August 16, 1682: Birth of Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Burgundy & Dauphin of France

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Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy, House of Bourbon, Louis de Bourbon, Louis the Grand Dauphin, Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Louis XV of France and Navarre, Philippe II Duke of Orleans

Louis, Duke of Burgundy (August 16, 1682 – February 18, 1712), was the eldest son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, and Dauphine Maria Anna and grandson of the reigning King Louis XIV of France. He was known as the “Petit Dauphin” to distinguish him from his father, who died in April 1711, when the former became the official Dauphin of France. He never reigned, as he died in 1712 while his grandfather was still on the throne. Upon the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the Duke of Burgundy’s son became Louis XV.

Louis was born in the Palace of Versailles in 1682, the eldest son of the French Dauphin, Louis, who would later be called le Grand Dauphin, and his wife, Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria, the eldest daughter of Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria and his wife Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy.

Her maternal grandparents were Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy and Christine Marie de Bourbon of France, the second daughter of Henri IV of France and Marie de’ Medici, thus her husband the dauphin was her second cousin.

His father was the eldest son of the reigning king, Louis XIV and his wife Queen Maria Theresa of Spain born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal at the Royal Monastery of El Escorial, she was the daughter of Felipe IV-III of Spain and Portugal and his wife Elisabeth de Bourbon of France daughter of Henri IV of France and Marie de’ Medici.

Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Burgundy & Dauphin of France

At birth, Prince Louis received the title of Duke of Burgundy (duc de Bourgogne). In addition, as the son of the Dauphin and grandson to the king, he was a fils de France and also second in the line of succession to his grandfather, Louis XIV, after his father.

Louis grew up with his younger brothers: Philippe, Duke of Anjou, who became King Felipe V of Spain; and Charles, Duke of Berry, under the supervision of the royal governess Louise de Prie. He lost his mother when he was eight. His father, viewed as lazy and dull, never played a major role in politics.

Marriage

At the age of 15, he was married to his second cousin, Princess Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, the daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy and Anne Marie d’Orléans. She was the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV, and Henrietta of England, the youngest daughter of Charles I of England, who was the daughter of Henri IV of France and his wife Maria de Medici.

This match had been decided as part of the Treaty of Turin, which ended Franco-Savoyard conflicts during the Nine Years’ War. The wedding took place on December 7, 1697 at the Palace of Versailles.

Military career and politics

In 1702, at the age of 20, Louis was admitted by his grandfather King Louis XIV to the Conseil d’en haut (High Council), which was in charge of state secrets regarding religion, diplomacy and war. His father had been admitted only at the age of 30.

In 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Louis was given command of the army in Flanders, with the experienced soldier Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, serving under him. The uncertainty as to which of the two should truly command the army led to delays and the need to refer decisions to Louis XIV.

Continued indecision led to French inactivity as messages travelled between the front and Versailles; the Allies were then able to take the initiative. The culmination of this was the Battle of Oudenarde, where Louis’s mistaken choices and reluctance to support Vendôme led to a decisive defeat for the French.

In the aftermath of the defeat, his hesitation to relieve the Siege of Lille led to the loss of the city and thereby allowed the Allies to make their first incursions onto French soil.

Louis was influenced by the dévots and was surrounded by a circle of people known as the faction de Bourgogne, notably including his old tutor François Fénelon, his old governor Paul de Beauvilliers, Duke of Saint-Aignan and his brother-in-law Charles Honoré d’Albert, Duke of Chevreuse, as well as the renowned memorialist, Louis de Rouvroy, Duke of Saint-Simon.

These high-ranking aristocrats sought a return to a monarchy less absolute and less centralised, with more powers granted to the individual provinces. Their view was that government should work through councils and intermediary organs between the king and the people.

These intermediary councils were to be made up not by commoners from the bourgeoisie (like the ministers appointed by Louis XIV) but by aristocrats who perceived themselves as the representatives of the people and would assist the king in governance and the exercise of power. Had Louis succeeded to the throne, he might have applied this concept of monarchy.

