Princess Louise d'Orléans (Louise Victoire Marie Amélie Sophie; 19 July 1869 – 4 February 1952) was a French princess of the

House of Orléans The 4th House of Orléans (), sometimes called the House of Bourbon-Orléans () to distinguish it, is the fourth holder of a surname previously used by several branches of the House of France, Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimat ...

and a member of the Royal Family of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. Throughout her life, Louise remained very close to her first cousin, Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria.

Early life and family

Princess Louise of Orléans was born at Bushy House,

Teddington Teddington is an affluent suburb of London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Historically an Civil parish#ancient parishes, ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and situated close to the border with Surrey, the district became ...

, England in 1869. She was the daughter of the French prince Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon, and his wife

Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria Duchess Sophie Charlotte Auguste in Bavaria (22 February 1847 – 4 May 1897) was a granddaughter-in-law of King Louis Philippe of France, the youngest sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria and fiancée of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. L ...

. Louise's mother was a sister of

Empress Elisabeth of Austria Elisabeth (born Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria; 24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898), nicknamed Sisi or Sissi, was Empress of Austria and List of Hungarian consorts, Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Franz Joseph I of Austri ...

("Sisi") and Queen Marie of the Two Sicilies, the heroine of

Gaeta Gaeta (; ; Southern Latian dialect, Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a seaside resort in the province of Latina in Lazio, Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples. The city has played ...

. Her paternal grandparents were

Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours Prince Louis of Orléans, Duke of Nemours (Louis Charles Philippe Raphaël d'Orléans; 25 October 1814 – 26 June 1896) was the second son of King Louis-Philippe I of France, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Life Childho ...

, the second son of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French; and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a first cousin of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. Louise had a younger brother, Prince Emmanuel, Duke of Vendôme.

Marriage

On 15 April 1891 at Schloss Nymphenburg, Louise married her second cousin Prince Alfons of Bavaria. He was the second son of Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (1828–1875) and his wife, Amelia de Bourbon (1834–1905). They had two children: * Prince Joseph Clemens of Bavaria (1902–1990), who never married; * Princess Elisabeth Maria of Bavaria (1913–2005), who married firstly Count Franz Josef von Kageneck (1915–1941), then Ernst Küstner (1920) In Paris on 4 May 1897, her mother, the famed ''duchesse d'Alençon'', died in a fire at a charity bazaar (the '' Bazar de la Charité''); she had refused rescue attempts, insisting that the girls working with her at the bazaar be saved first. Louise died in 1952 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. File:Louise d'Orléans (1869–1952).jpg, 1892 File:Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon with his family.jpg, Princess Louise and her family, 1890s File:Wedding Louise d'Orléans Alfons von Bayern.jpg, Prince and Princess Alfons of Bavaria File:Princejosephclemensofbavaria.jpg, Louise's children Joseph and Elisabeth File:Louise of Orléans, Princess of Bavaria.jpg, Princess Louise in middle age

Ancestry

References

Profile
thePeerage.com; accessed 16 April 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Louise dOrleans, Princess of Bavaria 1862 births 1952 deaths House of Wittelsbach French princesses Princesses of France (Orléans) Bavarian princesses by marriage People from Teddington Burials at St. Michael's Church, Munich