The Life of Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon, Duchess of Angoulême. Conclusion

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Battle of Waterloo, Charles X of France and Navarre, Comte de Chambord, Duchess of Angoulême, Henri de Bourbon, King ofvthe French, Louis Antoine, Louis Philippe, Louis XIX of France and Navarre, Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon, Napoléon of France

Exile

Marie-Thérèse arrived in Vienna on January 9, 1796, in the evening, twenty-two days after she had left the Temple.

She later left Vienna and moved to Mitau, Courland (now Jelgava, Latvia), where her father’s eldest surviving brother, the comte de Provence, lived as a guest of Tsar Paul I of Russia. He had proclaimed himself King of France as Louis XVIII after the death of Marie-Thérèse’s brother. With no children of his own, he wished his niece to marry her cousin, Louis-Antoine, duc d’Angoulême, son of his brother, the comte d’Artois. Marie-Thérèse agreed.

Louis-Antoine was a shy, stammering young man. His father tried to persuade Louis XVIII against the marriage. However, the wedding took place on June 10, 1799 at Jelgava Palace (modern-day Latvia). The couple had no children.

Princess Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon, Duchess of Angoulême

In Britain

The royal family moved to Great Britain, where they settled at Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire, while her father-in-law spent most of his time in Edinburgh, where he had been given apartments at Holyrood House.
The long years of exile ended with the abdication of Napoleon I in 1814, and the first Bourbon Restoration, when Louis XVIII stepped upon the throne of France, twenty-one years after the death of his brother Louis XVI.

Bourbon Restoration

Louis XVIII attempted to steer a middle course between liberals and the Ultra-royalists led by the Charles Philippe, Count of Artois. He also attempted to suppress the many men who claimed to be Marie-Thérèse’s long-lost younger brother, Louis XVII. Those claimants caused the princess a good deal of distress.

Marie-Thérèse found her return emotionally draining and she was distrustful of the many Frenchmen who had supported either the Republic or Napoleon. She visited the site where her brother had died, and the Madeleine Cemetery where her parents were buried. The royal remains were exhumed on January 18, 1815 and re-interred in Saint-Denis Basilica, the royal necropolis of France, on January 21, 1815, the 22nd anniversary of Louis XVI’s execution.

In March 1815, Napoléon returned to France and rapidly began to gain supporters and raised an army in the period known as the Hundred Days. Louis XVIII fled France, but Marie-Thérèse, who was in Bordeaux at the time, attempted to rally the local troops. The troops agreed to defend her but not to cause a civil war with Napoléon’s troops. Marie-Thérèse stayed in Bordeaux despite Napoléon’s orders for her to be arrested when his army arrived. Believing her cause was lost, and to spare Bordeaux senseless destruction, she finally agreed to leave.

Her actions caused Napoléon to remark that she was “the only man in her family.”

After Napoléon was defeated at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, the House of Bourbon was restored for a second time, and Louis XVIII returned to France.

On February 13, 1820, tragedy struck when Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, younger son, Charles Ferdinand d’Artois, Duke of Berry was assassinated by the anti-Bourbon and Bonapartist sympathiser Pierre Louvel, a saddler. Soon after, the royal family was cheered when it was learned that Marie-Caroline of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duchess of Berry was pregnant at the time of her husband’s death.

On September 29, 1820, Marie-Caroline of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duchess of Berry gave birth to a son, Henri, duc de Bordeaux, the so-called “Miracle child”, who later, as the Bourbon pretender to the French throne, assumed the title of Comte de Chambord.

Madame la Dauphine

Louis XVIII died on September 16, 1824, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Charles Philippe, Count of Artois as King Charles X. Marie-Thérèse’s husband was now heir to the throne, and she was addressed as Madame la Dauphine. However, anti-monarchist feeling was on the rise again. Charles’s ultra-royalist sympathies alienated many members of the working and middle classes.

On August 2, 1830, after Les Trois Glorieuses, the Revolution of July 1830 which lasted three days, Charles X, who with his family had gone to the Château de Rambouillet, abdicated in favor of his son, Louis-Antoine who was briefly King Louis XIX, but in turn abdicated in favor of his nephew, the nine-year old duc de Bordeaux. However, in spite of the fact that Charles X had asked him to be regent for the young king, Louis-Philippe, duc d’Orléans accepted the crown when the Chambre des Députés named him King of the French.

On August 4, in a long cortège, Marie-Thérèse left Rambouillet for a new exile with her uncle, her husband, her young nephew, his mother, the duchesse de Berry, and his sister Louise Marie Thérèse d’Artois. On 16 Augustn16, the family had reached the port of Cherbourg where they boarded a ship for Britain. King Louis-Philippe had taken care of the arrangements for the departure and sailing of his cousins.

Final exile

The royal family lived in what is now 22 (then 21) Regent Terrace in Edinburgh until 1833 when the former king chose to move to Prague as a guest of Marie-Thérèse’s cousin, Emperor Franz I of Austria. They moved into luxurious apartments in Prague Castle. Later, the royal family left Prague and moved to the estate of Count Coronini near Gorizia, which was then Austrian but is in Italy today. Marie-Thérèse devotedly nursed her uncle through his last illness in 1836, when Charles X died of cholera.

Her husband, Louis-Antoine died in 1844 and was buried next to his father. Marie-Thérèse then moved to Schloss Frohsdorf, a baroque castle just outside Vienna, where she spent her days taking walks, reading, sewing and praying. Her nephew, who now styled himself as the comte de Chambord, and his sister joined her there. In 1848, Louis Philippe’s reign ended in a revolution and, for the second time, France became a Republic.