Death and legacy

Louis became Dauphin of France upon the death of his father in 1711. In February 1712, his wife contracted measles and died on February 12. Louis himself, who dearly loved his wife and who had stayed by her side throughout the fatal illness, caught the disease and died six days after her at the Château de Marly on February 18 aged 29. Both of his sons also became infected.

The elder son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Louis, Duke of Brittany, the latest in a series of Dauphins, succumbed on March 8, leaving his brother, the two-year-old Duke of Anjou, who was later to succeed to the throne as Louis XV.

As it was thought that the chances of survival of this frail child, now heir apparent to his seventy-three-year-old great grandfather, were minimal, a potential succession crisis loomed.

Moreover, overnight the broad hopes and squabbling of the aristocrats caused this system to fail, and it was soon abandoned in 1718 in favour of a return to absolute monarchy.

August 4, 1703: Birth of Louis, Duke of Orléans. Part I.

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Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, King Louis XIV of France, King of France, Louis d'Orléans, Louis XIV, Philippe II Duke of Orleans, Regent of France

Louis, Duke of Orléans (August 4, 1703 – February 4, 1752) was a member of the royal family of France, the House of Bourbon, and as such was a prince du sang. At his father’s death, he became the First Prince of the Blood (Premier Prince du Sang). Known as Louis le Pieux and also as Louis le Génovéfain, Louis was a pious, charitable and cultured prince, who took very little part in the politics of the time.

Louis, Duke of Orléans

Louis d’Orléans was born at the Palace of Versailles in 1703 to Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and his wife, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, the youngest legitimised daughter of King Louis XIV of France and Navarre and of his mistress Madame de Montespan. He was the only son of eight children, and at his birth, he was given the courtesy title of Duke of Chartres as the heir to the Orléans fortune and titles. His maternal grandfather, the king, in addition gave him the allowance reserved for the First Prince of the Blood, a rank he was not yet eligible to hold.

Louis was very close to his younger sister Louise Élisabeth d’Orléans, who was to become Queen of Spain for seven months in 1724. He was not, however, close to his older sister, Charlotte-Aglaé d’Orléans, the wife of Francesco d’Este, Duke of Modena. They were in frequent conflict during her many return visits to the French court from Modena

Regency

Upon the death of his maternal grandfather Louis XIV in 1715, his father (the old king’s nephew) was selected to be the regent of the country for the five-year-old new king, Louis XV. The court was moved to Paris so his father could govern the country with the young king close by his side. Louis XV was installed in the Palais du Louvre opposite the Palais-Royal, the Paris home of the Orléans family.

Françoise-Marie de Bourbon

During the regency, Orléans was seen as the “third personage of the kingdom” immediately after Louis XV and his own father, the Regent. He was formally admitted to the Conseil de Régence on January 30, 1718. Despite his father’s wishes, though, Orléans was never to play an overly public or political role in France. The following year, he was made the governor of the Dauphiné. He was not forced, however, to move there in order to fulfill his new duties. Later, he resigned.

Upon the death of his father on December 2, 1723, the twenty-year-old Louis assumed the hereditary title of Duke of Orléans and became the head of the House of Orléans. He also became the next in line to the throne of France until the birth of Louis XV’s first-born son in 1729.

This was because King Felipe V of Spain, the second son of Louis, the Grand Dauphin and uncle of the young king, had renounced his rights to the French throne for himself, and his descendants, upon his accession to the throne of Spain in 1700.

Although the Regent had hoped that his son would assume as prominent a role in government as he had, the post of prime minister went to Louis’ older cousin, Louis-Henri, Duke of Bourbon, when the Regent died. Constantly trying to consolidate and maintain his power at court, the Duke of Bourbon was always suspicious of Louis’ motivations and was frequently opposed to him.

