Marie-Josèphe of Saxony

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Marie-Josèphe de Saxe

Princess Maria Josepha Carolina of Saxony, Dauphine of France, (4 November 1731 – 13 March 1767), was the daughter of Frederick Augustus II, Prince-elector of Saxony and king of Poland, and Maria Josepha of Austria, (1699-1757), the daughter of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor. She was the mother of three Kings of France, including the doomed Louis XVI, who died under the guillotine during the French Revolution. Her youngest daughter, Madame Élisabeth, also was beheaded during the Revolution.

On February 9, 1747, Marie-Josèphe married Louis, Dauphin of France, son and heir of Louis XV. For the French prince it was his second marriage. His first wife, Maria Teresa of Spain, had died on July 22, 1746, after giving birth to a daughter, the couple's only child. The marriage came about on the suggestion of Maurice de Saxe, an uncle of the future bride. Louis XV and his mistress, Madame de Pompadour, were convinced that the marriage would be advantageous to French foreign affairs.

The new Dauphine was very grateful to Madame de Pompadour for helping to arrange her marriage. She was always kind to her afterwards and had a good relationship with the royal mistress. Although an arranged marriage, Marie-Josèphe fell in love with the Dauphin. To a great extent, she was politically reserved and exerted herself in that arena only once, in 1762, in vain, for the preservation of the Society of Jesus in France. The Society had been dissolved by the King on the iniative of the Duc de Choiseul and Madame de Pompadour. Like her husband, Marie-Josèphe was very devout. Together with Queen Maria Leszczyńska, she formed a counterbalance to the immoral behavior of her father-in-law and his court.

Marie-Josèphe

The couple's first child was a daughter named Marie Zéphyrine who was born in 1750 and died in 1755. Their second child was a son who was born on September 15th, 1751, and received the name Louis Joseph Xavier. He was given the title of [[Duke of Burgundy|Duc de Bourgogne]] because Louis XV's father had previously held the same title. The duc became the apple of his parents' eye. His talents appeared early and inspired hope for the future in the hearts of the entire court.

Unfortunately, though, the royal couple concentrated so much time and energy on this eldest son that their other children suffered from neglect. The Duc de Bourgogne died on March 22, 1761, of tuberculosis. Since the couple's second son, the Duc de Aquitaine, who had been born in 1753, had died one year later, their third son, Louis Auguste, Duc de Berry (future Louis XVI), born on August 23, 1754, became second in line to the French throne after his father.

Louis, Dauphin of France, and husband of Marie-Josèphe.

The death of her husband on the December 20, 1765, dealt Marie-Josèphe a devastating blow from which she never recovered, sinking into a deep depression for the rest of her life. To save her the torment of remaining with bittersweet memories of her dead husband, Louis XV allowed her to move her apartments at Versailles from those she had shared with her deceased spouse into the apartments of the late Madame de Pompadour, who had died in 1764. There, he visited her more than he had in the past and discussed with her the possible wedding of her son, the new dauphin. Marie-Josèphe was not taken with the idea of her eldest son marrying Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria. Soon, her health quickly declined. She suffered from the same illness as her late husband, lung tuberculosis. She died on March 13, 1767, and was buried in the royal crypt in Saint-Denis. The marriage of her son with the Austrian archduchess, who became Marie Antoinette, was carried out three years later on May 16, 1770.