Death

Marie-Thérèse died of pneumonia on October 19, 1851, three days after the fifty-eighth anniversary of the execution of her mother. She was buried next to her uncle/father-in-law, Charles X, and her husband, Louis XIX, in the crypt of the Franciscan monastery church of Castagnavizza in Görz, then in Austria, now Kostanjevica in the Slovenian city of Nova Gorica. Like her deceased uncle, Marie-Thérèse had remained a devout Roman Catholic.

Later, her nephew Henri, the comte de Chambord, last male of the senior line of the House of Bourbon; his wife, the comtesse de Chambord (formerly the Archduchess Marie-Thérèse of Austria-Este, daughter of Duke Francis IV of Modena and his wife, Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy); and the comte’s only sister, Louise, Duchess of Parma, were also laid to rest in the crypt in Görz. The famous antiquarian the Duke of Blacas was also buried there in honor of his dutiful years of service as a minister to Louis XVIII and Charles X.

Marie-Thérèse is described on her gravestone as the “Queen Dowager of France”, a reference to her husband’s 20 min rule as King Louis XIX of France.

December 20, 1192: Richard I of England is Captured by the Duke of Austria

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Dürnstein Castle, Duke of Bavaria, Henry the Lion, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, House of Babenberg, Leopold V of Austria, Pope Celestine III, Richard I of England, Third Crusade

Returning from the Third Crusade, bad weather forced King Richard I of England’s ship to put in at Corfu, in the lands of Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos, who objected to Richard’s annexation of Cyprus, formerly Byzantine territory. Disguised as a Knight Templar, Richard sailed from Corfu with four attendants, but his ship was wrecked near Aquileia, forcing Richard and his party into a dangerous land route through central Europe.

On his way to the territory of his brother-in-law Heinrich XII the Lion, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, Richard was captured December 20, 1192 near Vienna by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, (member of the House of Babenberg) who accused Richard of arranging the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat. Moreover, Richard had personally offended Leopold by casting down his standard from the walls of Acre.

Tomb of Richard I the Lion Heart, King of England

Leopold kept Richard prisoner at Dürnstein Castle under the care of Leopold’s ministerialis Hadmar of Kuenring. His mishap was soon known to England, but the regents were for some weeks uncertain of his whereabouts. While in prison, Richard wrote Ja nus hons pris or Ja nuls om pres (“No man who is imprisoned”), which is addressed to his half-sister Marie. He wrote the song, in French and Occitan versions, to express his feelings of abandonment by his people and his sister. The detention of a crusader was contrary to public law, and on these grounds Pope Celestine III excommunicated Duke Leopold.

On March 28, 1193 Richard was brought to Speyer and handed over to Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VI, who imprisoned him in Trifels Castle. Heinrich VI was aggrieved by the support the Plantagenets had given to the family of Heinrich XII the Lion and by Richard’s recognition of Tancred in Sicily. Heinrich VI needed money to raise an army and assert his rights over southern Italy and continued to hold Richard for ransom. Nevertheless, to Richard’s irritation, Celestine hesitated to excommunicate Heinrich VI, as he had Duke Leopold, for the continued wrongful imprisonment of Richard.

Ruins of Dürnstein Castle, now in Austria, where Richard was kept captive.

Richard famously refused to show deference to the Emperor and declared to him, “I am born of a rank which recognises no superior but God”. The king was at first shown a certain measure of respect, but later, at the prompting of Philippe of Dreux, Bishop of Beauvais and Philippe II of France’s cousin, the conditions of Richard’s captivity were worsened, and he was kept in chains, “so heavy,” Richard declared, “that a horse or ass would have struggled to move under them.”

The Emperor demanded that 150,000 marks (100,000 pounds of silver) be delivered to him before he would release the King, the same amount raised by the Saladin tithe only a few years earlier, and two to three times the annual income for the English Crown under Richard. Richard’s mother, Eleanor, worked to raise the ransom. Both clergy and laymen were taxed for a quarter of the value of their property, the gold and silver treasures of the churches were confiscated, and money was raised from the scutage and the carucage taxes.

At the same time, John, Richard’s brother, and King Philippe II of France offered 80,000 marks for Heinrich VI to hold Richard prisoner until Michaelmas 1194. Heinrich turned down the offer. The money to rescue the King was transferred to Germany by the Emperor’s ambassadors, but “at the king’s peril” (had it been lost along the way, Richard would have been held responsible), and finally, on February 4, 1194 Richard was released. Philip sent a message to John: “Look to yourself; the devil is loose”

December 20, 1765: Death of Louis de Bourbon, Dauphin of France

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Dauphin of France, Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, Louis de Bourbon, Louis XV of France and Navarre, Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Louis-Auguste, Maria Josepha of Saxony, Marie Leszczyńska of Poland, War of the Austrian Succession

Louis, Dauphin of France (Louis Ferdinand; September 4, 1729 – December 20, 1765) was the elder and only surviving son of King Louis XV of France and Navarre and his wife, Queen Marie Leszczyńska. Queen Marie Leszczyńska was was the second daughter of King Stanislaus I Leszczyński of Poland and his wife, Catherine Opalińska.

As a son of the king, Louis was a fils de France. As heir apparent, he became Dauphin of France. However, he died before he could ascend the throne. Three of his sons became kings of France: Louis XVI (reign in 1774–1792), Louis XVIII (1814–1815, again in 1815–1824) and Charles X (1824–1830).

Louis, Dauphin of France is also the grandfather of Princess Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon who is another French royal I am featuring on the blog.

Louis’s birth secured the throne and his mother’s position at court, which previously had been precarious due to her giving birth to three daughters in a row before the birth of the Dauphin. He had a younger brother, Philippe, who died as a toddler.

