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Victoire of France
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Victoire Louise Marie Thérèse de France (May 11, 1733 - June 7, 1799) was the seventh child and fifth daughter of King Louis XV of France and his Queen consort Maria Leszczynska. As the daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France.
Originally known as Madame Quatrième (her older sister died in February 1733, before her birth) she was later known as Madame Victoire. She outlived eight of her nine siblings, and was survived by her older sister Princess Marie Adélaïde by less than a year.
Life
Victoire was born at the Palace of Versailles.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
Victoire Louise Marie Thérèse de France (May 11, 1733 - June 7, 1799) was the seventh child and fifth daughter of King Louis XV of France and his Queen consort Maria Leszczynska. As the daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France.
Originally known as Madame Quatrième (her older sister died in February 1733, before her birth) she was later known as Madame Victoire. She outlived eight of her nine siblings, and was survived by her older sister Princess Marie Adélaïde by less than a year.
Life
Victoire was born at the Palace of Versailles. Unlike the older children of Louis XV (including Adélaïde, just one year her senior), Victoire was not raised at the Palace of Versailles, but sent to live at the Abbey of Fontevraud. She would remain there till 1748 when she was 15.
Versailles
At 15 she was allowed to return to her fathers court. Very close to her mother, brother and her sisters, like most of the family her father's constant mistresses at court posed a problem and pushed the family away from him. He turned more and more to Madame de Pompadour and later Madame du Barry.
Often thought to be the most beautiful of the kings daughters, she was to never marry although in 1753, it was suggested that she marry her brother-in-law Ferdinand VI of Spain (her sister had married his younger brother Philip, Duke of Parma) as his wife, Maria Barbara of Portugal, was ill at the time. Despite that, the queen survived another five years dying at 46 leaving her husband distraught.
In 1765, her older brother died of consumption at Fontainebleau at the age of 36. Victoire, like all of her sisters mourned intently. The family were again pushed closer together. By 1768, Versailles was again in mourning for the death of the Queen - her mother Maria Leszczynska. This sorrow was further encouraged by the fact that her father had a new Maîtresse-en-titre - the comtesse du Barry. Victoire, like all her sisters felt that her father was too preoccupied with her.
The next big event at court was the marriage of Louis-Auguste, the Dauphin of France to Archduchess Maria Antonia of Habsburg-Lorraine. The wedding occurred at the palace on May 16 1770. Victoire and her sister, by then known as Madame Adélaïde, met the girl and tried to use her influence over the king in order to get rid of La du Barry. This idea did not work but before their father died in 1774, he was obliged to remove her from the palace. His successor Louis XVI, Victoire's nephew, then exiled her from court forever.
It was during the next reign that the lives Mesdames were really shocked. The Dames de France were allowed to stay at the court and were still treated with respect, and Victoire kept her apartments at Versailles. Now that the people of Versailles were concerned with showing their loyalty to Louis XVI and his wife, the dames de France were somewhat redundant. Victoire and her older sister Madame Adélaïde stayed together and toured the country, staying in lavish style which was a great irritation to the state and thus helped fan the flames for the revolution.
Gallery
Revolution
The two sisters, now alone as the only children of Louis XV still alive by 1787, took up residence at Château de Bellevue from 6 October 1789 after the infamous storming of their birthplace. Revolutionary laws against the church caused them to leave for Italy on 20 February 1791, although they were arrested and detained for several days at Arnay-le-Duc before they were allowed to depart.
They visited their niece Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia, sister of Louis XVI, in Turin, and arrived in Rome on 16 April 1791.
Death
As a result of the increasing influence of Revolutionary France, they travelled further afield, moving to Naples in 1796, where Marie Caroline, sister of Marie Antoinette, was Queen. They moved to Corfu in 1799, and finally ended up in Trieste, where Victoire died of breast cancer. Adélaïde died one year later in Rome. The bodies of both princesses were later returned to France by their nephew, King Louis XVIII, and buried at the Abbey of Saint-Denis.
Her nephews included (among others) Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, Louis XVI of France, Louis XVIII of France, Charles X of France. Her nieces included Madame Élisabeth and Queen Maria Louisa of Spain. Her goddaughter was Angélique Victoire, comtesse de Chastellux.
- It has also been suggested that it was she that said the phrase let them eat cake but it is not for certain
- She is portrayed by Molly Shannon in the 2006 film Marie Antoinette.
Ancestry
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