Marie Adélaïde of France

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Madame Adélaïde, by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1787.

Marie Adélaïde of France (1732-1800)

Marie Adélaïde (23 March 1732 - 27 February 1800) was a French princess. She was the fourth daughter and sixth child of Louis XV of France and his Queen consort Maria Leszczyńska. Originally known as "Madame Quatrième" ("Madame the Fourth"), until the death of her older sister Marie-Louise in 1733, she was then known as "Madame Troisième" ("Madame the Third") and finally "Madame Adélaïde". She outlived all nine of her siblings.

Adélaïde was born and raised in Versailles, with her older sister Henriette-Anne, in the shade of their brother Louis, Dauphin de France. Her younger sisters were sent to live at the Abbey of Fontevraud.

She, like her brother and sisters, attempted to prevent their father's liaison with Madame de Pompadour, which began in 1750, but they were all unsuccessful. She was deeply affected by the death of her sister Henriette-Anne at the age of 25 in 1752, and the later death of her brother Louis in 1765. Adélaïde became the leader of the group of three unmarried younger sisters who survived into adulthood, the others being Madame Victoire and Madame Sophie. They all found solace in music.

Adélaïde despised her father's last official mistress, Madame du Barry. When Marie-Antoinette became dauphine in 1770, Adélaïde tried to win her support against Madame du Barry, but the empress Maria Theresa opposed that arrangement.

After the Dauphin Louis died in 1765, and then his second wife Marie-Josèphe in 1767, Adélaïde took custody of the late dauphine's papers, and instructions for their son, Louis should he become king. The papers were opened in 12 May 1774, after the death of Louis XV, and accession of Louis as Louis XVI, and suggested three people for the position of Prime Minister – Maurepas, the duc d'Aiguillon or Machault.

Madame Adélaïde was forced to leave Versailles with Madame Victoire on 6 October 1789, and they took up residence at the Château de Bellevue.

Revolutionary laws against the church caused them to leave for Italy on 20 February 1791, although they were arrested and detained for several days at Arnay-le-Duc before they were allowed to depart. They visited their niece Clotilde, sister of Louis XVI, in Turin, and arrived in Rome on 16 April 1791. As a result of the increasing influence of Revolutionary France, they travelled further afield, moving to Naples in 1796, where Marie Caroline, sister of Marie Antoinette, was Queen. They moved to Corfu in 1799, and finally ending in Trieste, where Victoire died of breast cancer. Adélaïde died one year later, in exile in the French émigré society at Rome. Their bodies were later returned to France by Louis XVIII and buried at the Abbey of Saint-Denis