Louis was baptised privately and without a name by Cardinal Armand de Rohan. On April 27, 1737 when he was seven years old the public ceremony of the other baptismal rites took place. It was at this point that he was given the names Louis Ferdinand. His godparents were his cousin Louis, Duke of Orléans and his great-grandaunt the Dowager Duchess of Bourbon.

From an early age Louis took a great interest in the military arts. He was bitterly disappointed when his father would not permit him to join the 1744 campaign in the War of the Austrian Succession. When his father became deathly ill with fever at Metz, Louis disobeyed orders and went to his bedside. This rash action, which could have resulted in the deaths of both Louis and his father, resulted in a permanent change in the relations between father and son. Until then, Louis XV had doted on his son, but now the relationship was more distant. He was very close to his three older sisters.

First marriage

In 1744 Louis XV negotiated a marriage between his fifteen-year-old son and the nineteen-year-old Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, daughter of King Felipe V and his Italian wife, Elisabeth Farnese, and first cousin of Louis XV. The marriage contract was signed December 13, 1744; the marriage was celebrated by proxy at Madrid December 18, 1744 and in person at Versailles February 23, 1745.

Louis and Maria Teresa Rafaela were well-matched and had a real affection for each other. They had one daughter, Princess Marie Thérèse of France (July 19, 1746 – April 27, 1748). Three days after the birth of their daughter, Louis’s wife, Maria Teresa Rafaela, died on July 22, 1746. Louis was only 16 years old. He grieved intensely at the loss of his wife, but his responsibility to provide for the succession to the French crown required he marry again quickly.

In 1746, Louis received the Order of the Golden Fleece from his father-in-law, King Felipe V of Spain.

Second marriage

On January 10, 1747, Louis was married by proxy at Dresden to Maria Josepha of Saxony, the 15-year-old younger daughter of Friedrich August II, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and his wife Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria, the eldest child of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and Princess Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

A second marriage ceremony took place in person at Versailles on February 9, 1747.

Personality

Louis was well-educated: a studious man, cultivated, and a lover of music, he preferred the pleasures of conversation to those of hunting, balls, or spectacles. With a keen sense of morality, he was very much committed to his wife, Marie-Josèphe, as she was to him.

Very devout, he was a fervent supporter of the Jesuits, like his mother and sisters, and was led by them to have a devotion to the Sacred Heart. He appeared in the eyes of his sisters as the ideal of the Christian prince, in sharp contrast with their father, who was a notorious womanizer.

Later life and death

Kept away from government affairs by his father, Louis was at the center of the Dévots, a group of religiously-minded men who hoped to gain power when he succeeded to the throne.

Louis died of tuberculosis at Fontainebleau in 1765 at the age of 36, while his father was still alive, so he never became king of France. His mother, Queen Marie Leszczyńska, and his maternal grandfather, the former king of Poland, Stanislaus I Leszczyński, Duke of Lorraine, also survived him. His eldest surviving son, Louis-Auguste, duc de Berry, became the new dauphin, ascending the throne as Louis XVI at the death of Louis XV, in May 1774.

Louis was buried in the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne in Sens at the Monument to the Dauphin of France & Marie-Josephe of Saxony, designed and executed by Guillaume Coustou, the Younger. His heart was buried at Saint Denis Basilica.

The Life of Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon, Duchess of Angoulême. Part II.

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Duchess of Angoulême, French Revolution, Louis Charles, Louis XVI, Louis XVII, Madame Royale, Marie Antoinette, Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon, Princess Élisabeth de Bourbon, Robespierre, Tuileries Palace

Move to the Tuileries

When the Bastille was stormed by an armed mob on 14 July 1789, the situation reached a climax. The life of the 10-year-old Madame Royale began to be affected as several members of the royal household were sent abroad for their own safety. The comte d’Artois, her uncle, and the duchesse de Polignac, governess to the royal children, emigrated on the orders of Louis XVI.

The Duchesse de Polignac was replaced by Princess Louise-Elisabeth de Croÿ, Marquise de Tourzel, whose daughter Pauline became a lifelong friend of Marie-Thérèse.

On 5 October, a mixed cortège of mainly working women from Paris marched to Versailles, intent on acquiring food believed to be stored there, and to advance political demands. After the invasion of the palace in the early hours of 6 October had forced the family to take refuge in the king’s apartment, the crowd demanded and obtained the move of the king and his family to the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

As the political situation deteriorated, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette realized that their lives were in danger, and went along with the plan of escape organised with the help of Count Axel von Fersen. The plan was for the royal family to flee to the northeastern fortress of Montmédy, a royalist stronghold, but the attempted flight was intercepted in Varennes, and the family escorted back to Paris.

On August 10, 1792, after the royal family had taken refuge in the Legislative Assembly, Louis XVI was deposed, although the monarchy was not abolished until September 21. On August 13, the entire family was imprisoned in the Temple Tower, remains of a former medieval fortress. On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was executed on the guillotine, at which time Marie-Thérèse’s young brother Louis Charles was recognized as King Louis XVII of France by the royalists.

Almost six months later, in the evening of July 3, 1793, guards entered the royal family’s apartment, forcibly took away the eight-year-old Louis Charles, and entrusted him to the care of Antoine Simon, a cobbler and Temple commissioner.

Remaining in their apartment in the Tower were Marie Antoinette, Marie-Thérèse and Madame Élisabeth, Louis XVI’s youngest sister. When Marie Antoinette was taken to the Conciergerie one month later, in the night of August 2, Marie-Thérèse was left in the care of her aunt Élisabeth who, in turn, was taken away on May 9, 1794 and executed the following day. Of the royal prisoners in the Temple, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte was the only one to survive the Reign of Terror.