In 1723, Orléans was conspicuous for his hostility to the former prime minister, Cardinal Dubois. Orléans also worked with Claude le Blanc and Nicolas Prosper Bauyn d’Angervilliers in the post of Secretary of State for War; Louis himself worked in this position from 1723–1730

May 10, 1774: Death of King Louis XV of France & Navarre. Part I.

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Emperor Peter I of Russia, Henry IV of France, King Louis XIV of France and Navarre, King Louis XVI of France, King of Navarre, le Bien-Aimé, Louis XIII of France, Louis XV of France., Peter the Great, Philippe II Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, The Beloved

Louis XV (February 15, 1710 – May 10, 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France and Navarre from September 1, 1715 until his death on May 10, 1774.

Young Louis XV, King of France and Navarre.

Ancestry

Louis XV was the great-grandson of Louis XIV and the third son of the Louis, Duke of Burgundy (1682–1712), and his wife Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, the eldest daughter of Duke Vittorio-Amedeo II of Savoy and of Anne-Marie d’Orléans. Louis XV’s mother Anne-Marie d’Orléans was the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV, and Henrietta of England. As the maternal grandmother of King Louis XV, Henrietta of England also brought in more blood from the House of Bourbon as the youngest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France, the youngest daughter of Henri IV of France (Henri III of Navarre) and his second wife, Marie de’ Medici.

Louis, Duke of Burgundy, father of Louis XV.

Louis XV’s father, Louis, Duke of Burgundy was the eldest son of the young 21-year-old Dauphin, Louis, who would later be called le Grand Dauphin, and his wife, Maria-Anna-Victoria of Bavaria. Louis, le Grand Dauphin was the eldest son of Louis XIV of France and Navarre and his first wife, Infanta Maria-Theresa of Spain, born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal at the Royal Monastery of El Escorial, she was the daughter of Felipe IV-III, King of Spain and Portugal and his wife Elisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of King Henri IV of France and his second spouse Marie de’ Medici.

Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, mother of Louis XV.

Maria-Anna-Victoria of Bavaria, the wife of Louis, le Grand Dauphin, was the eldest daughter of Ferdinand-Maria, Elector of Bavaria and his wife Princess Henriette-Adelaide of Savoy. Her maternal grandparents were Vitoria-Amedeo I, Duke of Savoy and Christine-Marie of France, the second daughter of Henri IV of France and Marie de’ Medici, thus her husband the dauphin was her second cousin.

Louis, le Grand Dauphin, Grandfather of Louis XV.

Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria, Grandmother of Louis XV.

Louis XV was a great-great-great grandson of the first French Bourbon King, Henri IV and a descendent through his eldest son Louis XIII. However, as we’ve seen, Louis XV also descended from Henri IV through all three of his daughters, Elisabeth, Christine-Marie and Henrietta-Maria.

Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, great-grandfather of Louis XV.

Infanta Maria-Theresa of Spain and Portugal, Archduchess of Austria, great-grandmother of Louis XV.

Becoming Heir to the Throne

Louis XV was born in the Palace of Versailles on February 15, 1710 during the reign of his great-grandfather, Louis XIV. When he was born, he was created the Duke of Anjou. The possibility of his becoming King seemed very remote; King Louis XIV’s oldest son and heir, Louis Le Grand Dauphin, Louis’s father (Louis, Duke of Burgundy) and his elder surviving brother (Louis, Duke of Brittany) were ahead of him in the succession.

However, the Grand Dauphin died of smallpox on April 14, 1711. On February 12, 1712 the mother of Louis, Marie-Adélaïde, was stricken with measles and died, followed on February 18, by Louis’s father, the former Duke of Burgundy, who was next in line for the throne. On March 7, it was found that both Louis and his older brother, (also named Louis) the former Duke of Brittany, who was now the new Dauphin, had the measles. The two brothers were treated in the traditional way, with bleeding. On the night of 8–9 March, the new Dauphin died from the combination of the disease and the treatment. The governess of Louis, Madame de Ventadour, would not allow the doctors to bleed Louis further; he was very ill but survived and was now the new dauphin and sole heir to his great-grandfather’s throne. When Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715, Louis, at the age of five, inherited the throne and became King Louis XV of France and Navarre.

