. Later, during the short reign of Joseph Bonaparte (Joseph I of Spain), a decree was signed on September 18, 1809, dissolving all military orders, including the female one of Maria Luisa, excepting only the order of the Golden Fleece, but this measure was reversed after Bonaparte's expulsion from Spain and the Bourbon restoration. Successive queens in turn inherited the prerogatives of the founding queen of the Order and the custom was established that the current queen of Spain would exercise the governorship of the Order.

In a Royal Decree of October 28, 1851, a payment of 3,000 reais was required of members of the Order, to be paid within three months; non-payers would cease to be members. Also included in the protocol for granting the authorization of the Council of Ministers and published in the Gaceta de Madrid (now Boletín Oficial del Estado). In 1869, after the dismissal of Queen Isabella II, the ruler, General Francisco Serrano, 1st Duke of la Torre changed the name of the Order to Order of the Nobles Ladies of Spain.