Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon
Encyclopedia
Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans, (13 March 1753 – 23 June 1821), was the daughter of Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre and of Princess Maria Theresa Felicitas
of Modena. At the death of her brother, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, prince de Lamballe, she became the wealthiest heiress in France prior to the French Revolution
. She married Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
, the regicide Philippe Égalité, and was the mother of France's last king, Louis Philippe I, King of the French. She was the sister-in-law of the princesse de Lamballe
and had good relations with Marie Antoinette
. She was the last member of the Bourbon-Penthièvre
family.
, the family residence in Paris since 1712, when her grandfather, the Count of Toulouse
, bought it from Louis Phélypeaux de La Vrillière
. Her mother died in childbirth the following year. Style
d Mademoiselle d'Ivoy initially and, as a young girl, until her marriage, Mademoiselle de Penthièvre (derived from the duchy inherited by her father). The style of Mademoiselle de Penthièvre had been previoulsy borne by her sister "Marie Louise de Bourbon" (1751–1753) who died six months after Marie-Adélaïde's birth.
Education
At birth, she was put in the care of Madame de Sourcy and, as was the custom for many girls of the nobility, she was later raised in a convent, the Abbaye de Montmartre, overlooking Paris, where she spent twelve years.
Marie-Adélaïde was pretty, shy, and pious
. As a child, she was encouraged to take an active part in the charities
for which her father had become known as "Prince of the Poor". His reputation for beneficence made him popular throughout France and, subsequently, saved him during the Revolution.
Her marriage to Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres
, son of the Duke of Orléans
, had been envisaged earlier and, while the Duke of Penthièvre saw in it the opportunity for his daughter to marry into the family of the First Prince of the Blood, the Orléans did not want a union with an illegitimate branch of the royal family. However, the Orléans' mind changed when the prince de Lamballe's death left his sister sole heiress to the family fortune. Although Marie-Adélaîde was much in love with her Orléans cousin, Louis XV warned Penthièvre against such a marriage because of the reputation of the young Duke of Chartres as a libertine
.
Mademoiselle de Penthièvre was presented to the King on 7 December 1768, in a ceremony called de nubilité, by her maternal aunt, the comtesse de la Marche
. She was greeted by Louis XV
, the Dauphin (the future Louis XVI
) and other members of the royal family
. On that day, she was baptised by Charles Antoine de La Roche-Aymon, Grand Almoner of France
, and given the names Louise Marie Adélaïde. The fifteen-year old princess, informally called Marie-Adélaïde, became known at court for her beauty and virtuous behaviour.
Her marriage to the Duke of Chartres took place at the Palace of Versailles
on 5 April 1769 in a lavish ceremony which all of the princes du sang
attended. The marriage contract was signed by all members of the royal family. Afterwards, Louis XV hosted a wedding supper which included the entire royal family, princes of the blood, and many invited guests.
Mlle de Penthièvre brought to the already wealthy House of Orléans
a dowry
of six million livres, an annual income of 240,000 livres (later increased to 400,000 livres), and the expectation of much more upon her father's death.
The comtesse de Genlis
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. It is during the summer of 1772, a few months after his wife had given birth to a stillborn daughter, that began Philippe's secret liaison with one of her 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, Félicité remained in the service of Marie-Adélaïde at the Palais-Royal, a trusted friend to both Marie-Adélaïde and Philippe. They both appreciated her intelligence and, in July 1779, she became the governess of the couple's twin daughters born in 1777.
It was the custom in the French royal and noble families to "turn the boys over to the men" when they were seven years old. In 1782, the young Louis Philippe was already nine and in dire need of discipline. The Duke of Chartres could not think of a man better qualified to "turn his sons over to" than… Mme de Genlis. This is how, nine years after their passionate liaison had ended and turned into deep friendship, Félicité became the "gouverneur" of the duc and duchesse de Chartres’ children. Teacher and pupils left the Palais-Royal and went to live in a house built specially for them on the grounds of the Bellechasse convent (couvent des Dames de Bellechasse) in Paris,.
Mme de Genlis was an excellent teacher, but like those of her former lover, the duc de Chartres, her liberal political views made her unpopular with Queen Marie Antoinette
. In the dissemination of her ideas, the countess managed to alienate her charges from their own mother, who was very conservative and close to her sister-in-law, the princesse de Lamballe.
