Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans (1695-1719)

French Royalty. The daughter of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, and his wife Françoise Marie de Bourbon, she was born at the Palace of Versailles. Her father served as Regent for Louis XV. Her mother was the legitimized daughter of King Louis XIV of France and Madame de Montespan. Louise Élisabeth was raised at the Palais Royal in Paris. She married her first cousin Charles, Duke of Berry on July 6, 1710 at Versailles. There were three children of this marriage, all of whom died in infancy. The third child was born weeks after the death of her husband in 1714 as the result of a hunting accident. The following year, the Duchess was given the Luxembourg Palace as her residence in Paris. Louis XIV had just died, and she had promised that she would remain officially in mourning for at least another six months. Instead, she promptly became a "merry widow," lavishly entertaining in her palace. Beyond that, however, her scandalous lifestyle resulted in a series of clandestine pregnancies. She delivered her last child on April 2, 1719, almost dying in labor. She died three months later, on July 21, 1719 at the Château de la Muette. An autopsy revealed that she was pregnant yet again. The Duchess was interred on July 24, 1719 at the Royal Basilica of Saint Denis.

Bio by: Anne Philbrick