As we gear up for a Royal Wedding, I thought it would be a great time to take a look at all the fun festivities at royal weddings in 18th century France!
PS- Feel free to go into princess / prince-mode this week!
Showing posts with label Duc de Chartres. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Duc de Chartres. Show all posts
Royal Wedding: Wedding Bliss or Miss
After rumors circulated that he was to marry Adelaide, the king's daughter, the Duc de Chartres' luck took an unexpected turn. Of course, there was nothing wrong with marrying a daughter of France, but the suggested match never fully fabricated. In fact, had he had his way, he may well have married one of the daughters, but not Adelaide (he had eyes for Anne Henriette de France!) The young duc, who was only 18, was hot on the market, and his father was ready for the boy to settle down and live a wholesome life.
Marriage
Daughters of France aside, a bride was chosen for this bachelor duc, Louise Henriette de Bourbon Conti, who strutted around Versailles as Mademoiselle Conti. She was absolutely stunning. The couple had a winter wedding, December of 1743. The ceremony was held in the chapel of Versailles (same chapel Marie Antoinette was married in years later) and the couple was married by the famous Cardinal de Rohan. The entire royal family attended the ceremony, including the duc's old flame, Henriette (below).
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| Adelaide (left) Anne Henriette (right) |
The Honeymoon Ends
The hot passion these two newlyweds shared started to fade a few years after they started their lives together. Six years after the wedding at Versailles, reports of the duc's living were less than desirable. He was staying out until all hours of the night, gaming, and in debt. He drank too much and hung out with society far below his rank. Overall he seemed to be having a good time.
His beloved wife was keeping herself very busy with a lover and was rumored to have several lovers aside from her constant. This scandal was made public in 1751 when the duc finally told his wife enough was enough. He made it very clear that she was not to see the lover again ...or else..she would be sent away to a convent!
Louise Henriette had grown up in one and was not ready to go back. She threw a fit and refused to even dine with her husband. (ps she was also pregnant at this point...but by who...!) Needless to say, things didn't look so good. For whatever reason, the couple reconciled, but Louise Henriette passed away in 1759 just 32 years old. It didn't take long for rumors to spread that the cause of her early death was due to her unfaithful wedded life.
The Scandalous Regent: Philippe Charles duc de Chartres
Ladies, continue reading at your own will. Do not fall victim for the dashing* bloke described below:
As for women, he liked them easy, and would not waste time bothering with a 'conquest.' He rarely kept a lady for long, moving quickly on to the next. His way with women began at a tender age, when Philippe was just a child. A particular girl he found himself attracted to was the young Leonore. She was the daughter of the Concierge of the storeroom of the Palais-Royale and their liaison had caused much gossip to spread. The Sun King's little nephew had seduced her and the affair was no secret. Leonore was just a child herself and Louis XIV was rightfully displeased with the incident. He punished his nephew by refusing to see him until he was called upon by the king himself. Tsk!
He fell for women one after another; in one instance he chose a famous actress to pursue, La Grandval. Philippe's mother immediately felt the match was ill made, and complained that the actress was too old for her son's, "young heart." He was swiftly moved to Italy at the request of the King, for some military experience. He would not make it past Lyon without spotting a beautiful lady and subsequently seducing her. He continued en route to Italy, and they wrote to each other until his return. When he came back he found... * a child * ! (may the gossip begin again!) As the story goes, upon finding the little child, he persuaded his lover, Madame de la Massonniere, to move to Paris where he was headed. Agreeing, and bringing both the child and her mother, they left Lyon 8 days after Philippe. What appeared to have taken place was plain as day: a kidnapping! The father, husband and grandfather, Monsieur de la Massionniere, were heartbroken. The grandfather was said to be so heartbroken at the theft and possibly so embarrassed at the loss of his family that he died in Lyon of a broken heart.
Once the rest of the Massionniere's arrived in Paris (a mere 8 days later) they were left with dismay to find that our scandalous regent had already moved on to a tasty comedy actress, and a few days later he moved on again to a lovely dancer with the Opera. That is just the beginning of it. In 1701 his father died, leaving him with the title of duc d'Orléans. Just a few years later his uncle, Louis XIV, passed away. Louis XV was too young to reign and Philippe Charles became the regent to the throne. His regency began in 1715 and would endure until 1723. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, his romantic sensibilities set the tone for the period of the regency. Chivalry was not apparent, and women may have been far more apt to be loose....
*would you fall for the duc?