Her stay in the Temple Tower was one of solitude and often great boredom. The two books she had, the famous prayer book by the name of The Imitation of Christ and Voyages by La Harpe, were read over and over, so much so that she grew tired of them. But her appeal for more books was denied by government officials, and many other requests were frequently refused, while she often had to endure listening to her brother’s cries and screams whenever he was beaten.

On 11 May 1794, Robespierre visited Marie-Thérèse, but there is no record of the conversation. During her imprisonment, Marie-Thérèse was never told what had happened to her family. All she knew was that her father was dead. The following words were scratched on the wall of her room in the tower:

“Marie-Thérèse Charlotte is the most unhappy person in the world. She can obtain no news of her mother; nor be reunited to her, though she has asked it a thousand times. Live, my good mother! whom I love well, but of whom I can hear no tidings. O my father! watch over me from Heaven above. O my God! forgive those who have made my parents suffer.”

In late August 1795, Marie-Thérèse was finally told what had happened to her family, by Madame Renée de Chanterenne, her female companion. When she had been informed of each of their fates, the distraught Marie-Thérèse began to cry, letting out loud sobs of anguish and grief.

It was only once the Terror was over that Marie-Thérèse was allowed to leave France. She was liberated on December 18, 1795, on the eve of her seventeenth birthday, exchanged for prominent French prisoners (Pierre Riel de Beurnonville, Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Hugues-Bernard Maret, Armand-Gaston Camus, Nicolas Marie Quinette and Charles-Louis Huguet de Sémonville) and taken to Vienna, the capital city of her cousin, the Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, and also her mother’s birthplace.

December 19, 1778: Birth of Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon, Duchess of Angoulême. Part I.

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Archduchess Marie Antoinette of Austria, Dauphin of France m French Revolution, Duchess of Angoulême, Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Louis-Joseph, Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon, Palace of Versailles

Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon, Duchess of Angoulême (Marie-Thérèse Charlotte; December 19, 1778 – October 19, 1851), was the eldest child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and the only one to reach adulthood (her siblings all dying before the age of 11). She was married to Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, who was the eldest son of the future Charles X, her father’s younger brother; thus the bride and groom were also first cousins.

Marie-Thérèse was born at the Palace of Versailles on December 19, 1778, the first child (after eight years of her parents’ marriage), and eldest daughter of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre and Queen Marie Antoinette. As the daughter of the king of France, she was a fille de France, and as the eldest daughter of the king, she was styled Madame Royale at birth.

Marie Antoinette almost died of suffocation during this birth due to a crowded and unventilated room, but the windows were finally opened to let fresh air in the room in an attempt to revive her. As a result of the horrible experience, Louis XVI banned public viewing, allowing only close family members and a handful of trusted courtiers to witness the birth of the next royal children. When she was revived, the queen greeted her daughter (whom she later nicknamed Mousseline) with delight.

Marie-Thérèse was baptized on the day of her birth. She was named after her maternal grandmother, the reigning Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Her second name, Charlotte, was for her mother’s favourite sister, Maria Carolina of Austria, queen consort of Naples and Sicily, who was known as Charlotte in the family.

Louis XVI was an affectionate father, who delighted in spoiling his daughter, while her mother was stricter.

Marie Antoinette was determined that her daughter should not grow up to be as haughty as her husband’s unmarried aunts. She often invited children of lower rank to come and dine with Marie-Thérèse and, according to some accounts, encouraged the child to give her toys to the poor. In contrast to her image as a materialistic queen who ignored the plight of the poor, Marie Antoinette attempted to teach her daughter about the sufferings of others. One account, written by a partisan source some years after her death, says that on New Year’s Day in 1784, after having some beautiful toys brought to Marie-Thérèse’s apartment, Marie Antoinette told her:

“I should have liked to have given you all these as New Year’s gifts, but the winter is very hard, there is a crowd of unhappy people who have no bread to eat, no clothes to wear, no wood to make a fire. I have given them all my money; I have none left to buy you presents, so there will be none this year.”

Marie-Thérèse was joined by two brothers and a sister, Louis Joseph Xavier François, Dauphin of France, in 1781, Louis-Charles de France, Duke of Normandy, in 1785, and Sophie Hélène Béatrix, Madame Sophie, in 1786. Out of all her siblings, she was closest to Louis Joseph, and after his death, Louis Charles. As a young girl, Marie-Thérèse was noted to be quite attractive, with beautiful blue eyes, inheriting the good looks of her mother and maternal grandmother. She was the only one of her parents’ four children to survive past age.

As Marie-Thérèse matured, the march toward the French Revolution was gaining momentum. Social discontent mixed with a crippling budget deficit provoked an outburst of anti-absolutist sentiment. By 1789, France was hurtling toward revolution as the result of bankruptcy brought on by the country’s support of the American Revolution and high food prices due to drought, all of which was exacerbated by propagandists whose central object of scorn and ridicule was the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette.

As the attacks upon the queen grew ever more vicious, the popularity of the monarchy plummeted. Inside the Court at Versailles, jealousies and xenophobia were the principal causes of resentment and anger toward Marie Antoinette. Her unpopularity with certain powerful members of the Court, including Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, led to the printing and distribution of scurrilous pamphlets which accused her of a range of sexual depravities as well as of spending the country into financial ruin.

While it is now generally agreed that the queen’s actions did little to provoke such animosity, the damage these pamphlets inflicted upon the monarchy proved to be a catalyst for the upheaval to come.

The worsening political situation, however, had little effect on Marie-Thérèse, as more immediate tragedies struck when her younger sister, Sophie, died in 1787, followed two years later by the Dauphin, Louis-Joseph, who died of tuberculosis, on June 4, 1789, one day after the opening of the Estates-General.