Regency

The Ordinance of Vincennes from 1374 required that the kingdom be governed by a regent until Louis XV reached the age of thirteen. The title of Regent was given to his nearest relative, his cousin Philippe II, the Duke of Orleans, son of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, (brother of Louis XIV) and his wife, Elisabeth-Charlotte of the Palatinate, daughter of Charles I Ludwig, Elector Palatine of the Simmern branch of the House of Wittelsbach, and Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel.

Philippe II, the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France

Elisabeth-Charlotte of the Palatinate is directly related to several iconic European monarchs. Her grandmother, Elizabeth Stuart was a Scottish and later English princess, daughter of King James VI-I of England, Scotland and Ireland and she was the granddaughter of Mary I, Queen of Scots. Her first cousin became George I, the first Hanover King of Great Britain. Through her daughter, Élisabeth-Charlotte d’Orléans who married Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate was the great-grandmother of Archduchess Marie-Antoinette of Austria the wife of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.

The Regent and Louis XV

In February 1717, when Louis XV reached the age of seven, he was taken from his governess Madame Ventadour and placed in the care of François de Villeroy, the 73-year-old Duke and Maréchal de France, named as his governor in Louis XIV’s will of August 1714. Villeroy instructed the young King in court etiquette, taught him how to review a regiment, and how to receive royal visitors.

Louis XV’s guests included the Russian Tsar Peter I the Great in 1717; contrary to ordinary protocol, the two-meter-tall Tsar picked up Louis and kissed him. Louis also learned the skills of horseback riding and hunting, which became the great passion of the young King. In 1720, following the example of Louis XIV, Villeroy had the young Louis dance in public in two ballets at the Tuileries Palace on February 24, 1720, and again in The Ballet des Elements on December 31, 1721. The shy Louis evidently did not enjoy the experience; he never danced in another ballet.

Tsar Peter I of Russia holding King Louis XV of France

End of the Regency

On June 15, 1722, as Louis XV approached his thirteenth birthday, the year of his majority, he left Paris and moved back to Versailles, where he had happy memories of his childhood, but where he was far from the reach of public opinion. On 25 October, Louis was crowned King at the Cathedral of Reims. On February 15, 1723, the king’s majority was declared by the Parlement of Paris, officially ending the regency. In the beginning of Louis’s reign, the Duke of Orleans continued to manage the government, and took the title of Prime Minister in August 1723, but while visiting his mistress, far from the court and medical care, Orleans died in December of the same year. Following the advice of his preceptor Fleury, Louis XV appointed his cousin Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, to replace the late Duke of Orléans as prime minister.

Young Louis XV, King of France and Navarre

April 13, 1747: Birth of Louis Philippe II , Duke d’Orléans (Philippe Égalité). Part I.

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Duke of Orleans, French Revolution, Louis Philippe II, Louis XVI of France, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Philippe Égalité, Philippe II Duke of Orleans, Prince Du Sang, Regent of France

Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orléans (April 13, 1747 – November 6, 1793), most commonly known as Philippe. Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orléans was the son of Louis Philippe d’Orléans, Duke of Chartres, and Louise Henriette de Bourbon. Philippe was a member of the House of Orléans, a cadet branch of the French royal family. His mother came from the House of Bourbon-Condé.

Philippe was born at the Château de Saint Cloud, one of the residences of the Duke of Orléans, five kilometers west of Paris. His older sister, born in 1745, died when she was six months old. His younger sister, Bathilde d’Orléans, was born in 1750.

