Françoise Marie de Bourbon (1677-1749)

Françoise Marie de Bourbon

Birth

4 May 1677

Maintenon, Departement d'Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France

Death

1 Feb 1749 (aged 71)

Paris, City of Paris, Île-de-France, France

Burial

Church of Madeleine de Trainel

Paris, City of Paris, Île-de-France, France Show Map

Plot

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Memorial ID

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Duchess, Legitimized Daughter of the King. Françoise Marie de Bourbon, daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his mistress Françoise-Athénaïs, Marquise de Montespan, was born at the Château de Maintenon. The château was owned by the governess of Madame de Montespan's illegitimate children by the king, Madame de Maintenon, who would eventually become Louis XIV's second wife. Françoise Marie and her older sister Louise Françoise both inherited their mother's beauty, and became rivals for wealth and status. Françoise Marie was legitimized by Louis XIV in 1681. Her father arranged her marriage to her first cousin Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres. On the occasion of the marriage, King Louis gave to the groom's parents, his brother Philippe and sister-in-law Elizabeth Charlotte, the Palais-Royal. Françoise Marie and Philippe d'Orléans were married on February 18, 1692. The ceremony took place in the Palace of Versailles. Madame de Montespan was not invited to the wedding of her daughter. The couple had eight children. The first, Mademoiselle de Valois, died in infancy in 1694. The remaining seven children all survived to adulthood. They included Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans who became the Abbess of Chelles, and Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans who became Queen of Spain. In 1701, her husband became Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, upon the death of his father. The Duke and Duchess of Orléans lived at the Palais-Royal and the Château de Saint-Cloud. Upon the death of Louis XIV in 1715, her husband became Regent for Louis XV, the great-grandson of Louis XIV. As the wife of the French ruler, Françoise Marie had the most prestigious position of any female in the kingdom. She was widowed in 1723 and retired to Saint-Cloud. The Duchess died in 1749 at the Palais-Royal, the last surviving child of Louis XIV. She was survived by two of her eight children, and was interred at the Church of Madeleine de Trainel in Paris. Her heart was taken to the Val-de-Grâce.