Duchess Marie-Josèphe of Saxony

Infobox French Royalty|princess
name = Duchess Marie-Josèphe of Saxony
full name = Maria Josepha Carolina Eleanor Francesca Xaveria
title = Dauphine of Viennois


imgw = 250
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date of birth = birth date|1731|11|4|mf=y
place of birth =
date of death = death date and age|1767|3|13|1731|11|4|mf=y
place of death =
spouse = Louis-Ferdinand, Dauphin of France
issue = Louis XVI
Louis XVIII
Charles X
Clothilde, Queen of Sardinia
Madame Élisabeth
royal house = House of Bourbon
House of Wettin
titles = "HRH" The Dowager Dauphine
"HRH" The Dauphine of Viennois
"HH" Duchess Marie-Josèphe of Saxony
father = Augustus III of Poland
mother = Maria Josepha of Austria

Maria Josepha of Saxony (4 November 1731 – 13 March 1767) was born a Princess of Poland and Saxony and later became Dauphine of France. At fifteen, she was married to Louis-Ferdinand, Dauphin of France, son and heir of Louis XV. 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.

Maria Josepha 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.

Marriage

On February 9, 1747, Marie-Josèphe married Louis, Dauphin of France. For the French prince it was his second marriage. His first wife, Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela 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.

Children

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 "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 d'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.

List of Children

Marie-Josèphe married Louis-Ferdinand de France, and they had eight children:

*Marie-Zéphyrine de France (26 August 1750–1 September 1755).
*Louis de France, "duc de Bourgogne" (13 September 1751–22 March 1761).
*Xavier de France, "duc de Guyenne" (8 September 1753–22 February 1754).
*Louis-Auguste de France, "duc de Berry", the future king Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) (guillotined).
*Louis-Stanislas de France "comte de Provence", the future king Louis XVIII (17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824).
*Charles-Philippe de France, "comte d'Artois", the future king Charles X (9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836).
*Marie Adélaïde Clotilde Xavière de France (23 September 1759 – 7 March 1802), married King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia, Prince of Piedmont.
*Élisabeth Philippine Marie Hélène de France(3 May 1764 – 10 May1794), known as "Madame Élisabeth" (guillotined).

Gallery

Widow

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.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Marie-Josèphe of Saxony
2= 2. Augustus III of Poland
3= 3. Maria Josepha of Austria
4= 4. Augustus II of Poland
5= 5. Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
6= 6. Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor
7= 7. Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick
8= 8. John George III, Elector of Saxony
9= 9. Anne Sophie of Denmark
10= 10. Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
11= 11. Sofie Luise of Württemberg
12= 12. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
13= 13. Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg
14= 14. John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
15= 15. Benedicta-Henrietta of Simmern
16= 16. John George II, Elector of Saxony
17= 17. Magdalene Sibylle of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
18= 18. Frederick III of Denmark
19= 19. Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg
20= 20. Erdmann August of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
21= 21. Sophie of Brandenburg-Ansbach
22= 22. Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg
23= 23. Anna Katharina of Salm-Kyrburg
24= 24. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
25= 25. Maria Anna of Spain
26= 26. Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine
27= 27. Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt
28= 28. George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
29= 29. Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt
30= 30. Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern
31= 31. Anna Gonzaga

ee also

*Nicolay

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