|
|
|
|
Charlotte Aglaé of Orléans
|
| |
|
| |
Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans (Paris, 20 October 1700 - Paris, 19 January 1761) was the Duchess of Modena and Reggio by marriage. She was the third daughter of Philippe Charles d'Orléans, (Duke of Chartres and later Regent of France from 1715 to 1723), and his wife, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, she was a princesse du sang.
Youth
Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans was born at the Palais-Royal, her parents' residence in Paris. As a young child, Charlotte Aglaé was known by the same form of address as her mother had been in her youth, Mademoiselle de Blois.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Charlotte Aglaé of Orléans' Start a new discussion about 'Charlotte Aglaé of Orléans' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans (Paris, 20 October 1700 - Paris, 19 January 1761) was the Duchess of Modena and Reggio by marriage. She was the third daughter of Philippe Charles d'Orléans, (Duke of Chartres and later Regent of France from 1715 to 1723), and his wife, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, she was a princesse du sang.
Youth
Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans was born at the Palais-Royal, her parents' residence in Paris. As a young child, Charlotte Aglaé was known by the same form of address as her mother had been in her youth, Mademoiselle de Blois. Later on, however, she assumed the style of Mademoiselle de Valois.
Charlotte Aglaé possessed a vivacious and self-assured personality. She and her older sister Louise Adélaïde were considered the more attractive of the daughters of the Régent. Her mother had wanted her to marry her first cousin, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, prince de Dombes, son of her uncle, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine, but Charlotte Aglaé refused. After this, angry at her mother for trying to bribe her into marrying her cousin, Charlotte Aglaé moved in with her paternal grandmother, Madame, and it was in this time that the Madame made a pen portrait of her grand-daughter:
Mademoiselle de Valois is not, in my opinion, pretty, and yet occasionally she does not look ugly. She has something like charms, for her eyes, her colour and her skin are good. She has white teeth, a large, ill-looking nose, and one prominent tooth, which when she laughs has a bad effect
The Dowager Duchess of Orléans also said of her granddaughter that:
She has a good deal of the Mortemart family in her, and is as much like the Duchess of Sforza, the sister of Montespan
Her father had a special affection for her and paid particular attention to her education.
In 1717, at the age of seventeen, Charlotte Aglaé began a romantic affair with Louis François Armand du Plessis, duc de Richelieu. In 1719, the duke was arrested and jailed in Hem in connection with the Cellamare Conspiracy. Charlotte Aglaé visited him several times in prison. Wishing to marry the duke, she urged her father, as Regent, to pardon her lover.
Her older cousin, Louise-Anne de Bourbon-Condé (1695-1758) was also a conquest of Richelieu, who made many conquests at Court. The cousins, who had never been very close, became bitter enemies due to their simultaneous romantic involvement with the womanising duke. This enmity continued long after each amorous affair had ended. The young Louise-Anne was considered the most attractive daughter of the Prince of Condé.
Duchess of Modena
Later, against Charlotte Aglaé's wishes, the Regent accepted an offer of marriage for his daughter that was proffered by the Sovereign Duke of Modena for his son and heir, Prince Francesco d'Este, Duke of Modena (1698-1780). Earlier projects to marry Charlotte Aglaé to either the King of Sardinia or an English prince had failed.
According to her grandmother's writings, her future husband had fallen in love with the young Charlotte Aglaé upon, "the mere sight of her portrait". Few people at court, though, expected the marriage to turn out well. This was because all knew that the princess had no desire to leave France. Charlotte Aglaé's distant cousin, Marguerite Louise d'Orléans,, who had previously been wedded against her will to the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1661, had suffered through a disastrous marriage. Eventually, she was forced to return to France in disgrace. People assumed that the same fate awaited Charlotte Aglaé. Marguerite Louise noticed the similarities between herself and her younger cousin and, unable to deal with the situation, refused to speak to Charlotte Aglaé about her impending nuptials:
the Grand Duchess of Tuscany says that she will not see Mademoiselle de Valois nor speak to her, knowing very well what Italy is, and believing that Mademoiselle de Valois will not be able to reconcile herself to it. She is afraid that if her niece should ever return to France they will say, "There is the second edition of the Grand Duchess".
On 11 February 1720, at the Tuileries Palace, a proxy marriage ceremony was performed without Charlotte Aglaé having yet met her new husband. Her brother, the Duke of Chartres stood in for his future brother-in-law; while her younger sister Louise Élisabeth held her train.
After a formal wedding in person took place on 21 June 1720 in Modena, Charlotte Aglaé received an enormous dowry of 1.8 million livres, half of which was contributed in the name of the young king, Louis XV, on orders of the Regent. From her adopted country, Charlote Aglaé received a trousseau consisting of diamonds and portraits of her future husband.
Upon the death of her father-in-law in 1737, her husband became Francesco III, reigning Duke of Modena. During their marriage, her husband's lands became bankrupt because of the Wars of the Spanish, Polish and Austrian Successions.
Children
Seven of her nine children survived into adulthood:
Later life
In December 1723, while she was away in Italy, her father the Regent died. Her younger brother, Louis d'Orléans, with whom she was close, succeeded to the Orléans titles. Her mother became known at court as the Dowager Duchess of Orléans.
In Modena, Charlotte Aglaé grew bored and lonely. Eventually, her former lover, the Duke of Richelieu, visited her in disguise, and the two resumed their romantic affair. When the it was exposed, her husband allowed her to return to France in disgrace in 1744, where she was not welcomed with open arms. Louis XV treated her with extreme coldness and forced her to live a marginalised existence in Paris, away from the court at Versailles.
After her return to France, Charlotte Aglaé tried her best to secure for her daughters the most advantageous French marriages possible. Her eldest daughter, Princess Maria Teresa of Modena, became engaged to Charlotte's younger first cousin, Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre. The duke was the heir to the vastly wealthy House of Bourbon-Penthièvre. The couple married happily in 1744. Their eldest son, the Prince de Lamballe, married Marie Thérèse Louise de Savoie-Carignan, the future friend of Marie Antoinette, in 1767. Their eldest surviving daughter, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, married the Duke of Chartres, (known as Philippe Égalité during the French Revolution of 1789), and became the mother of Louis-Philippe King of the French.
Charlotte Aglaé also managed to secure a French marriage for her fourth daughter, Princess Maria Fortunata. Maria Fortunata, like her older sister, married one of her mother's cousins, Louis François II de Bourbon, Prince of Conti. He was the last prince de Conti. The marriage proved very unhappy, to the point where the groom did not want to live any longer with his wife.
Ignored since her return to France in 1744, Charlotte Aglaé died in Paris at the Luxembourg Palace, where her elder sister, Louise Élisabeth, had died nearly twenty years earlier. Charlotte Aglaé died at the age of sixty, outliving all of her siblings. Her heart was placed in the Church of Val-de-Grâce but was removed and lost during the French Revolution.
After her death, her husband remarried twice more morganatically to Teresa Castelberco and Renata Teresa d'Harrach.
Ancestors
Titles and Styles
- 20 October 1700 - 21 June 1720 Her Serene Highness Mademoiselle de Valois
- 20 October 1700 - 21 June 1720 Her Serene Highness Mademoiselle de Blois
- 21 June 1720 - 26 October 1737 Her Royal Highness the Hereditary Princess of Modena
- Showing she and her husband were to inherit the throne, Charlotte Aglaé as his consort;
- 26 October 1737 - 1761 Her Royal Highness the Duchess Consort of Modena and Reggio
External links
Titles
|-
! style="background:#ccccff;"|Titles and Succession
|-
|
| |
|
|
|