Marie-Adélaïde began to contest the education given her children by her former lady-in-waiting. The relationship between the two women became unbearable when Louis-Philippe, on 2 November 1790, one month after his seventeenth birthday, joined the revolutionary Jacobin Club
. Marie-Adélaïde's relationship with her husband was also at its worst at this point, and the only way the two would "talk" to each other was through letters.
In the memoirs of the baronne d'Oberkirch, the duchesse d'Orléans is described as:
Upon the death of her father-in-law Louis Philippe d'Orléans
in November 1785, her husband became the new Duke of Orléans, and First Prince of the Blood
, taking rank
only after the immediate family of the king. As the wife of a prince du sang
she was entitled to be addressed as Your Serene Highness
, a style to which her own illegitimate
branch of the Bourbons had no right.
in Normandy
. In September 1792, having sided with the Revolution
, the Duke of Orléans was elected to the National Convention
under the name of Philippe Égalité. Siding with the radical group called The Mountain
(La Montagne), he was from the very beginning suspect in the eyes of the Girondists (Girondins), who wanted all the Bourbons to be banished from France. The fate of the Orléans family was sealed when Marie-Adélaïde's eldest son, the duc de Chartres, "Général Égalité" in the Army of the North commanded by Charles François Dumouriez
, sought political asylum from the Austrians in March 1793. On 6 April, all the members of the Orléans family still remaining in France were arrested.
After their arrest in Paris, Philippe Égalité and his son, the comte de Beaujolais, were imprisoned in the Abbey prison (prison de l'Abbaye) in Paris. Later, the two were transferred to the prison of Fort Saint-Jean in Marseille
, where they were soon joined by the duc de Montpensier who had been arrested while serving as an officer in the Army of the Alps. The day before his father and brothers were arrested in France, the duc de Chartres rushed to Tournai
, near the French border, where his sister Adélaïde and Mme de Genlis had been living since Philippe Égalité had made them emigrate in November 1792.
The duc de Chartres accompanied them to safety in Switzerland. In the meantime, because of her poor health, Marie-Adélaïde was allowed to stay in France, under guard, at the château de Bizy, where her father had died a month earlier. Her inheritance, however, was confiscated
by the revolutionary government.
Despite having voted for the death of his cousin Louis XVI of France
, and having denounced
his son's defection
, Philippe Égalité was guillotine
d on 6 November 1793.
'Widow Égalité
Upon the execution of her husband, Marie-Adélaïde, now known as "Veuve Égalité" (Widow Égalité), was incarcerated at the Luxembourg Palace
, which had been transformed into a prison during the Revolution. There she met the man who was to become the "love of her life", a former member of the National Convention
named Jacques-Marie Rouzet
, who had been imprisoned at the fall of the Girondins. Nearly executed before the fall of Robespierre
, in July 1794 at the end of the Terror
, she was then transferred to the "Pension Belhomme
", a former mental institution that had been turned into a "prison for the rich" during the Revolution. After Rouzet, who after his liberation had become a member of the Council of Five Hundred
, succeeded, in 1796, to secure her liberation and that of her two sons still imprisoned in Marseille, the two always remained together and lived in Paris until 1797, when a decree banished the remaining members of the House of Bourbon
from France.
Marie-Adélaïde was exiled to Spain, as was her sister-in-law Bathilde d'Orléans
, the last princesse de Condé. Rouzet accompanied them to the Spanish border and managed to secretly join them in Barcelona where he became her chancellor, and she obtained for him the title of comte de Folmont. Marie-Adélaïde was never to see her two younger sons again, Montpensier and Beaujolais, who died in exile before the 1814 Bourbon Restoration
.
Marie-Adélaïde, Rouzet and the Orléans exiled in Spain returned to France in 1814 at the time of the first Bourbon Restoration
. After legal battles which lasted until her death, the bulk of her inheritance was eventually recovered. She died in her castle at Ivry-sur-Seine on 23 June 1821, after having suffered from breast cancer.
Rouzet had died nine months before, on 25 October 1820, and she had him inhumed
in the new family chapel she had built in Dreux in 1816, as the final resting place for the two families, Bourbon-Penthièvre and Orléans.,. The original Bourbon-Penthièvre family crypt in the Collégiale de Saint-Étienne de Dreux
had been violated during the Revolution and the bodies thrown together into a grave in the Chanoines cemetery of the Collégiale. She also was buried in the new chapel which, after the accession to the throne of her son Louis Philippe, was enlarged, embellished and renamed "Chapelle royale de Dreux
", becoming the necropolis
for the now royal Orléans family.
