Louise Elisabeth of Orléans.html



Louise Elisabeth of Orléans Queen consort of Spain (more...) Consort 15 January 1724 - 31 August 1724 Consort to Louis Royal house House of Bourbon House of Orléans Father Philippe II, Duke of Orléans Mother Françoise-Marie de Bourbon Born December 11, 1709(1709-12-11) Versailles Palace, France Died June 16, 1742 (aged 32) Luxembourg Palace, Paris, France

Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans (11 December 1709, Palace of Versailles, France — 16 June 1742, Palais du Luxembourg, Paris, France), Queen Consort of Spain as the wife of King Louis I of Spain.

Life

Louise-Élisabeth was one of the many daughters of Philippe II d'Orléans and his wife, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon. Her mother was a legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his most famous mistress, Madame de Montespan. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, Louise-Élisabeth was a Princesse du Sang.

Early life

She was born at the Palace of Versailles on December 11, 1709 and was her parents fourth surviving daughter (the first , Mademoiselle de Valois died a year after brith). She was not officially classed, like her siblings, as a Petite Fille de France (Grand daughter of France), because petit fils de France were only figured in the male line.

During her youth prior to her marriage, she was known as Mademoiselle de Montpensier. She grew up among a brother and many sisters. Because no one was much interested in her as a child, Louise Élisabeth received a poor education and seemed destined for marriage to some obscure German or Italian prince.

Since 1715, her father was de facto ruler of France as the regent for the child, King Louis XV. In 1718 the War of the Quadruple Alliance broke out between France and Spain. In 1720, King Philip V of Spain wanted to make peace and proposed a double marriage: his three year old daughter, Infanta Mariana Victoria, would marry the fifteen year old Louis XV, and his son and heir, Infante Luis, would marry one of the Regent's daughters.

Marriage

By that time, Louise Élisabeth and her sister Philippine d'Orléans were the Regent's only unmarried daughters. It was later decided that these two daughters of the Regent would marry two Infantes of Spain.

Louise Elisabeth

Therefore, in 1721, at just twelve years old Louise Élisabeth was married by Proxy in Paris in November¹, Louise Élisabeth and her younger sister left for Madrid. Despite a cold reception from the Spanish royal family, especially by Elizabeth of Parma, her future husband's stepmother, she married Louis of Spain on 20 January 1722 at Lerma. The dowry of this marriage was an enormous 4 million Livres.²

Her sister was later engaged to Don Carlos of Spain, another heir to the throne of Spain; but the marriage came to nothing and her sister was later sent back to France where she died at the age of 19 in Paris.

Princess of Asturias

As wife of the heir to the Spanish throne, she assumed the title of Princess of Asturias. Despite her rank at court, Louise-Elisabeth was spied upon and accused of all sorts of wrongdoings. Her poor education hindered her ability to deal with the pressures exerted on her, and she reacted by withdrawing emotionally and exhibiting odd behaviour, like walking around naked and burping and breaking wind in public.

Queen of Spain

On January 15, 1724, an emotionally unstable Philip V abdicated in favour of his eldest son, who became King Louis I. Louise Élisabeth became Queen, but after only seven months, Louis died of smallpox. Because he died without an heir, his father became the king once again. She stayed in Madrid for some time after the death of her husband but the Spanish court was unkind and malicious towards the lonely teenage widow.

Later life

Arms Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans as Queen of Spain.

After the death of her husband, she returned to France at the request of her proud mother the Dowager duchesse d'Orléans. She was obliged to live peacefully in the capital away from the court of her young cousin Louis XV. As the widow of the King of Spain, she was to receive an annual pension of 600,000 Livres from the state; however, Spain would not pay her because her marriage had been annulled.³

She discreetly travelled to Paris and resided in the Château de Vincennes and the Palais du Luxembourg (The Luxembourg had been given to her sister by her father). She died at the latter in 1742, sadly forgotten by everyone. She was buried at the church of Saint Suplice in Paris, close to the Luxembourg, where her half-brother Louis Charles de Saint-Albin was a bishop.

Ancestors

References

Sources

• comte de Pimodan, Louise-elisabeth d'Orléans, reine d'Espagne 1709-1742, 393 p., Plon, 1928

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