Louis, dauphin de France

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Louis Ferdinand, dauphin de France (4 September 1729-20 December 1765), born in Versailles, was the eldest and only surviving son of King Louis XV of France and Queen Marie Leszczyńska, and thus heir apparent (dauphin) to the throne of France.

The birth of an heir to the throne had long been awaited since the tragic decimation of the French royal family in the early 1710s (see Louis XV of France). When the third pregnancy of Marie Leszczyńska resulted in a son in 1729, there was great rejoicing and celebrations complete with fireworks (memorialized in engravings) in all the major cities of France, and indeed in most European courts. For the first time in 15 years, the future of the dynasty seemed assured.

In 1745, the 16-year-old dauphin Louis was married to the first cousin of his father, the 19-year-old infanta Maria-Teresa of Spain, daughter of King Philip V of Spain and Elizabeth Farnese. This marriage followed a tradition of alliances with Catholic powers and wars against Protestant countries going back to Louis XIV of France, as well as an alliance of the two Bourbon dynasties against the Habsburg Monarchy, the hereditary enemy of the House of Bourbon. However, the frail and delicate Maria Teresa died on July 22, 1746, shortly after giving birth to her first and only child, Princess Marie-Thérèse of France (July 19, 1746 - April 27, 1748).

18-year-old Louis was re-married in 1747 to 16-year-old Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, younger daughter of Maria Josepha of Austria and (Frederick) August, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, who gave birth to three kings of France.

French Monarchy-
Capetian Dynasty
(Bourbon branch)

Henry IV Sister    Catherine of Navarre, Duchess of Lorraine Children    Louis XIII    Elisabeth, Queen of Spain    Christine Marie, Duchess of Savoy    Nicholas Henry    Gaston, Duke of Orléans    Henriette-Marie, Queen of England and Scotland Louis XIII Children    Louis XIV    Philippe, Duke of Orléans Louis XIV Children    Louis, the Grand Dauphin    Marie-Anne    Marie-Therese    Philippe-Charles, Duc d'Anjou    Louis-François, Duc d'Anjou Grandchildren    Louis, Duke of Burgundy    King Philip V of Spain    Charles, Duke of Berry Great Grandchildren    Louis, Duke of Brittany    Louis XV Louis XV Children    Louise-Elisabeth, Duchess of Parma    Madame Henriette    Louis, Dauphin    Madame Marie Adélaïde    Madame Victoire    Madame Sophie    Madame Louise Grandchildren    Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia    Louis XVI    Louis XVIII    Charles X    Madame Élisabeth Louis XVI Children    Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, Duchess of Angouleme    Louis-Joseph, Dauphin    Louis (XVII)    Sophie-Beatrix Louis (XVII) Louis XVIII Charles X Children    Louis (XIX), Duke of Angoulême    Charles, Duke of Berry Grandchildren    Henry (V), comte de Chambord    Louise, Duchess of Parma

The dauphin Louis was rather plump, but well educated and not dim-witted in the least. A man of study, cultivated and lover of music, he preferred the pleasures of conversation to those of hunting, balls, or spectacles. With a keen sense of morality, very much committed to his wife Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, he was a fervent supporter of the Jesuits, like his very Catholic mother and sisters, and was led by them to worship the Sacred Heart. He appeared in the eyes of his sisters as the ideal of the Christian prince, in sharp contrast with their father Louis XV whose morality was most compromised after 1740.

Kept away from government affairs by his father, the dauphin Louis was at the center of the religiously devout party (see dévots), which hoped to gain power with his accession to the throne.

The dauphin Louis died of tuberculosis at Fontainebleau in 1765 at the age of 36, while his father was still alive, thus never becoming king of France. His mother Queen Marie and maternal grandfather (King Stanislas, ruler of Lorraine) also survived him. His eldest surviving son Louis, Duke of Berry, became the new dauphin, and later ascended the throne as Louis XVI at the death of Louis XV.

[edit] Marriages and children

He married Maria Teresa of Spain (11 June 1726 – 22 July 1746) and they had a daughter:

• Marie-Thérèse (19 July 1746 – 27 April 1748).

He married secondly Marie-Josèphe of Saxony (4 November 1731 – 13 March 1767) on 9 February 1747 and they had 8 children:

• Marie-Zéphyrine (26 August 1750–1 September 1755).
• Louis, Duke of Burgundy (13 September 1751–22 March 1761).
• Xavier, Duke of Guyenne (8 September 1753–22 February 1754).
• Louis, Duke of Berry, the future king Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) (guillotined).
• Louis, Count of Provence, the future king Louis XVIII (17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824).
• Charles, Count of Artois, the future king Charles X (9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836).
• Marie-Clotilde (23 September 1759 – 7 March 1802), married King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia, Prince of Piedmont.
• Élisabeth (3 May 1764 – 10 May 1794), known as Madame Élisabeth (guillotined).

[edit] External link

• De la Tour's pastels at the Musée l'Écuyer, Saint-Quentin, (in French) the pastel illustrated above described as a study for one of four portraits De la Tour made of the Dauphin (according to a letter of the Marquis de Marigny), of which the only known survivor, at the Louvre is dated 1748. The curators at the Musée l'Écuyer consider the study above to have served perhaps for the first of these portraits, that of 1745.