Marie Adélaïde did not live to see her son Louis Philippe become King of the French in 1830.
In the 2006 Marie Antoinette
film, Marie-Adélaïde had a minor role played by the French actress Aurore Clément
.
Louis Charles Alphonse Léodgard d'Orléans (Palais Royal, 1779–1808, Malta).
, in 1789, Louise Marie Adélaïde was painted by Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun, the favourite portrait painter of Queen Marie Antoinette
. The painting, illustrated at the top of this page, was titled Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans. Vigée-Le Brun made use of the lonely duchess's well-known melancholia
in the pose. Dressed in virginal white, a reminder of her candor, the head of the duchess is supported on her upraised arm. She is shown with a languid, sad expression. Below the breast is a Wedgwood
medallion which Colin Eisler has identified as Poor Maria, possibly a reference to the life of the duchess, which was later destroyed because of the Revolution. The painting is now at the Palace of Versailles
. There is another copy in the musée de Longchamp, Marseille
. Versailles also has a third copy which has been incorrectly described as a replica
.
Maria Teresa d'Este
Maria Teresa Felicitas d'Este was born a Princess of Modena and was by marriage the Duchess of Penthièvre. She was the mother-in-law of Philippe Égalité and thus the grandmother to the future Louis-Philippe of France.-Life:...
of Modena. At the death of her brother, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, prince de Lamballe, she became the wealthiest heiress in France prior to the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. She married Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans commonly known as Philippe, was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the ruling dynasty of France. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror...
, the regicide Philippe Égalité, and was the mother of France's last king, Louis Philippe I, King of the French. She was the sister-in-law of the princesse de Lamballe
Princess Marie Louise of Savoy
Maria Luisa of Savoy was a member of the House of Savoy. She was married at the age of 16 to Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Prince de Lamballe, the heir to the greatest fortune in France. After her marriage, which lasted a year, she went to court and became the confidante of Queen Marie Antoinette...
and had good relations with Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. She was the last member of the Bourbon-Penthièvre
Bourbon-Penthièvre
The House of Bourbon-Penthièvre was an illegitimate branch of the House of Bourbon, thus descending from the Capetian dynasty. It was founded by the duc de Penthièvre , the only child and heir of the comte de Toulouse, the youngest illegitimate son of Louis XIV of France and the marquise de...
family.
Biography
Marie-Adélaïde was born on 13 March 1753 at the Hôtel de ToulouseHôtel de Toulouse
The Hôtel de Toulouse, former Hôtel de La Vrillière, situated 1 rue de La Vrillière, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, was built between 1635 and 1640 by François Mansart, for Louis Phélypeaux, seigneur de La Vrillière....
, the family residence in Paris since 1712, when her grandfather, the Count of Toulouse
Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de Toulouse
Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse , duc de Penthièvre , d'Arc, de Châteauvillain and de Rambouillet , , was the son of Louis XIV and of his mistress Madame de Montespan...
, bought it from Louis Phélypeaux de La Vrillière
Louis Phélypeaux (1672-1725)
Louis Phélypeaux , marquis de La Vrillière, was a French politician.He succeeded his father Balthazar Phélypeaux as minister for the "so-called Reformed religion", that is with responsibility for Huguenots in 1700...
. Her mother died in childbirth the following year. Style
Style (manner of address)
A style of office, or honorific, is a legal, official, or recognized title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal...
d Mademoiselle d'Ivoy initially and, as a young girl, until her marriage, Mademoiselle de Penthièvre (derived from the duchy inherited by her father). The style of Mademoiselle de Penthièvre had been previoulsy borne by her sister "Marie Louise de Bourbon" (1751–1753) who died six months after Marie-Adélaïde's birth.
Education
At birth, she was put in the care of Madame de Sourcy and, as was the custom for many girls of the nobility, she was later raised in a convent, the Abbaye de Montmartre, overlooking Paris, where she spent twelve years.
Marie-Adélaïde was pretty, shy, and pious
Piety
In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that can mean religious devotion, spirituality, or a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.- Etymology :...
