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Louise Elisabeth of Orléans
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Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans (Palace of Versailles, 11 December 1709 – Luxembourg Palace, Paris, 16 June 1742) was Queen Consort of Spain as the wife of King Louis I of Spain. In her adopted country, she was known as Luisa de Orleans. Hers was one of the shortest reigns in European history due to her husband's brief reign and early death.
Life
Louise Élisabeth was one of the seven daughters of Philippe II d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and his wife, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon.
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Encyclopedia
Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans (Palace of Versailles, 11 December 1709 – Luxembourg Palace, Paris, 16 June 1742) was Queen Consort of Spain as the wife of King Louis I of Spain. In her adopted country, she was known as Luisa de Orleans. Hers was one of the shortest reigns in European history due to her husband's brief reign and early death.
Life
Louise Élisabeth was one of the seven daughters of Philippe II d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and his wife, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon. Her mother was a legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, Louise-Élisabeth was a princesse du sang, but as her mother was illegitimate by birth, although legitimised, Louise Élisabeth, like her siblings, was not a petite-fille de France.
She was born at the Palace of Versailles, and was her parents' fourth surviving daughter (the first, Mademoiselle de Valois died a year after birth). Prior to her marriage, she was known as Mademoiselle de Montpensier. She grew up among one brother and five 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. Like her younger sister, Louise Diane, she had a convent education. She was very close to her brother, Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres at birth, who, upon the death of their father in 1723, would inherit the title of Duke of Orléans.
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 Felipe, would marry one of the Regent's daughters.
Marriage
By that time, Louise Élisabeth and her sister Philippine Élisabeth were the Regent's only unmarried daughters. It was later decided that they would marry two Infantes of Spain. Therefore, in 1721, at the age of twelve, Louise Élisabeth was married by proxy in November, in Paris, Louise Élisabeth and her younger sister left for Madrid. Despite a cold reception from the Spanish royal family, especially by Elisabeth of Parma, the stepmother of her future husband, she married Louis of Spain on 20 January 1722 at Lerma. Her dowry was of 4 million Livres.
Her sister Philippine Élisabeth was later engaged to Infante 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 nineteen in Paris.
Princess of Asturias
As wife of the heir to the Spanish throne, Louise Élisabeth assumed the title of Princess of Asturias. Despite her rank at court, she 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, such as walking around naked and burping and breaking wind in public.
Queen of Spain
On 15 January 1724, the emotionally unstable Philip V abdicated in favour of his eldest son, who became King Louis. Louise Élisabeth became Queen of Spain, but after only seven months of reign, Louis died of smallpox. Because he died without an heir, his father ascended the throne once again. Louise Élisabeth 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
After the death of her husband, she returned to France at the request of her mother, the Dowager Duchess of Orléans. She was obliged to live peacefully in Paris, 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 because her marriage had been annulled.
She discreetly travelled to Paris and resided in the Château de Vincennes and the Palais du Luxembourg, which had been given to her sister by her father, and where she died in 1742, sadly forgotten by everyone. She was buried at the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, close to the Luxembourg Palace, where her half-brother Louis Charles de Saint-Albin was a bishop.
Ancestors
Titles and Styles
- 11 December 1709 - 20 January 1722 Her Serene Highness Mademoiselle de Montpensier
- 20 January 1722 - 15 January 1724 Her Royal Highness The Princess of Asturias
- 15 January 11724 - 6 September 1724 Her Majesty The Queen of Spain
- 6 September 1724 - 16 June 1742 Her Majesty The Dowager Queen of Spain
When she moved back to France, Louise Élisabeth was formally known as the Queen-Dowager, Reine douairière d'Espagne. There was even a dispute with her sister, the Duchess of Modena and Reggio, when it came to the Duchess's coach having to let that of the younger Louise Élisabeth past first, a queen having a higher rank than a duchess
Titles
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