Princess Louise-Élisabeth of France
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| Princess Marie-Louise Élisabeth de France | |
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| Duchess consort of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla | |
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| Marie-Louise Élisabeth de France, Duchess of Parma, in court dress, by Jean-Marc Nattier | |
| Tenure | 1749 - 1759 |
| Spouse | Philip, Duke of Parma |
| Issue | |
| Isabella of Parma Ferdinand, Duke of Parma Maria Luisa, Queen of Spain |
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| Father | Louis XV of France |
| Mother | Maria Leszczyńska |
| Born | August 14, 1727 Palace of Versailles, France |
| Died | December 6, 1759 (aged 32) Palace of Versailles, France |
Marie-Louise Élisabeth de France, Duchess Consort of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla (14 August 1727 – 6 December 1759) was the eldest daughter of King Louis XV of France and his Queen consort, Maria Leszczyńska, and the elder twin sister of Henriette-Anne. As the daughter of the king, she ranked as a fille de France. She married Infante Philip, younger son of Philip V of Spain, and later became Duchess of Parma.
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[edit] Early life
Marie-Louise Élisabeth and her twin sister Henriette Anne de France were born at the Palace of Versailles on 14 August 1727 to Louis XV of France and his wife, the Polish born queen, Maria Leszczyńska. With her younger twin, she was baptised at Versailles on 27 April 1737. She was known at court as Madame Royale, Madame Première, Madame Élisabeth, and also as Babette within her family circle.
Élisabeth was raised at Versailles with her two younger sisters, Princess Henriette Anne (1727 - 1752) and Marie-Louise, and their brother, the dauphin, Louis (1729-1765). She also grew up with her younger sister, Princess Marie Adélaïde (1732 - 1800). Her other siblings were:
- Marie-Louise (1728 - 1733), died in childhood:
- Philippe de France, Duke of Anjou (1730 - 1733), died in childhood;
- Victoire Louise Marie Thérèse de France (1733 - 1799), died unmarried, no issue;
- Sophie Philippine Élisabeth Justine de France (1734 - 1782); died unmarried, no issue;
- Stillborn child (1735);
- Thérèse-Félicité de France(1736 - 1744), died in childhood;
- Louise Marie de France (1737 - 1787), became a nun, died unmarried, no issue.
She was known to be very intelligent and a quick learner. She was said to resemble her father and was his favourite daughter. Along with her brother, she was the only one of her nine siblings to get married. Out of her siblings, only Adélaïde and Victoire would live to see the fall of the Ancien Régime under their nephew, Louis XVI. Unlike some of her younger sisters, Sophie and Victoire, who were sent off to be raised in a convent, Élisabeth grew up with a loving family surrounding her.
[edit] Marriage
Her prospective engagement to the Infante Felipe of Spain was announced at court in February 1739, when she was twelve years old. Philip was the third son of Louis' uncle, King Philip V of Spain, and his second wife, Elizabeth of Parma, and was thus in line to the throne of Spain. He was the third oldest of the Spanish king's surviving sons.
This engagement followed a tradition of cementing military and political alliances between the Catholic powers of France and Spain with royal marriages. The tradition went back to the marriage of King Philip II of Spain with the French princess, Élisabeth de France (1545-1568), the daughter of King Henry II of France, in 1559 as part of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. Despite this and the fact that Philip was her father's first cousin, the match was not well received at the French court, as there was little chance that Philip would become King of Spain.
Nevertheless, the young Élisabeth was married by proxy on 26 August 1739, without having met her future husband. Afterwards, she was known as Madame Infante at the court of Louis XV. After extravagant celebrations, she tearfully left her native France, Versailles and her beloved twin sister, for Spain on 30 August.
She finally met her nineteen-year old husband at Alcalá de Henares, some 30 kilometers northeast of Madrid, and they were married there on 25 October 1739.
[edit] Children
The marriage was not a happy one, but the couple had three children:
- Isabella Luisa Antonietta Ferdinanda Giuseppina Saveria Dominica Giovanna of Parma (1741–1763) - she married Marie Antoinette's older brother, the Austrian emperor, Joseph II. She had issue, but all her children died in childhood.
- Ferdinando Maria Filippo Lodovico Sebastiano Francesco Giacomo of Parma (1751–1802) - he succeeded his father as Duke of Parma in 1765 and married his older sister's sister-in-law, the Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria. He left issue.
- Luisa Maria Teresa Ana of Parma (1751–1819) - she was known as Maria Luisa. She married her cousin, the Infante Carlos of Spain, and later became the Queen Consort of Spain. She left issue.
Through Élisabeth's daughter Maria Luisa, Louis XV is an ancestor of the Bourbons of Spain, the Bourbons of the Two Sicilies, and the House of Orleans.