. As a child, she was encouraged to take an active part in the charities
Charity (practice)
The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas meant...
for which her father had become known as "Prince of the Poor". His reputation for beneficence made him popular throughout France and, subsequently, saved him during the Revolution.
Marriage
At the death, on 8 May 1768, of her brother and only sibling, the prince de Lamballe, Marie-Adélaïde became heiress to what was to become the largest fortune of France.Her marriage to Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres
Duke of Chartres
Originally, the Duchy of Chartres was the comté de Chartres, an Earldom. The title of comte de Chartres thus became duc de Chartres. This duchy–peerage was given by Louis XIV of France to his nephew, Philippe II d'Orléans, at his birth in 1674...
, son of the Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe d'Orléans known as le Gros , was a French nobleman, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the dynasty then ruling France. The First Prince of the Blood after 1752, he was the most senior male at the French court after the immediate royal family. He was the father of...
, had been envisaged earlier and, while the Duke of Penthièvre saw in it the opportunity for his daughter to marry into the family of the First Prince of the Blood, the Orléans did not want a union with an illegitimate branch of the royal family. However, the Orléans' mind changed when the prince de Lamballe's death left his sister sole heiress to the family fortune. Although Marie-Adélaîde was much in love with her Orléans cousin, Louis XV warned Penthièvre against such a marriage because of the reputation of the young Duke of Chartres as a libertine
Libertine
A libertine is one devoid of most moral restraints, which are seen as unnecessary or undesirable, especially one who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behavior sanctified by the larger society. Libertines, also known as rakes, placed value on physical pleasures, meaning those...
.
Louis XV was also fearful of the powerful leverage given the Orléans branch should it inherit the Penthièvre fortune.
You are wrong, my cousin, said Louis XV to Penthièvre, the Duke of Chartres has a bad temper, bad habits: he is a libertine, your daughter will not be happy. Do not rush, wait!
Mademoiselle de Penthièvre was presented to the King on 7 December 1768, in a ceremony called de nubilité, by her maternal aunt, the comtesse de la Marche
Maria Fortunata d'Este
Maria Fortunata d'Este was a Modenese princess by birth and a princess of the blood of France by marriage. By her marriage to a second cousin Louis François Joseph de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, she became the Countess of La Marche and later the Princess of Conti and was a member of the French court...
. She was greeted by Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
, the Dauphin (the future Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
) and other members of the royal family
Fils de France
Fils de France was the style and rank held by the sons of the kings and dauphins of France. A daughter was known as a fille de France .The children of the dauphin, who was the king's heir apparent, were accorded the same style and status as if they were the king's children instead of his...
. On that day, she was baptised by Charles Antoine de La Roche-Aymon, Grand Almoner of France
Grand Almoner of France
The Grand Almoner of France was an officer of the French monarchy and a member of the Maison du Roi during the Ancien Régime...
, and given the names Louise Marie Adélaïde. The fifteen-year old princess, informally called Marie-Adélaïde, became known at court for her beauty and virtuous behaviour.
Her marriage to the Duke of Chartres took place at the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
on 5 April 1769 in a lavish ceremony which all of the princes du sang
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
attended. The marriage contract was signed by all members of the royal family. Afterwards, Louis XV hosted a wedding supper which included the entire royal family, princes of the blood, and many invited guests.
Mlle de Penthièvre brought to the already wealthy House of Orléans
House of Orleans
Orléans is the name used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. It became a tradition during France's ancien régime for the duchy of Orléans to be granted as an appanage to a younger son of the king...
a dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
of six million livres, an annual income of 240,000 livres (later increased to 400,000 livres), and the expectation of much more upon her father's death.
The comtesse de Genlis
Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, comtesse de Genlis
Madame de Genlis, full name Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Aubin, comtesse de Genlis, or Madame Brûlart, was a French writer, harpist and educator.-Biography:...
, the niece of Madame de Montesson
Charlotte-Jeanne Béraud de la Haye de Riou, marquise de Montesson
Charlotte-Jeanne Béraud de La Haye de Riou was a mistress to Louis Philippe d'Orléans, duc d'Orléans, and ultimately, his wife; however, Louis XV would not allow her to become the duchesse. She wrote and acted in several plays...
, the morganatic
Morganatic marriage
In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
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, Félicité remained in the service of Marie-Adélaïde at the Palais-Royal, a trusted friend to both Marie-Adélaïde and Philippe. They both appreciated her intelligence and, in July 1779, she became the governess of the couple's twin daughters born in 1777.
