Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans
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Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans ( es, Luisa Isabel; 9 December 1709 – 16 June 1742) was
Queen of Spain , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...
as the wife of King
Louis I Louis I may refer to: * Louis the Pious, Louis I of France, "the Pious" (778–840), king of France and Holy Roman Emperor * Louis I, Landgrave of Thuringia (ruled 1123–1140) * Ludwig I, Count of Württemberg (c. 1098–1158) * Louis I of Blois ...
. Their reign is regarded as one of the shortest in history, lasting for seven months. Louise Élisabeth was the fourth daughter to survive to adulthood born to
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Charles; 2 August 1674 – 2 December 1723), was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to in French as ''le Régent''. ...
and
Françoise Marie de Bourbon Françoise Marie de Bourbon (''Légitimée de France''; 4 May 1677 1 February 1749) was the youngest illegitimate daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his ''maîtresse-en-titre'', Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montes ...
. Louise Élisabeth was often disliked at the Spanish royal court, due to the many incidents and scandals revolving around her—those include social faux pas, walking around the palace unclothed, and provoking others by displaying her intimate parts in public. However, modern-day diagnosis’s claim her behaviour to be caused by a severe borderline personality disorder. After being widowed, Louise Élisabeth returned to
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and died at the
Luxembourg Palace The Luxembourg Palace (french: Palais du Luxembourg, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of th ...
, located in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. Both she and her husband died without issue.


Early years (1709–1720)

Louise Élisabeth d’Orléans was the fifth child and fourth daughter born to
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Charles; 2 August 1674 – 2 December 1723), was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to in French as ''le Régent''. ...
and his wife,
Françoise Marie de Bourbon Françoise Marie de Bourbon (''Légitimée de France''; 4 May 1677 1 February 1749) was the youngest illegitimate daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his ''maîtresse-en-titre'', Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montes ...
. Her mother, Françoise, was one of the legitimised daughters born to King
Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...
and his royal mistress,
Madame de Montespan Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...
. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, Louise Élisabeth was entitled to the title of '' princesse du sang.'' Throughout her family, Louise Élisabeth was simply known as Élisabeth. Élisabeth was born at the Palace of Versailles, as her parents’ fourth surviving daughter—her counterpart, ''Mademoiselle de Valois'', died a year after birth. Prior to her marriage, she was known as ''Mademoiselle de Montpensier''. Élisabeth grew up amongst one brother and five sisters; her brother,
Louis Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...
, was very close to her. Élisabeth’s education, similar to that of her sisters
Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
and Adélaïde, was quite poor as very few people were interested in her. Like her younger sister Louise Diane, she received a
convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...
education. Future-wise, it appeared that she would be destined to wed with an obscure German or Italian prince. Since 1715, her father, Philippe, was the ''
de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' ruler of France as the
regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
for
Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
, but in 1718, the
War of the Quadruple Alliance The War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) was caused by Spanish attempts to recover territories in Italy ceded in the 1713 Peace of Utrecht. Largely focused on Sicily, it included minor engagements in North America and Northern Europe as we ...
broke out between France and Spain. As such, in 1720, King
Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...
wanted to make a peace agreement and proposed double marriage negotiations: his three-year-old daughter, ''Infanta'' Mariana Victoria, would marry the eleven-year-old Louis XV. Philip’s son and heir,
Louis Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...
, would then marry one of the regent’s daughters.


Princess of Asturias (1721–1724)

In the November of 1721, at the age of eleven, Élisabeth was married by
proxy Proxy may refer to: * Proxy or agent (law), a substitute authorized to act for another entity or a document which authorizes the agent so to act * Proxy (climate), a measured variable used to infer the value of a variable of interest in climate ...
, in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
.''Nouvelle biographie générale'' She and her sister Philippine Élisabeth soon left for
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
. Despite an impertinent reception from the Spanish royal family, primarily by
Elisabeth Farnese Elisabeth Farnese ( Italian: ''Elisabetta Farnese'', Spanish: ''Isabel Farnesio''; 25 October 169211 July 1766) was Queen of Spain by marriage to King Philip V. She exerted great influence over Spain's foreign policy and was the ''de facto'' r ...
, the stepmother of her future husband, she married Louis of Spain on 20 January 1722 in Lerma. Her dowry contained 4 million
livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...
. The relationship between her and Philippine, already strained, became more embittered when Philippine began to receive attention at the Spanish royal court due to her beauty, allure and intelligence. Élisabeth never received such attention upon her arrival. Her sister was later engaged to ''Infante'' Charles of Spain, another heir to the throne of Spain; but the marriage came to nothing, and her sister was later sent back to France, where she died due to
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
at the age of nineteen in Paris. As wife of an heir to the Spanish throne, Élisabeth assumed the title of
Princess of Asturias Prince or Princess of Asturias ( es, link=no, Príncipe/Princesa de Asturias; ast, Príncipe d'Asturies) is the main substantive title used by the heir apparent or heir presumptive to the throne of Spain. According to the Spanish Constitution ...
.