[edit] Spain
Court etiquette at the time of Élisabeth's arrival in Spain was much stricter than that in France. To make matters worse, Élisabeth discovered that her mother-in-law, Elisabeth of Parma, was domineering and controlling. As a result, she spent much of her time away from the Queen, playing with dolls. Élisabeth wrote of her unhappiness to her father. On 31 December 1741, at the age of fourteen, she gave birth to her first child, Isabella, who was named after the Queen, Elisabeth of Parma (Isabel in Spanish). While the Queen became a doting grandmother to the little Isabella, her mother would always be cold and distant towards her own child[citation needed].
Felipe's younger sister, Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, was married to Élisabeth's brother, Louis de France, in 1745.
| Spanish Family of Marie Louise Élisabeth in 1743 |
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[edit] Parma
Élisabeth was able to escape Spain in 1748. In the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle which ended the War of the Austrian Succession, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria was forced to cede the duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla to her enemy, Philip V of Spain. At Louis XV's instigation, Élisabeth and her husband became Duke and Duchess of Parma.
[edit] Versailles
| Styles of Louise Élisabeth, Duchess of Parma as consort |
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| Reference style | Her Royal Highness |
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| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Madame |
Élisabeth returned to Versailles on 11 December 1748, en route to Parma, to thank her father for her husband's new duchy. She stayed for almost a year, during which time she grew to know and understand her father's mistress, Madame de Pompadour. Her mother, brother and sisters though continued to hate the king's mistress. Her sister-in-law, the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, had died in July 1726 during childbirth. Her brother later married the Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony (1731–1767), who became very close to Élisabeth. Like the rest of the royal family, however, Maria Josepha disliked Mme de Pompadour.
During this first return visit to her native land, a courtier described Élisabeth as "charming" and as having "piercing eyes" that "express(ed) intelligence" while another, less sympathetic observer claimed she looked like a "well-endowed young woman, matured by motherhood"[1]. She arrived in Parma in October 1749, importing French court manners and cuisine. While in Parma, she and her husband lived in the beautiful Ducal Palace of Colorno redecorated in the new duchess's native French style. In 1751, she gave birth to her children Ferdinand and Maria Luisa, who became her favourite child[citation needed].
Élisabeth's twin sister Henriette-Anne died in 1752, and Élisabeth returned to France in September to visit her tomb at Saint-Denis. She was expected to stay for only a few weeks, but remained in Versailles for almost a year.
Élisabeth was bored when she returned to Parma, and sought a wider realm to rule. She allied herself with Empress Maria Theresa, who promised Élisabeth the throne of the Netherlands, which had been returned to Austrian rule under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Élisabeth returned to France again in September 1757, to try to arrange the marriage of her daughter Isabella to the Archduke Joseph of Austria, the future Emperor Joseph II. The marriage occurred in 1760. Scandalous gossip linked Élisabeth to Bernis, an abbot she had known in Parma, but this receded when he fell out of favour and was banished[citation needed].
King Ferdinand VI of Spain died without an heir in August 1759 and was succeeded by his younger (and Felipe's older) brother Charles, who became Charles III of Spain. Although Felipe and Élisabeth came one step closer to the throne of Spain, Charles' young family, including several sons, meant that there was still little chance of them reaching the Spanish throne.
Élisabeth fell ill while she was at Versailles, and died of smallpox on 6 December 1759. She was buried on 27 March 1760 at Saint-Denis Basilica beside her twin sister, Henriette. Their tombs were desecrated during the French Revolution of 1789.
 Élisabeth with her eldest daughter Isabella in Fontainebleau, by Jean-Marc Nattier |
 Élisabeth as Duchess of Parma, by Louis-Michel van Loo |
 Élisabeth with her husband and their children Ferdinand and Maria Luisa; Isabella Maria is in the white dress; by Giuseppe Baldrighi |
 Élisabeth in hunting dress, by Jean-Marc Nattier |
[edit] Ancestry
[edit] Titles and Styles
- 14 August 1727 - 25 October 1739 Her Royal Highness Madame Royale
- 25 October 1739 - 1749 Her Royal Highness Dona Luisa Isabel, Infanta of Spain
- 1749 - 6 December 1759 Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, Infanta of Spain
- In France the princess was informally known as Madame Infante.
[edit] References
- ^ Lévêque, Jean-Jacques. Versailles: The Palace of the Monarchy, The Museum of the Nation. Trans. Kirk McElhearn and Ellen Krabbe. Paris: ACR PocheCouler, 2000, p. 113.
[edit] Notes
- The majority of this article is based on a translation of the equivalent article of the French Wikipedia on 6 November 2006
[edit] Further reading
- Sanger, Ernest, Isabelle de Bourbon-Parme: la Princesse et la Mort (Brussels: Racine, 2002).
- Zieliński, Ryszard (1978). Polka na francuskim tronie. Czytelnik.
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