It was the custom in the French royal and noble families to "turn the boys over to the men" when they were seven years old. In 1782, the young Louis Philippe was already nine and in dire need of discipline. The Duke of Chartres could not think of a man better qualified to "turn his sons over to" than… Mme de Genlis. This is how, nine years after their passionate liaison had ended and turned into deep friendship, Félicité became the "gouverneur" of the duc and duchesse de Chartres’ children. Teacher and pupils left the Palais-Royal and went to live in a house built specially for them on the grounds of the Bellechasse convent (couvent des Dames de Bellechasse) in Paris,.
Mme de Genlis was an excellent teacher, but like those of her former lover, the duc de Chartres, her liberal political views made her unpopular with Queen Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. In the dissemination of her ideas, the countess managed to alienate her charges from their own mother, who was very conservative and close to her sister-in-law, the princesse de Lamballe.
Marie-Adélaïde began to contest the education given her children by her former lady-in-waiting. The relationship between the two women became unbearable when Louis-Philippe, on 2 November 1790, one month after his seventeenth birthday, joined the revolutionary Jacobin Club
Jacobin Club
The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...
. Marie-Adélaïde's relationship with her husband was also at its worst at this point, and the only way the two would "talk" to each other was through letters.
In the memoirs of the baronne d'Oberkirch, the duchesse d'Orléans is described as:
...always wearing a melancholic expression which nothing could cure. She sometimes smiled, she never laughed....
Upon the death of her father-in-law Louis Philippe d'Orléans
Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe d'Orléans known as le Gros , was a French nobleman, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the dynasty then ruling France. The First Prince of the Blood after 1752, he was the most senior male at the French court after the immediate royal family. He was the father of...
in November 1785, her husband became the new Duke of Orléans, and First Prince of the Blood
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
, taking rank
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
only after the immediate family of the king. As the wife of a prince du sang
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
she was entitled to be addressed as Your Serene Highness
Serene Highness
His/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein and Monaco. It also preceded the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties as well as some non-ruling but princely German noble families until 1918...
, a style to which her own illegitimate
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
branch of the Bourbons had no right.
Revolution
On 5 April 1791, Marie-Adélaïde left her husband, and went to live with her father at the château de Bizy overlooking the town of VernonVernon, Eure
Vernon is a commune in the department of Eure in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.It lies on the banks of the Seine River, about midway between Paris and Rouen...
in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
. In September 1792, having sided with the Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the Duke of Orléans was elected to the National Convention
National Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
under the name of Philippe Égalité. Siding with the radical group called The Mountain
The Mountain
The Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...
(La Montagne), he was from the very beginning suspect in the eyes of the Girondists (Girondins), who wanted all the Bourbons to be banished from France. The fate of the Orléans family was sealed when Marie-Adélaïde's eldest son, the duc de Chartres, "Général Égalité" in the Army of the North commanded by Charles François Dumouriez
Charles François Dumouriez
Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. He shared the victory at Valmy with General François Christophe Kellermann, but later deserted the Revolutionary Army and became a royalist intriguer during the reign of Napoleon.-Early life:Dumouriez...
, sought political asylum from the Austrians in March 1793. On 6 April, all the members of the Orléans family still remaining in France were arrested.
After their arrest in Paris, Philippe Égalité and his son, the comte de Beaujolais, were imprisoned in the Abbey prison (prison de l'Abbaye) in Paris. Later, the two were transferred to the prison of Fort Saint-Jean in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, where they were soon joined by the duc de Montpensier who had been arrested while serving as an officer in the Army of the Alps. The day before his father and brothers were arrested in France, the duc de Chartres rushed to Tournai
Tournai
Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
, near the French border, where his sister Adélaïde and Mme de Genlis had been living since Philippe Égalité had made them emigrate in November 1792.
The duc de Chartres accompanied them to safety in Switzerland. In the meantime, because of her poor health, Marie-Adélaïde was allowed to stay in France, under guard, at the château de Bizy, where her father had died a month earlier. Her inheritance, however, was confiscated
Confiscation
Confiscation, from the Latin confiscatio 'joining to the fiscus, i.e. transfer to the treasury' is a legal seizure without compensation by a government or other public authority...
by the revolutionary government.