Femme of the Week: Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orléans
Elizabeth Charlotte was Marie Antoinette's great grandmother. She was chosen by Louis XIV to marry his brother, the Duc d'Orléans after his first wife passed away. The marriage made her the second lady at the court of Versailles next to the Queen.She was whisked over to France to meet her future husband, Philippe Duc d'Orléans. He appeared to her decked out in precious gems and wearing strong perfume. His surprise was just as great as hers no doubt on first sight, she did not wear much make up, in fact seemed to neglect material luxuries completely in her attire. Elizabeth (Liselotte) was fair skinned, and blond, she could pass for a "Swiss-peasant" in the way about her. In short he was not pleased and had immediately said, "how on earth am I to sleep with that?"
Maybe the irony here is that Philipe preferred men. Together they were a true odd couple. Liselotte cared not for material possessions, had no desire to follow fashion, and she loved to hunt and fish.
The duc loved fashion, scandalous gossip, and he loved being catty! He liked to spend afternoons with toys to tinker with, merely for amusement,
sweets, and talking about people at court with people from court, all the while injecting wit into conversation. How did these two get on? Rather well!Neither of them enjoyed sex. Liselotte said "the task of manufacturing children..a nasty dangerous, stupid business, from no stage of which did I ever derive the slightest pleasure." Perhaps this was because her husband had a very difficult time doing the deed. (with her.)
Drama!
In any case they had 2 sons, the Duc de Valois and the Duc de Chartres. She had drama in her life, especially when her son, the Duc de Chartres, was to marry the daughter of the marquise de Montespan, a lover of the king and her enemy. Liselotte wanted to just die when this decision was made and her disgust of the match only grew with time. She went as far as slapping her son in front of the court! She wrote to her family complaining about Françoise-Marie, and this caught up with her later in life when she was confronted with the letters. She was warned to turn her attitude around!
Eventually her son would become Regent to the young Louis XV, making her the 1st lady at Versailles. But Montespan was still alive and kicking, near 15 years her senior. Liselotte viewed it a goal to
outlive her rival, and she took very good care of her health. She would write about how she took care of herself and avoided medical practices of the day she disagreed with, such as bleeding. She viewed French women as sickly, and felt herself much more healthier than they were. Instead she was known to take make walks out doors and avoid medicines."It has become the fashion here to complain about the air; the princesse de Conti does not want to go out at all...neither does [my daughter in law]; they are forever having purges (artificially induced), bleedings, acidulous waters, and baths (extremely hot);...I tell them...if I were to live as they do, I would be even sicker than they are..."excerpt from A Woman's Life
Her efforts seemed to pay off and she outlived Montespan and died at the age of 70, 12.08.1722
Femme of the Week: Madame la Marquise de Prie
"Madame de Prie was more than beautiful; she was seductive in everything."Jeanne Agnès Berthelot de Pléneuf was bron in 1698, as the new century was dawning. Her mother took great pride in raising her, for her mother was known for her exceptional beauty, wit and numerous admirers. The apple did not fall far from the tree, Jeanne Agnes was a most gorgeous girl, who absorbed everything from her mother and her actions. Watching her daughter grow up, gifted with many charms of her own and both beauty and freshness, her mother felt she was a threat by stealing her own admirers. This paranoia - possibly well deserved, like mother like daughter - created a great deal of stress and hostility on the family. Possibly in effort to quell the rivalry between daughter and mother Jeanne Agnes was married off to the Marquis de Prie who was conveniently ambassador of the court of Savoy. For the first part of Louis XV's life, Jeanne Agnes was away at Turin with her husband, but their paths would cross soon enough. Her life goes on to be an exciting ride through Versialles, with too many details to duscuss here. So I am going to breif you with a Long Story Short. I will dub this, "Live Fast, Die Pretty."
When she reached the pretty age of 21 Madame la Marquise de Prie moved back to France. She arrived with more talent, beauty, charm and wit than ever. She was a celestial creature at court. Everyone felt that way about whether they liked her or not. One of her contemporaries stated:
"[he] did not think there ever existed a more celestial creature than Madame de Prie. She was the real flower of the sweet pea. A charming face, and even more graces than beauty; wit, genius, ambition, and supreme presence of mind, and with it all the most decent air in the world. Her fascination was great." -d'ArgensonAs powerful as her charms were, her personality was able to dominate them. Some personality
traits that have been remarked on by historians include her lack of couth at pubic functions, her personal ambitions, her arrogance (undoubtedly gifted from mom) and from her dad- the tendency to spend like there was no tomorrow. My favorite description of her is a human tigress. rawr.She went to Versailles with the predetermined idea to win over Françoise-Marie de Bourbon's husband, Philip d'Orleans, and become his maîtresse en titre. She caught word that he did not let his mistresses touch political matters, and she wasn't just looking for a sugar daddy. She wanted to have some control over a country, and who wouldn't! She turned to the more mailable Louis Henri de Bourbon-Condé who would become the Premier Minister of France after d'Orlean's passing, and later the Prince de Condé.