December 19, 1683: Birth of Felipe V, King of Spain

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Carlos II of Spain, Felipe V of Spain, Fernando VI of Spain, House of Bourbon, Louis XIV of France, Luis of Spain, Philippe of Anjou, Treaty of Utrecht, War of the Spanish Succession

Felipe V (December 19, 1683 – July 9, 1746) was King of Spain from November 1, 1700 to January 14, 1724, and again from September 6, 1724 to his death in 1746. Felipe V instigated many important reforms in Spain, most especially the centralization of power of the monarchy and the suppression of regional privileges, via the Nueva Planta decrees, and restructuring of the administration of the Spanish Empire on the Iberian peninsula and its overseas regions.

Philippe was born at the Palace of Versailles in France as the second son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, the heir apparent to the throne of France, (son of Louis XIV) and his wife Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria, known as the Dauphine Victoire. He was a younger brother of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, the father of Louis XV of France. At birth, Philippe was created Duke of Anjou, a traditional title for younger sons in the French royal family. He would be known by this name until he became the King of Spain. Since Philippe’s older brother, the Duke of Burgundy, was second in line to the French throne after his father, there was little expectation that either he or his younger brother Charles, Duke of Berry, would ever rule over France.

In 1700, King Carlos II of Spain, the last Habsburg to rule Spain, died childless. His will named as successor Philippe, grandson of Charles’ half-sister Maria Theresa, the first wife of Louis XIV. Upon any possible refusal, the Crown of Spain would be offered next to Philippe’s younger brother, the Duke of Berry, then to the Archduke Charles of Austria, later Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. Philippe had the better genealogical claim to the Spanish throne, because his Spanish grandmother and great-grandmother were older than the ancestors of the Archduke Charles of Austria.

However, the Austrians maintained that Philip’s grandmother had renounced the Spanish throne for herself and her descendants as part of her marriage contract. The French claimed that it was on the basis of a dowry that had never been paid.

After a long Royal Council meeting in France at which the Dauphin spoke up in favor of his son’s rights, it was agreed that Philippe would ascend the throne, but he would forever renounce his claim to the throne of France for himself and his descendants. The Royal Council decided to accept the provisions of the will of Carlos II naming Philippe, King of Spain, and the Spanish ambassador was called in and introduced to the new king. The ambassador, along with his son, knelt before the new King Felipe V and made a long speech in Spanish, which Felipe did not understand.

First marriage

On November 2, 1701, the almost 18-year-old Felipe V married the 13-year-old Maria Luisa of Savoy, as chosen by his grandfather King Louis XIV. She was the daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, and his wife Anne Marie d’Orléans, Felipe’s first cousin once removed. The Duke and Duchess of Savoy were also the parents of Princess Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, Duchess of Burgundy, Felipe’s sister-in-law. There was a proxy ceremony at Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy, and another one at Versailles on September 11.

Proclamation of Felipe V as King of Spain in the Palace of Versailles on November 16, 1700.

Felipe V’s accession in Spain provoked the 13-year War of the Spanish Succession, which continued until the Treaty of Utrecht forbade any future possibility of unifying the French and Spanish crowns while confirming his accession to the throne of Spain. It also removed the Spanish Netherlands and Spanish-controlled Italy from the Spanish monarchy.

Second Marriage

Shortly after the death of Queen Maria Luisa in 1714, the King decided to marry again. His second wife was Elisabeth of Parma, daughter of Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma, and Dorothea Sophie of the Palatinate. At the age of 22, on 24 December 1714, she was married to the 31-year-old Felipe V by proxy in Parma. The marriage was arranged by Cardinal Alberoni, with the concurrence of the Princesse des Ursins, the Camarera mayor de Palacio (“chief of the household”) of the king of Spain.

On January 14, 1724, Felipe V abdicated the throne to his eldest son, the seventeen-year-old Luis, for reasons still subject to debate. One theory suggests that Felipe V, who exhibited many elements of mental instability during his reign, did not wish to reign due to his increasing mental decline. A second theory puts the abdication in context of the Bourbon dynasty.

The French royal family recently had lost many legitimate agnates to diseases. Indeed, Felipe V’s abdication occurred just over a month after the death of Philippe II, the Duke of Orléans, who had been regent for Louis XV of France.

The lack of an heir made another continental war of succession a possibility. Felipe V was a legitimate descendant of Louis XIV, but matters were complicated by the Treaty of Utrecht, which forbade a union of the French and Spanish crowns. The theory supposes that Felipe V hoped that by abdicating the Spanish crown he could circumvent the Treaty and succeed to the French throne.

In any case, Luis died on August 31, 1724 in Madrid of smallpox, having reigned only seven months and leaving no issue. Felipe was forced to return to the Spanish throne as his younger son, the later Fernando VI, was not yet of age.

During Felipe V’s second reign, Spain began to recover from the stagnation it had suffered during the twilight of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. Although the population of Spain grew, the financial and taxation systems were archaic and the treasury ran deficits. The king employed thousands of highly paid retainers at his palaces—not to rule the country but to look after the royal family. The army and bureaucracy went months without pay and only the shipments of silver from the New World kept the system going. Spain suspended payments on its debt in 1739—effectively declaring bankruptcy.

Death

Felipe V was afflicted by fits of manic depression and increasingly fell victim to a deep melancholia. His second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, completely dominated her passive husband. She bore him further sons, including another successor, Carlos III of Spain. Beginning in August 1737 his affliction was eased by the castrato singer Farinelli, who, became the “Musico de Camara of Their Majesties.” Farinelli would sing eight or nine arias for the king and queen every night, usually with a trio of musicians.

Felipe V died on July 9, 1746 in El Escorial, in Madrid, but was buried in his favorite Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, near Segovia. Fernando VI of Spain, his son by his first queen Maria Luisa of Savoy, succeeded him.