Succession

Philippe’s first title, given to him at birth, was that of the Duke of Montpensier. After his grandfather’s death in 1752, Philippe inherited the title of Duke of Chartres. After his father’s death in 1785, Philippe became the Duke of Orléans, head of the House of Orléans, one of the wealthiest noble families in France. At his father’s death, Philippe became the Premier Prince du Sang, First Prince of the Blood, which put him in line for the succession to the throne immediately after the comte d’Artois, the youngest brother of Louis XV. He held the style, Son Altesse Sérénissime (S.A.S.), His Serene Highness.

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

On June 6, 1769, Louis Philippe married Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon at the chapel of the Palace of Versailles. She was the daughter of his cousin, Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre, one of the richest men in France.

Louise Henriette was born in Paris, the only daughter of Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti and Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon and of Princess Maria Theresa Felicitas of Modena. At the death of her brother, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon-Penthièvre, prince de Lamballe, she became the wealthiest heiress in France prior to the French Revolution. Her father was the second son of François Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conti known as le Grand Conti and his wife Marie Thérèse de Bourbon. Her paternal grandmother and her maternal grandfather being siblings, her parents were first cousins. Her mother was the oldest and favourite daughter of Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, herself the oldest of the surviving legitimised daughters of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, Louise Henriette was a Princess of the Blood (princesse du sang).In her youth she was known at court as Mademoiselle de Conti.

Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon

After his wife would became the richest woman in France upon the death of her father, Louis Philippe was able to play a political role in court equal to that of his great-grandfather Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who had been the Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV. Louise Marie Adélaïde brought to the already wealthy House of Orléans a considerable dowry of six million livres, an annual income of 240,000 livres (later increased to 400,000 livres), as well as lands, titles, residences and furniture. Unlike her husband, the Duchess of Orléans did not support the Revolution. She was a devout Catholic who supported keeping the monarchy in France, as well as following the orders of Pope Pius VI. This was the causes of one of the rifts of the couple.

During the first few months of their marriage, the couple appeared devoted to each other, but the Duke went back to the life of libertinage he had led before his marriage. The Duke was a well-known womanizer and, like several of his ancestors, such as Louis XIV and Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, had several illegitimate children.

During the summer of 1772, the Duke began his secret liaison with one of his wife’s ladies-in-waiting, Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, comtesse de Genlis, the niece of Madame de Montesson, the morganatic wife of Philippe’s father. Passionate at first, the liaison cooled within a few months and, by the spring of 1773, was reported to be “dead”. After the romantic affair was over, Madame de Genlis remained in the service of Marie-Adélaïde at the Palais-Royal, a trusted friend to both the Duke and the Duchess.

They both appreciated her intelligence and, in July 1779, she became the governess of the couple’s twin daughters (born in 1777). One of his most known lovers was Grace Elliot.

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

It was alleged that Lady Edward FitzGerald, born Stephanie Caroline Anne Syms, also known as Pamela, was a natural daughter of the Duke and the Countess of Genlis. He recognized a son he had with Marguerite Françoise Bouvier de la Mothe de Cépoy, comtesse de Buffon, Victor Leclerc de Buffon (September 6, 1792 – 20, April 1812), known as the chevalier de Saint-Paul and chevalier d’Orléans.

Military career

In 18th century France, it was very common for royal princes to receive high positions in the military. From a young age, Philippe d’Orléans displayed his interest in the Marine royale (French Royal Navy), from which he received three years of training. Due to his great relationship with Marine royale officials, the French army entrusted him with the command of a French fleet squadron called the Saint-Esprit in a battle against Great Britain at Ouessant during the American Revolutionary War in 1778.

When he did not obey the comte d’Orvilliers’s orders to close in on the rear British squadron, the British escaped, leading him to lose this battle. However, this gave a false impression of victory. The next day, the people of Paris greeted him with open arms, calling him a “hero of war.” When the news got out that the victory was false, Philippe could never recover. He withdrew from the navy and asked the army if they could give him a position, but it was denied.