It was a good choice. As the king was becoming a man, Madame de Prie wanted to find Louis XV a mistress, so that she could influence the lucky mistress who would influence the king. Genius plan...just flawless!Flawless until she realized a mistress was probably not the safest way to grip the king. They are all usually such ambitions fame seekers! And she should know. So she decided she needed to find him a wife. Louis XV was betrothed to the Infanta of Spain, the young girl was being raised at Versailles waiting for her wedding day. The Infanta sent back to Spain. Yes it was as insulting as it sounded. Madame de Prie then had a list sent to her of all the eligible bachelorettes fit to marry a king. Of 100 names of lovely ladies, "44 were too old, 29 too young, and 10 impossible." 17 were left, and Jeanne Agnes thought she needs to pick the girl who would view her as a fairy godmother.
Well her choice was Maria Leszczyńska, the daughter of the deposed King of Poland, Stanisław I. This, dare I say, absurd ex man of power, was living in France, on a pension. So Maria was not quite living as the princess of luxury as one might imagine. She was even in consideration to marry a "neighborhood gentleman." So the news from Versailles that she was chosen to marry the King of France was an overwhelming miracle. * Poof! Fairy Godmother! *
All worked to her plan until she and her man decided the
Kings influential and scheming tutor had to go. Louis was so upset to the man who he spend so much time with growing up, his mentor, that he fell depressed. New at his job, he had to be reminded that as King, he could recall the Abbe if he wanted. So he did! And the sneaky tutor tattled on Madame de Prie and the Prince de Condé. They were both forced to leave Versailles and live in different places.In a fashion as glamorous as times she lived in, Madame de Prie makes her exit. She spent lots of money on her new home, and threw lavish parties. She separated herself from her old circle, in a "You'll miss me when I'm gone, baby" way. She had a lover, who was rather handsome. Being expelled from Versailles takes it's toll on ladies and as a result, "she had grown so thin that she was nothing more than a woman's head on a spider's body." She ended her own life at 27, by poison which had a different effect on her than she probably planned. When she was found, her toes were all black and her friend d'Argenson said,
"Here for those who give heed to it, is food for reflection on compacts with the devil, who comes at the agreed hour to twist our necks, though with Madame de Prie it was her legs."Madame de Prie was portrayed by the talented Charlotte Rampling in La Dernière fête aka The Fall of the Marquise de Prie
, which happens to have a rather fabulous soundtrack
. If you in Canada or the USA and don't mind playing region 2 DVD's on your computer I suggest you pick up the movie for a fun night in the 18th century.Femme of the Week: Louise-Marie de Bourbon-Penthiévre
Boys, line up at the door, this week Louise-Marie de Bourbon-Penthiévre is here! This is exactly what it was like for Louise-Marie. Her brother, the prince de Lamballe fell very ill, and it was determined that he would not survive. (His wife was the princesse de Lambelle but she is a whole other femme!) The prince de Lamballe was the only heir to Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon-Penthiévre, and because he did not have any kids of his own, the succession of the family would end with him. Tragedy!
The family tragedy didn't end there for Louise-Marie. Prince of the Blood (yes here we go again), the duc d'Orléans, did not have any interest in his own son, the duc de Chartres, to marry Louise-Marie.
duc de Chartres
She was only entitled to a mere 50,000 livres/year and
duc de Chartres"the duc d'Orléans would not accept the marriage of his son with the daughter of a bastard race."However, when word got out that the prince de Lamballe was not going to make it the duc d'Orléans changed his tune. If the only heir, Lamballe, died then Louise-Marie would become heiress to her fathers massive fortune, an estimated 3,000,000 livres/year! To make the wedding happen (think wedding planner) the duc de Choiseul (our little seducer) was able to obtain the kings permission. Making the duc d'Orléans a happy father-in-law-to-be.
This is when things get fun for me, crazy for Louise-Marie. This was when her brother miraculously began to gain health! So of course the duc d'Orléans backed out of the situation (many were upset at this blatant abandonment of plans). The prince of Condé saw an opportunity arise and made haste to arrange a marriage of Louise-Marie with his son, Louis Joseph de Bourbon (later the prince de Condé).Louise-Marie however, had apparently fallen head over heels for her duc de Chatres! ahh love
Well her life was a roller coaster ride because before anything happened, her brother fell fatally ill again and this time passed away. In a whirlwind of events the duc d'Orléans rushed to renegotiate for his son to have her hand. The wedding took place in 1769 at the lovely Versailles Chapel, (it was a total Platinum Wedding) and Louise-Marie married her love, the duc de Chatres. He became the duc d'Orléans upon his fathers passing, and with Louise-Marie's fortune, she made him the richest man in France.
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