December 18, 1863: Birth of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este

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Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, Assassination, Duchess of Teschen, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Gavrilo Princip, Sarajevo, Sophie Chotek, World War I

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (December 18, 1863 – June 28, 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo is considered the most immediate cause of World War I.

Franz Ferdinand was born in Graz, Austria, the eldest son of Archduke Charles Ludwig of Austria (the younger brother of Franz Joseph and Maximilian) and of his second wife, Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, was born in Caserta, the daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and his wife Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, the eldest daughter of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg.

In 1875, when he was eleven years old, his cousin Francisco V, Duke of Modena died, naming Franz Ferdinand his heir on condition that he add the name “Este” to his own.

In 1889, Franz Ferdinand’s life changed dramatically. His cousin Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide at his hunting lodge in Mayerling. This left Franz Ferdinand’s father, Archduke Charles Ludwig, as first in line to the throne. Charles Ludwig died of typhoid fever in 1896. Henceforth, Franz Ferdinand became next in line to succeed to the imperial and royal thrones.

In 1894, Franz Ferdinand met Countess Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen. Franz began to visit Archduke Friedrich’s villa in Pressburg (now Bratislava), and in turn Sophie wrote to Franz Ferdinand during his convalescence from tuberculosis on the island of Lošinj in the Adriatic. They kept their relationship a secret, until it was discovered by Isabella herself.

To be eligible to marry a member of the imperial House of Habsburg, one had to be a member of one of the reigning or formerly reigning dynasties of Europe. The Choteks were not one of these families.

Deeply in love, Franz Ferdinand refused to consider marrying anyone else. Finally, in 1899, Emperor Franz Joseph agreed to permit Franz Ferdinand to marry Sophie, on the condition that the marriage would be morganatic and that their descendants would not have succession rights to the throne.

Sophie would not share her husband’s rank, title, precedence, or privileges; as such, she would not normally appear in public beside him. She would not be allowed to ride in the royal carriage or sit in the royal box in theaters.

The wedding took place on July 1, 1900, at Reichstadt (now Zákupy) in Bohemia; Franz Joseph did not attend the affair, nor did any archduke including Franz Ferdinand’s brothers. The only members of the imperial family who were present were Franz Ferdinand’s stepmother, Princess Maria Theresa of Braganza; and her two daughters.

Upon the marriage, Sophie was given the title “Princess of Hohenberg” with the style “Her Serene Highness.” In 1909, she was given the more senior title “Duchess of Hohenberg” with the style “Her Highness.” This raised her status considerably, but she still yielded precedence at court to all the archduchesses. Whenever a function required the couple to assemble with the other members of the imperial family, Sophie was forced to stand far down the line, separated from her husband

The Archduke and his wife visited England in the autumn of 1913, spending a week with George V and Queen Mary at Windsor Castle before going to stay for another week with the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, where they arrived on November 22. He attended a service at the local Catholic church in Worksop

Franz Ferdinand, like most males in the ruling Habsburg line, entered the Austro-Hungarian Army at a young age. He was frequently and rapidly promoted, given the rank of lieutenant at age fourteen, captain at twenty-two, colonel at twenty-seven, and major general at thirty-one. While never receiving formal staff training, he was considered eligible for command and at one point briefly led the primarily Hungarian 9th Hussar Regiment. In 1898 he was given a commission “at the special disposition of His Majesty” to make inquiries into all aspects of the military services and military agencies were commanded to share their papers with him.

Franz Ferdinand held significant influence over the military, and in 1913 he was appointed inspector general of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces.

On Sunday, June 28, 1914, at about 10:45 am, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The perpetrator was 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized and armed by the Black Hand.

Earlier in the day, the couple had been attacked by Nedeljko Čabrinović, who had thrown a grenade at their car. However, the bomb detonated behind them, injuring the occupants in the following car. On arriving at the Governor’s residence, Franz angrily shouted, “So this is how you welcome your guests – with bombs!”

The assassinations, along with the arms race, nationalism, imperialism, militarism of Imperial Germany and the alliance system all contributed to the origins of World War I, which began a month after Franz Ferdinand’s death, with Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia. The assassination of Ferdinand is considered the most immediate cause of World War I.

After his death, Archduke Charles became the Heir presumptive Austria-Hungary.

Franz Ferdinand is interred with his wife Sophie in Artstetten Castle, Austria.

December 17, 1734: Birth of Maria I, Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves

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Emperor Napoleon of France, House of Braganza, King Pedro III, Mental Illness, Porphyria, Queen Maria I of Portugal, United Kingdom of Portugal Brazil and the Algarves

Maria I (December 17, 1734 – March 20, 1816) was Queen of Portugal from February 24, 1777 until her death in 1816. Known as Maria the Pious in Portugal and Maria the Mad in Brazil, she was the first undisputed Queen Regnant of Portugal and the first monarch of Brazil.

Maria was the eldest daughter of King José I of Portugal and Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, the eldest daughter of King Felipe V of Spain and Queen Elisabeth Farnese.

King João V appointed his granddaughter Maria as the Princess of Beira on the day of her birth.

Maria I, Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves

Maria’s grandfather João V died on July 3, 1750. Her father, Prince José, then succeeded to the throne as King José I. As José’s eldest child, Maria became his heir presumptive and was given the traditional titles of Princess of Brazil and Duchess of Braganza.

On June 6, 1760 Maria married her uncle Pedro of Portugal. Maria and Pedro had six children: José, João Francisco, João (later King João VI), Mariana Vitória, Maria Clementina, and Maria Isabel. Only José, João, and Mariana Vitória survived to adulthood. Maria also delivered a stillborn boy in 1762.