Despite having voted for the death of his cousin Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, and having denounced
Denunciation
Denunciation or abrogation refers to the announcement of a treaty's termination. Some treaties contain a termination clause that specifies that the treaty will terminate if a certain number of nations denounce the treaty...
his son's defection
Defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
, Philippe Égalité was guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
d on 6 November 1793.
'Widow Égalité
Luxembourg Palace
The Luxembourg Palace in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, north of the Luxembourg Garden , is the seat of the French Senate.The formal Luxembourg Garden presents a 25-hectare green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and provided with large basins of water where children sail model...
, which had been transformed into a prison during the Revolution. There she met the man who was to become the "love of her life", a former member of the National Convention
National Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
named Jacques-Marie Rouzet
Jacques-Marie Rouzet
Jacques-Marie Rouzet , comte de Folmon, was a French politician. He was the lover of Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon after the death of her husband the duke of Orleans....
, who had been imprisoned at the fall of the Girondins. Nearly executed before the fall of Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
, in July 1794 at the end of the Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
, she was then transferred to the "Pension Belhomme
Pension Belhomme
-History:Around 1765, the joiner Jacques Belhomme took on the construction of a building for the son of a neighbouring aristocrat, who had been mad since birth. Seeing that running an asylum was more lucrative than joinery, he opened an asylum for lunatics, old people and whoever else rich...
", a former mental institution that had been turned into a "prison for the rich" during the Revolution. After Rouzet, who after his liberation had become a member of the Council of Five Hundred
Council of Five Hundred
The Council of Five Hundred , or simply the Five Hundred was the lower house of the legislature of France during the period commonly known as the Directory , from 22 August 1795 until 9 November 1799, roughly the second half of the period generally referred to as the...
, succeeded, in 1796, to secure her liberation and that of her two sons still imprisoned in Marseille, the two always remained together and lived in Paris until 1797, when a decree banished the remaining members of the House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
from France.
Marie-Adélaïde was exiled to Spain, as was her sister-in-law Bathilde d'Orléans
Bathilde d'Orléans
Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans, Princess of Condé , was a French princess. She was sister of Philippe Égalité, the mother of the executed duc d'Enghien and aunt of Louis-Philippe King of the French...
, the last princesse de Condé. Rouzet accompanied them to the Spanish border and managed to secretly join them in Barcelona where he became her chancellor, and she obtained for him the title of comte de Folmont. Marie-Adélaïde was never to see her two younger sons again, Montpensier and Beaujolais, who died in exile before the 1814 Bourbon Restoration
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
.
Marie-Adélaïde, Rouzet and the Orléans exiled in Spain returned to France in 1814 at the time of the first Bourbon Restoration
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
. After legal battles which lasted until her death, the bulk of her inheritance was eventually recovered. She died in her castle at Ivry-sur-Seine on 23 June 1821, after having suffered from breast cancer.
Rouzet had died nine months before, on 25 October 1820, and she had him inhumed
Burial
Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...
in the new family chapel she had built in Dreux in 1816, as the final resting place for the two families, Bourbon-Penthièvre and Orléans.,. The original Bourbon-Penthièvre family crypt in the Collégiale de Saint-Étienne de Dreux
Dreux
Dreux is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.-History:Dreux was known in ancient times as Durocassium, the capital of the Durocasses Celtic tribe. Despite the legend, its name was not related with Druids. The Romans established here a fortified camp known as Castrum...
had been violated during the Revolution and the bodies thrown together into a grave in the Chanoines cemetery of the Collégiale. She also was buried in the new chapel which, after the accession to the throne of her son Louis Philippe, was enlarged, embellished and renamed "Chapelle royale de Dreux
Chapelle royale de Dreux
The Chapelle royale de Dreux, situated in Dreux, France, is a Chapel and burial site of the Royal House of Orléans. The House of Orléans was founded by Philippe de France, duc d'Orléans - the younger brother of Louis XIV of France...
", becoming the necropolis
Necropolis
A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial ground, usually including structural tombs. The word comes from the Greek νεκρόπολις - nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead"...
for the now royal Orléans family.
Marie Adélaïde did not live to see her son Louis Philippe become King of the French in 1830.
In the 2006 Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (2006 film)
Marie Antoinette is a 2006 biographical film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is very loosely based on the life of the Queen consort in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design...
film, Marie-Adélaïde had a minor role played by the French actress Aurore Clément
Aurore Clément
Aurore Clément is a French actress. She has performed in a number of motion pictures in both the French language and the English language as well as in television films and miniseries.-Early life:...
