Louise-Françoise de Bourbon

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Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, Duchesse de Bourbon, in the early years of her marriage.
Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, Duchesse de Bourbon, in the early years of her marriage.

Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, princesse de Condé (1673–1743), was the eldest surviving daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his most famous mistress, Madame de Montespan. She was said to have been named after the mistress that her mother displaced in the king's affections, Louise de la Vallière. La Vallière was also her godmother. Like her younger sister and brother, she is an ancestor of the present House of Orléans.

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[edit] Early life

She was born in Tournai on June 1, 1673 while her parents were on a military tour. In 1673, the king legitimised the illegitimate children of his mistress.

After she and her parents returned from Tournai, she and her older siblings were placed in the care of one of her mother's friends, Françoise Scarron. After their legitimisation, her eldest brother, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, was given the title of duc du Maine. Another older brother, Louis-César de Bourbon, became the comte de Vexin. At the same time, Louise-Françoise received the courtesy title of Mademoiselle de Nantes. Her parents later nicknamed her poupotte.

She was very affected by the death of her younger sister Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon, known as Madmoiselle de Tours, in 1681. The two had been raised up together in the famous house on rue de Vaugirard in Paris where the children had been hidden away from the prying eyes of the court by their parents. She was never very close to her other sisters, Marie Anne de Bourbon and Françoise-Marie de Bourbon. Rather, the three were later noted for their intense sibling rivalry.

[edit] Marriage

On May 25, 1685, at the age of eleven, she was married to a distant cousin of her father, Louis de Bourbon-Condé. Her young husband was the son of the duc d'Enghien, the son of the head of a cadet branch of the reigning House of Bourbon, the Bourbon-Condé.

Her husband the prince de Condé
Her husband the prince de Condé

At court, Louise-Françoise's husband was known by the courtesy title of duc de Bourbon. For this reason, he was addressed at court as Monsieur le Duc. As his wife, Louise-Françoise was known as Madame la Duchesse. Her father gave her a large dowry of one million livres.

Some time after her marriage in 1686, while the court was in residence at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louise-Françoise contracted a case of smallpox. Her husband made no effort to help nurse her back to health. Instead, her mother and grandfather-in-law, Le Grand Condé, were the ones who nursed her. Louise-Françoise eventually recovered, but Le Grand Condé died later that year after catching her illness.

[edit] Children

The couple had the following children:

[edit] Gallery of children

Louise-Élisabeth de Bourbon-Condé, her second eldest daughter

Louis Henri Joseph de Bourbon-Condé, her eldest son and the heir to the Condé titles

Louise-Anne de Bourbon-Condé, Mademoiselle de Charolais, her third daughter

Louis de Bourbon-Condé, her youngest son later in life

[edit] Later life

Very beautiful and vivacious, at court it was well known that Louise-Françoise took many lovers. Around 1695, she started an affair with François Louis de Bourbon-Conti, prince de Conti, the brother-in-law of her older sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon, princesse de Conti.

After her mother officially left court in 1691, she often went to visit her while she was at the convent of Saint-Joseph on rue Saint-Dominique in Paris. As they saw each other often, the two became much closer. When her mother died in 1707, Louise-Françoise was badly affected. As a mark of respect, she and two of her siblings, the duchesse d'Orléans and the comte de Toulouse, did not attend any court gatherings. Their father, the king, however, refused to allow them to wear mourning clothes.

Upon the death of her father-in-law in 1709, her husband succeeded to the title of Prince of Condé. After less than a year as the princesse de Condé, her husband died in 1710. She then assumed the title of Princesse douairière de Condé (Dowager Princess of Condé).

In the hope of ingratiating herself with the future king, Louise-Françoise regularly attended the court of her older half-brother, Monseigneur, at the Château de Meudon. Unexpectedly, he died in 1711, ruining his sister's plan of establishing a more solid relationship with the crown.

In the 1720s she started an affair with the Marquis de Lassay. He subsequntly built the Hôtel de Lassay next to her residence in Paris, the Palais Bourbon.

[edit] Palais Bourbon

During her widowhood, she built the Palais Bourbon in Paris not far from the homes of her surviving siblings. Construction on the palace started in 1722 when she was forty-nine years old.

Her older half-sister Marie Anne de Bourbon, who was the princesse de Conti, had a house opposite the Louvre on the Quai de Conti.

Her older brother, the duc du Maine, also had a vast townhouse near the Louvre called the Hôtel du Maine, and her younger sister, the duchesse d'Orléans, lived at the Palais Royal.

Close by, her youngest brother, the comte de Toulouse, had a city residence called the Hôtel de Toulouse opposite the Palais Royal.

The Palais Bourbon, named after her family, was built after she had stayed at the Grand Trianon. The Trianon became the architectural inspiration of her new home. She died at the age of seventy in Paris, (probably at the Palais Bourbon) on June 16, 1743.

[edit] Siblings

Louise grew up with her siblings, mainly Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc de Maine and Louis César de Bourbon, Comte de Vexin. The children were placed under the supervision of the future Madame de Maintenon and lived in a house in Paris so Louis XIV and their mother, Madame de Montespan, could visit them as often as possible. Her other siblings were:

Dark-haired Louise-Françoise de Bourbon on the right with her younger sister, blonde Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, on the left
Dark-haired Louise-Françoise de Bourbon on the right with her younger sister, blonde Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, on the left

[edit] Paternal legitimate half-siblings

[edit] Paternal illegitimate half-siblings

[edit] Maternal legitimate half-siblings

  • Marie-Christine de Pardaillan de Gondrin (1663 - 1675)
    • Died while in the country with her father the marquis de Montespan
  • Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin, marquis d'Antin (1665 - 1736)
    • Louis Antoine later was given the title of duc d'Antin.

[edit] Ancestry

[edit] Sources

[edit] Titles

Louise-Françoise de Bourbon
Born: June 1 1673 Died: June 16 1743
French nobility
Preceded by
N/A		 Mademoiselle de Nantes
1673–1685		 Succeeded by
N/A
French royalty
Preceded by
Anne de Bavière		 duchesse d'Enghien
1685–1709		 Succeeded by
Marie Anne de Bourbon-Conti
Preceded by
Anne de Bavière		 duchesse de Bourbon
1685–1709		 Succeeded by
Marie Anne de Bourbon-Conti
Preceded by
Anne de Bavière		 princesse de Condé
1709–1743		 Succeeded by
Marie Anne de Bourbon-Conti
Royal titles
Preceded by
Anne de Bavière		 princesse de Condé Douarière
1709–1743		 Succeeded by
Marie Anne de Bourbon-Conti