King José died on February 24, 1777. His daughter, Maria, then became the first undisputed queen regnant of Portugal. With Maria’s accession, her husband became nominal king as Pedro III, but the actual regal authority was vested solely in Maria, as she was the lineal heir of the crown. Also, as Pedro’s kingship was jure uxoris only, his reign would cease in the event of Maria’s death, and the crown would pass to Maria’s descendants.

Upon ascending the throne, Maria dismissed her father’s powerful chief minister, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, who had broken the power of the reactionary aristocracy via the Távora affair, partially because of his Enlightenment, anti-Jesuit policies. Noteworthy events of this period include Portugal’s membership in the League of Armed Neutrality (July 1782) and the 1781 cession of Delagoa Bay from Austria to Portugal. However, the queen suffered from religious mania and melancholia and this would take a toll on her health.

Maria I, Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves and King Pedro III

The early part of Maria’s reign witnessed growth in Portugal’s economy. Maria had a number of national buildings constructed and renovated, leading to the completion of the Palace of Queluz and the inauguration of the Palace of Ajuda and other new monuments. The death of her husband in 1786, followed by the deaths in 1788 of her eldest son José and her confessor Inácio de São Caetano, caused the queen to develop clinical depression. Her second son, João, then served as prince regent.

In February 1792, Maria was deemed mentally insane and was treated by Francis Willis, the same physician who attended the British king George III. Willis wanted to take her to England, but the plan was refused by the Portuguese court. Potentially as a result of Willis’ more advisory role in Maria’s care, rather than the hands-on care of King George III, Willis deemed the queen incurable. Maria’s second son, João, now Prince of Brazil, took over the government in her name, even though he only took the title of Prince Regent in 1799. When the Real Barraca de Ajuda burnt down in 1794, the court was forced to move to Queluz, where the ill queen would lie in her apartments all day. Another potential cause of her mental illness was her incestuous ancestry, this is substantiated by two of her sisters who had similar conditions.

With Napoleon’s European conquests, Maria and her court moved to the Portuguese colony of Brazil in 1807. After Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in 1815, Maria became Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.

In 1816, she died at the Carmo Convent in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 81. After her death, the prince regent was acclaimed as King João VI. Maria’s body was returned to Lisbon to be interred in a mausoleum in the Estrela Basilica (Portuguese: Basilica da Estrela), which she had helped found.

Maria is a greatly admired figure in both Brazil and Portugal due to the tremendous changes and events that took place during her reign. In Portugal, she is celebrated as a strong female figure. Her legacy shines at Portugal’s Queluz Palace, a baroque-roccoco masterpiece that she helped conceive. A large statue of her stands in front of the palace, and a pousada near the palace is named in her honour. A large marble statue of the queen was erected at the Portuguese National Library in Lisbon by the students of Joaquim Machado de Castro.

December 17, 942: Death of William I Longsword of Normandy

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Counts of Rouen, Duke of Normandy, More Danico, Richard of Normandy, Rollo of Normandy, Sprota, William II of Normandy, William Longsword of Normandy

William I Longsword (c. 893 – December 17, 942) was the second ruler of Normandy, from 927 until his assassination in 942.

He is sometimes anachronistically dubbed “Duke of Normandy”, even though the title duke (dux) did not come into common usage until the 11th century. Longsword was known at the time as Count (Latin comes) of Rouen.

History of the title

There is no record of Rollo holding or using any title. His son and grandson, Duke William I and Duke Richard I, used the titles “count” (Latin comes or consul) and “prince” (princeps). Prior to 1066, the most common title of the ruler of Normandy was “Count of Normandy” (comes Normanniae) or “Count of the Normans” (comes Normannorum). The title Count of Rouen (comes Rotomagensis) was never used in any official document, but it was used of William I and his son by the anonymous author of a lament (planctus) on his death. Defying Norman pretensions to the ducal title, Adhemar of Chabannes was still referring to the Norman ruler as “Count of Rouen” as late as the 1020s.

In the 12th century, the Icelandic historian Ari Thorgilsson in his Landnámabók referred to Rollo as Ruðu jarl (earl of Rouen), the only attested form in Old Norse, although too late to be evidence for 10th-century practice. The late 11th-century Norman historian William of Poitiers used the title “Count of Rouen” for the Norman rulers down to Richard II. Although references to the Norman rulers as counts of Rouen are relatively sparse and confined to narrative sources, there is a lack of documentary evidence about Norman titles before the late 10th century.
The first recorded use of the title duke (dux) is in an act in favour of the Abbey of Fécamp in 1006 by Richard II, Duke of Normandy.

Birth

William Longsword was born “overseas” to the Viking Rollo (while he was still a pagan) and his wife more danico Poppa of Bayeux. Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his panegyric of the Norman dukes describes Poppa as the daughter of a Count Berengar, the dominant prince of that region. In the 11th-century Annales Rouennaises (Annals of Rouen), she is called the daughter of Guy, Count of Senlis, otherwise unknown to history. Her parentage is uncertain. According to the Longsword’s planctus, he was baptized a Christian probably at the same time as his father, which Orderic Vitalis stated was in 912, by Franco, Archbishop of Rouen.

Life

William succeeded Rollo (who would continue to live for about another 5 years) in 927 and, early in his reign, faced a rebellion from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicised. According to Orderic Vitalis, the leader was Riouf of Evreux, who besieged William in Rouen. Sallying forth, William won a decisive battle, proving his authority to be duke. At the time of this 933 rebellion William sent his pregnant wife by custom, Sprota, to Fécamp where their son Richard was born.

