Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon
Louise Françoise de Bourbon (1 June 1673 – 16 June 1743) was an illegitimate daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his famous mistress Madame de Montespan. Her marriage to a prince of the blood in 1685 caused great scandal and she had an open rivalry with her older sister Françoise Marie, Duchess of Orléans. She was also responsible for the construction of the Palais Bourbon in Paris which is today used by the French National government. She had a very close relationship with her older half-brother the Grand Dauphin. Several of her children were thought to be illegitimate as, for a majority of her marriage she was having an affair with the Prince of Conti. Even when her husband succeeded to the Condé title the young princess was always known as Madame la Duchesse or the Duchess of Bourbon.
| Louise Françoise | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princess of Condé Duchess of Bourbon Légitimée de France | |||||
 Louise Françoise | |||||
| Born | 1 June 1673 Tournai, France | ||||
| Died | 16 June 1743 (aged 70) Palais Bourbon,[1] Paris, France | ||||
| Burial | Carmel du faubourg Saint-Jacques, Paris, France | ||||
| Spouse | Louis III de Bourbon, Prince of Condé | ||||
| Issue | Marie Anne Éléonore, Mademoiselle de Bourbon Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon Louise Élisabeth, Princess of Conti Louise Anne, Mademoiselle de Charolais Marie Anne, Mademoiselle de Clermont Charles, Count of Charolais Henriette Louise, Mademoiselle de Vermandois Élisabeth Alexandrine, Mademoiselle de Sens Louis, Count of Clermont | ||||
| |||||
| House | Bourbon | ||||
| Father | King Louis XIV of France | ||||
| Mother | Madame de Montespan | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||
Biography
Louise Françoise was born on 1 June 1673 at Tournai. She was the daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan.[2]
On 25 May 1685, at the age of eleven, Louise Françoise was married to Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, a distant sixteen-year old cousin of her father, King Louis XIV of France.
The king gave his daughter a large marriage dowry of one million French livres (old French currency) upon her marriage.[2] Louise Françoise and her husband eventually had nine children. All of them survived into adulthood. Her marriage was generally not happy, and her and her husband both had love affairs.[2]
Louise Françoise was very close to her half-brother Louis, Grand Dauphin and was apart of the cabale de Meudon, a group centred on her half-brother.[2]
Louise Françoise died on 16 June 1743 at her own home, the Palais Bourbon, in Paris, France, at the age of seventy.[3] Her husband, Louis de Bourbon, died before her in 1710.
Images
Portrait of Louise Françoise, by François de Troy.
Painting of Louise Françoise (on the right) and her younger sister Françoise Marie de Bourbon (on the left), by Philippe Vignon.
Portrait of Louise Françoise, by Pierre Gobert.
Portrait of Louise Françoise (on the left) with her daughter Henriette Louise de Bourbon, by Pierre Gobert.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 1 June 1673 – 19 December 1673 unnamed child;
- 19 December 1673 – 25 May 1685 Her Highness Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Légitimée de France, Mademoiselle de Nantes
- 25 May 1685 – 1 April 1709 Her Serene Highness the Duchess of Bourbon (Madame la duchesse de Bourbon)
- 1 April 1709 – 4 March 1710 Her Serene Highness the Princess of Condé (Madame la princesse de Condé)
- 4 March 1710 – 16 June 1743 Her Serene Highness the Dowager Princess of Condé (Madame la princesse de Condé douairière)
- Note: Even while Princess of Condé, Louise Françoise was still known as the Duchess of Bourbon.
Louise Françoise De Bourbon, Duchess Of Bourbon Media
The marriage of Mademoiselle de Nantes to the Duc de Bourbon (by an anonymous artist, 1685)
Portrait of Louise Françoise and her daughter Henriette Louise (by Pierre Gobert)
Louise Françoise in widow robes (by Pierre Gobert, 1737). Musée Condé
Garden façade of the Palais Bourbon, facing the Seine, as built by Louise Françoise
Marie Gabrielle Éléonore de Bourbon as an abbess by an unknown artist
Undated portrait painting of Louis Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon (1692-1740) wearing armour and the sash of the Order of the Holy Spirit by an unknown artist
Portrait of Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon (1693-1775), Princess of Conti by Pierre Gobert
Mademoiselle de Charolais (Louise Anne de Bourbon-, 1695-1758) by Alexandre François Caminade (Versailles)
Marie Anne de Bourbon, Mlle de Clermont (1697-1741), Pierre Gobert
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_by_Alexandre_Fran%C3%A7ois_Caminade_(Versailles).jpg)
References
- ↑ van de Pas, Leo. "Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Nantes". Genealogics .org. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, Duchesse de Bourbon et Princesse de Condé – Party like 1660". partylike1660.com. Retrieved 2022-12-13.
- ↑ "Louise Françoise de Bourbon (1673-1743)". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2022-12-13.