.
Issue
The couple had six children:- A daughter (died at birth, 10 October 1771);
- Louis Philippe d'Orléans, (Palais Royal, 1773–1850, Claremont);
- Duke of Valois at birth (1773–1785);
- Duke of ChartresDuke of ChartresOriginally, the Duchy of Chartres was the comté de Chartres, an Earldom. The title of comte de Chartres thus became duc de Chartres. This duchy–peerage was given by Louis XIV of France to his nephew, Philippe II d'Orléans, at his birth in 1674...
(1785–1793); - Duke of Orléans (1793–1830);
- Louis Antoine Philippe d'OrléansAntoine Philippe, Duke of MontpensierLouis Antoine Philippe d'Orléans, duc de Montpensier was a son of Louis Philippe d'Orléans and his duchess Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon...
, (Palais Royal, 1775–1807, Salthill),- Duke of Montpensier
- Françoise d'Orléans, Mademoiselle d'Orléans (Palais Royal, 1777–1782, Palais Royal), twin sister of (below),
- Louise Marie Adélaïde Eugénie d'Orléans, Mademoiselle de Chartres (Palais Royal, 1777–1847, Palais de TuileriesTuileries PalaceThe Tuileries Palace was a royal palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine until 1871, when it was destroyed in the upheaval during the suppression of the Paris Commune...
),
- Count of Beaujolais
The painting
On the eve of the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, in 1789, Louise Marie Adélaïde was painted by Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun, the favourite portrait painter of Queen Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. The painting, illustrated at the top of this page, was titled Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans. Vigée-Le Brun made use of the lonely duchess's well-known melancholia
Melancholia
Melancholia , also lugubriousness, from the Latin lugere, to mourn; moroseness, from the Latin morosus, self-willed, fastidious habit; wistfulness, from old English wist: intent, or saturnine, , in contemporary usage, is a mood disorder of non-specific depression,...
in the pose. Dressed in virginal white, a reminder of her candor, the head of the duchess is supported on her upraised arm. She is shown with a languid, sad expression. Below the breast is a Wedgwood
Wedgwood
Wedgwood, strictly speaking Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, is a pottery firm owned by KPS Capital Partners, a private equity company based in New York City, USA. Wedgwood was founded on May 1, 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood and in 1987 merged with Waterford Crystal to create Waterford Wedgwood, an...
medallion which Colin Eisler has identified as Poor Maria, possibly a reference to the life of the duchess, which was later destroyed because of the Revolution. The painting is now at the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
. There is another copy in the musée de Longchamp, Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
. Versailles also has a third copy which has been incorrectly described as a replica
Replica
A replica is a copy closely resembling the original concerning its shape and appearance. An inverted replica complements the original by filling its gaps. It can be a copy used for historical purposes, such as being placed in a museum. Sometimes the original never existed. For example, Difference...
.
Ancestry
Titles and styles
- 13 March 1753 – 25 September 1753 Her Serene HighnessSerene HighnessHis/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein and Monaco. It also preceded the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties as well as some non-ruling but princely German noble families until 1918...
Mademoiselle d'Ivoy - 25 September 1753 – 5 April 1769 Her Serene HighnessSerene HighnessHis/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein and Monaco. It also preceded the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties as well as some non-ruling but princely German noble families until 1918...
Mademoiselle de Penthièvre - 5 April 1769 – 18 November 1785 Her Serene HighnessSerene HighnessHis/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein and Monaco. It also preceded the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties as well as some non-ruling but princely German noble families until 1918...
the Duchess of Chartres - 18 November 1785 – 6 November 1793 Her Serene HighnessSerene HighnessHis/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein and Monaco. It also preceded the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties as well as some non-ruling but princely German noble families until 1918...
the Duchess of Orléans - 6 November 1793 – 27 June 1821 Her Serene HighnessSerene HighnessHis/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein and Monaco. It also preceded the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties as well as some non-ruling but princely German noble families until 1918...
the Dowager Duchess of Orléans (duchesse douairière d'Orléans) - Veuve Égalité (Note: Not a style but a nickname given her by the revolutionaries after the execution of her husband, Philippe Égalité.)
External link
Titles
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