Louise Adélaïde of Orléans

Marie Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans (13 August 1698 – 10 February 1743) was the third daughter of Philippe II d'Orléans, duc de Chartres, heir to the House of Orléans, and Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, a legitimised natural daughter of Louis XIV and his mistress, Madame de Montespan.

Life

Marie Louise Adélaïde was born at the Palace of Versailles on August 13, 1698. Titled Mademoiselle de Chartres at birth, she assumed the style of Mademoiselle d'Orléans in 1710 after her older sister married Charles, duc de Berry.

Character

Very close to Élisabeth and her younger sister Charlotte Aglaé, Louise Adélaïde was thought to have been the most beautiful of the Orléans daughters. In a description of her granddaughter, Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, 'Liselotte', wrote:

[...] well made, and is the handsomest of my granddaughters. She has a fine skin, a superb complexion, very white teeth, good eyes, and a faultless shape. Her hands are extremely delicate, the red and white are beautifully and naturally mingled in her skin. I never saw finer teeth; they are like a row of pearls. [Letters from Liselotte: Elizabeth-Charlotte, Princess Palatine and Duchess of Orléans]

Still according to her grandmother, Louise Adélaïde was very passionate about music, she also was interested in theology and the sciences [The Memoirs of Reign of Louis XIV:Elizabeth-Charlotte of The Palatinate] . In particular, she was intrigued with the science of surgery which was then going through an era of change and improvement.

On her entrance into a convent, Louis Racine composed a verse about her:

:"Plaisir, beauté, jeunesse, honneurs, gloire, puissance,":"Ambitieux espoir que permet la naissance,":"Tout au pied de l'Agneau fut par elle immolé." ["Pleasure, beauty, youth, honors, glory, power; Ambitious hope allowed by birth; At the feet of the Lamb were by her offered in sacrifice.]

Abbesse de Chelles

Her parents and Liselotte were against her desire to become a nun, the thought of which entered her mind at the time of the disgrace of her older sister, the duchesse de Berry.Fact|date=September 2008

As a nun, she took the name of "Sœur Sainte-Bathilde" ("Sister Saint Bathilde") in 1717 and held it until the next year 1718.

In 1719, she became the abbesse of Chelles until her death. She was also the abbesse of the Val-de-Grâce, a church built under the auspices of her maternal great-grandmother, Anne of Austria, the wife of King Louis XIII. She was known as "Madame d'Orléans" while at Chelles from 1719 till 1734. [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p4471.htm#i44708 thePeerage.com - Person Page 4471 ] ] She died at the age of forty-four from smallpox at the Convent de la Madeleine de Traisnel in Paris. [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p4471.htm#i44708 thePeerage.com - Person Page 4471 ] ]

Ancestors

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1= 1. Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans
2= 2. Philippe II d'Orléans, duc d'Orléans
3= 3. Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Blois
4= 4. Phillippe de France, duc d'Orléans
5= 5. Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate
6= 6. Louis XIV
7= 7. Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan
8= 8. Louis XIII of France
9= 9. Anne of Austria
10= 10. Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine
11= 11. Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)
12= 12. Louis XIII of France
13= 13. Anne of Austria
14= 14. Gabriel de Rochechouart, duc de Mortemart
15= 15. Diane de Grandseigne
16= 16. Henry IV of France
17= 17. Marie de' Medici
18= 18. Philip III of Spain
19= 19. Margaret of Austria
20= 20. Frederick V, Elector Palatine
21= 21. Elizabeth Stuart
22= 22. William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)
23= 23. Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg
24= 24. Henry IV of France =16
25= 25. Marie de' Medici =17
26= 26. Philip III of Spain =18
27= 27. Margaret of Austria =19
28= 28. Gaspard de Rochechouart, marquis de Mortemart
29= 29. Louise de Maure, comtesse de Maure
30= 30. Jean de Grandseigne, marquis de Marsillac
31= 31. Catherine de La Béraudière, Dame de Villenon

References

ources

*Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. "Burke's Royal Families of the World, Volume 1: Europe & Latin America. London, U.K.: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1977".

Titles

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