In 933 William recognized Raoul as King of West Francia, who was struggling to assert his authority in Northern France. In turn, Raoul gave him lordship over much of the lands of the Bretons including Avranches, the Cotentin Peninsula and the Channel Islands.

The Bretons did not agree to these changes and resistance to the Normans was led by Alan II, Duke of Brittany, and Count Berenger of Rennes but ended shortly with great slaughter and Breton castles being razed to the ground, Alan fled to England and Beranger sought reconciliation.

In 935, William married Luitgarde, daughter of Count Herbert II of Vermandois whose dowry gave him the lands of Longueville, Coudres and Illiers l’Eveque. He also contracted a marriage between his sister Adela (Gerloc was her Norse name) and William, Count of Poitou, with the approval of Hugh the Great. In addition to supporting King Raoul, he was now a loyal ally of his father-in-law, Herbert II, both of whom his father Rollo had opposed.

In January 936 King Raoul died and the 16-year-old Louis IV, who was living in exile in England, was persuaded by a promise of loyalty by William, to return and became king. The Bretons returned to recover the lands taken by the Normans, resulting in fighting in the expanded Norman lands.

The new king was not capable of controlling his Barons and after William’s brother-in-law, Herluin II, Count of Montreuil, was attacked by Flanders, William went to their assistance in 939. Arnulf I, Count of Flanders retaliated by attacking Normandy. Arnulf captured the castle of Montreuil-sur-Mer expelling Herluin. Herluin and William cooperated to retake the castle. William was excommunicated for his actions in attacking and destroying several estates belonging to Arnulf. William pledged his loyalty to King Louis IV when they met in 940 and, in return, he was confirmed in lands that had been given to his father, Rollo.: liii

In 941 a peace treaty was signed between the Bretons and Normans, brokered in Rouen by King Louis IV which limited the Norman expansion into Breton lands. The following year, on December 17, 942 at Picquigny on an island on the Somme, William was ambushed and killed by followers of Arnulf while at a peace conference to settle their differences.

Family

William had no children with his Christian wife Luitgarde. He fathered his son, Richard, with Sprota, his wife more danico.* Richard, then aged 10, succeeded as Ruler of Normandy upon William’s death in December 942.

* marriage more danico was neither an informal marriage nor even legitimized abduction, but simply a secular marriage contracted in accordance with Germanic law, rather than ecclesiastical marriage.

December 15, 1907: Death of Carola of Vasa, Queen of Saxony

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Albert of Saxony, Carol I of Romania, Carola of Vasa, Crown Prince Gustaf of Sweden, Gustaf IV Adolf of Sweden, Louise Amelie of Baden, Princess of Sweden, Roman Catholic

Carola of Vasa (Caroline Frederikke Franziska Stephanie Amalia Cecilia; 5 August 5, 1833 – December 15, 1907) was a titular Princess of Sweden, and the Queen Consort of Saxony. She was the last Queen of Saxony.

Background

Carola was the daughter of the former Crown Prince Gustaf of Sweden and Princess Louise Amelie of Baden, and a granddaughter of King Gustaf IV Adolf of Sweden who had been deposed in 1809.

In the early 1850s, she was considered one of the most beautiful princesses of Europe. Suitors were not lacking, and there had been plans for her to marry Napoléon III, Emperor of the French. She was a cousin of the Emperor’s through her maternal grandmother Stéphanie de Beauharnais, also the adoptive daughter of Napoleon I and a Princess of the First French Empire. Her father was against the marriage due to the volatile political situation in France and his dynasty’s historical dispute with the Bonaparte dynasty. 20 years later, when Napoleon III fell from power, her father is quoted as saying, “I foresaw that correctly!”

In 1852, against her father’s wishes, Carola converted to Catholicism. On June 18, 1853, Carola married in Dresden, Crown Prince Albrecht of Saxony. Their marriage was childless, although she suffered many miscarriages.

Her closest heirs were: in paternal side, Friedrich II, Grand Duke of Baden (1857–1928), son of her first cousin; and her first cousin King Carol I of Romania (1839–1914) in maternal side.

She had a good relationship with her parents-in-law and was described as their support during difficult times. Already as a crown princess, Carola began the activity within social issues which she would continue as a queen. In 1866, she visited Saxony’s field hospitals in Vienna, where she made herself known as a good samaritan. In 1867, she founded the Albert commission, which contributed to the medical care of the German army during the war of 1870–71. For her work, she was decorated with the Prussian Luisen-Orden and the Saxon Order of Sidonia. In 1871, she accompanied Albert to Compiègne after the defeat of France, where she entertained the officers of the victorious armies as a popular hostess.

Queen

In 1873, her spouse succeeded his father as King Albrecht I, making Carola queen. In 1884, the deposed Swedish branch of the House of Oldenburg made peace with the new Swedish Bernadotte dynasty through her and her first cousin once removed Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, when the remains of Carola’s grandfather, king Gustaf IV Adolf of Sweden, her father and her brother Ludvig were taken to Stockholm and interred in the royal crypt. In 1888, Carola and her spouse made an official visit to Sweden.

Queen Carola made an important contribution to the health care organisation in Saxony. In 1867, as Crown princess, she and Marie Simon founded the Albert-Verein. She founded a wet nurse school at Leipziger Tor (1869), the hospital “Carola-Haus” (1878), the women employment agency Johannes-Verein (1876), a women’s school in Schwarzenberg (1884), the home “Gustavheim” for the old, sick and weak in Niederpoyritz (1887), the school Lehrertöchterheim Carola-Stift Klotzsche (1892) and the home for handicapped Amalie hus Löbtau, Friedrichstadt (1896). Carola was a popular queen. She was widowed in 1902.

She was the 499th Dame of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa.
At the time of her death, she was the last surviving grandchild of Gustaf IV Adolf.