Queen of Spain

On 15 January 1724, the emotionally unstable Philip V abdicated the throne in favour of his eldest son, who then became King Louis of Spain. Élisabeth, upon her husband ascending the throne, became queen of Spain. After only seven months of reigning Louis succumbed due to
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
. Because he died without an heir, his father ascended the throne once again. Élisabeth stayed in Madrid for some time after the death of her husband, but her behaviour prior to her husband's untimely death had made her extremely unpopular in the Spanish court. Since her arrival at the Spanish royal court, Louise Élisabeth became increasingly known for the numerous incidents she involved herself in. Some would be social faux pas, but her behaviour was usually erratic and extremely impulsive. She would walk around unclothed, belch and
flatus Flatulence, in humans, is the expulsion of gas from the intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels. A proportion of intestinal gas may be swallowed environm ...
in public, run around the palace corridors, or jump off her horse to climb on trees. Modern diagnoses deem many of her behavioural traits compatible with an out-of-hand borderline personality disorder. She would appear in public dirty and malodorous, she would refuse to use undergarments, and would try to provoke courtiers by showing her intimate parts in public. She would refuse to touch the food on her table but would then hide away and compulsively gobble down anything that she could put her hands on, whether it was edible or not. Her behaviour seemingly got worse over time. At some point, she developed the custom of cleaning the windows and tiles of the palace using her own clothes: she would leave her courtiers astonished by suddenly undressing in public to clean the windows in the room with her dress. Her husband, king Luis, eventually wrote to his father that: He did make good on his promise and had her confined to a convent. Louise cried and sent her husband letters asking for forgiveness. He later felt sorry for her and released her. When her husband got sick with his final illness, however, she went out of her way to care for him, putting herself at risk of contagion. Still, her unpopularity and odd behaviour meant that, upon Luis' death, her father-in-law king Felipe V sought to have her marriage to Luis annulled. As a result, she lost a valuable pension as a former queen of Spain and was forced to move back to
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, where her cousin
Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
refused to allow her to reside in
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
.


Widow (1724–1742)

After the death of her husband, she returned to France at the request of her mother, the Dowager
Duchess of Orléans Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...
. She was obliged to live peacefully in Paris, away from the Court of her young cousin
Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
. As the widow of the King of Spain, she was to receive an annual pension of 600,000 livres from the state; however, Spain would not pay because her marriage had been annulled. When she moved back to France, Louise Élisabeth was formally known as the queen dowager of Spain. This led to a dispute with her (elder) sister, Charlotte Aglaé. The duchess's coach had to let that of the younger Louise Élisabeth pass first, a queen having a higher rank than a duchess. She discreetly travelled to Paris and resided in the Château de Vincennes and the
Luxembourg Palace The Luxembourg Palace (french: Palais du Luxembourg, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of th ...
, which had been given to her
sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...
by her father. Élisabeth died there on 16 June 1742. She was buried at the Église Saint-Sulpice church in Paris, close to the Luxembourg Palace, where her half-brother Louis Charles was a bishop.


Ancestors


References

Bibliography * Pimodan (comte de), ''Louise-Élisabeth d'Orléans, reine d'Espagne 1709-1742'', 393 p., Plon, Paris, 1928. {{DEFAULTSORT:Orleans, Louise Elisabeth Of (1709-1742) Louise Elisabeth Princesses of Asturias Spanish royal consorts 1709 births 1742 deaths People from Versailles Louise Elisabeth Spanish infantas 18th-century French people People of the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans People of the Ancien Régime Louise Elisabeth Burials at Saint-Sulpice, Paris