Princess Victoire of France

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Victoire Louise Marie Thérèse de France
Victoire Louise Marie Thérèse of France
Born	May 11, 1733(1733-05-11) Palace of Versailles, France
Died	June 7, 1799 Trieste, Italy
Parents	Louis XV of France and Maria Leszczyńska

Victoire Louise Marie Thérèse de France (May 11, 1733 - June 7, 1799) was the seventh child and fifth daughter of King Louis XV of France and his Queen consort Maria Leszczyńska. As the daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France.

Originally known as Madame Quatrième (her older sister died in February 1733, before her birth) she was later known as Madame Victoire. She outlived eight of her nine siblings, and was survived by her older sister Adélaïde de France by less than a year.

1 Life
2 Ancestry
3 References

[edit] Life

Victoire was born at the Palace of Versailles. Unlike the older children of Louis XV (including Adélaïde, just one year her senior), Victoire was not raised at the Palace of Versailles, but sent to live at the Abbey of Fontevraud. She would remain their till 1748 when she was 15.

[edit] Versailles

At 15 she was allowed to return to her fathers court. Very close to her mother, brother and her sisters, like most of the family her fathers constant mistresses at court posed a problem and pushed to family away from him. He turned more and more to Madame de Pompadour and later Madame du Barry, a later favourite.

Often thought to be the most beautiful of the kings daughters, she was to never marry although in 1753, it was suggested that she marry her brother-in-law Ferdinand VI of Spain (her sister had married his younger) as his wife, Maria Barbara of Portugal, was ill at the time. Despite that, the queen survived another five years dying at 46 leaving her husband distraught.

In 1765, her older brother died of consumption at Fontainebleau at the age of 36. Victoire, like all of her sisters mourned intently. The family were again pushed closer together. By 1768, Versailles was again in mourining for the death of the Queen - her mother Maria Leszczyńska. This sorrow was further encouraged by the fact that her father had a new Maîtresse-en-titre - the comtesse du Barry. Victoire, like all her sisters felt that her father was to preoccupied with her.

The next big event at court was the marriage of Louis-Auguste, the Dauphin of France to one Maria Antonia of Habsburg-Lorraine. The wedding occured at the palace on May 16, 1770. Victoire and her sister, by then known as Madame Adélaïde, met the girl and tried to use her influence over king in order to get rid of La du Barry. Sadly, this idea did not work but before their father died in 1774, he was obliged to remove her from the palace. His successor Louis XVI, Victoire's nephew, then exiled her from court forever.

It was during the next reign that the lives Mesdames were really shocked. The Dames de France were allowed to stay at the court and were still treated with respect, Victoire also kept her appartments at Versailles. Now that the people of Versailles were now concerned with showing their loyalty to Louis XVI and his wife, the dames de France were some what redundant. As a Victoire and her older sister Madame Adélaïde stayed together and toured the country staying in lavish style which was a great irritation to the state and thus helped fan the flames for the revolution.

[edit] Gallery


House of Bourbon
Henri IV
Sister
Catherine, duchesse de Lorraine
Children
Louis XIII
Elisabeth, Queen of Spain
Christine Marie, Duchess of Savoy
Nicholas Henri, duc d'Orléans
Gaston, duc d'Orléans
Henriette-Marie, Queen of England
Louis XIII
Children
Louis XIV
Philippe, duc d'Orléans
Louis XIV
Children
Louis, Dauphin
Anne-Élisabeth
Marie-Anne
Marie-Therèse
Philippe-Charles, duc d'Anjou
Louis-François, duc d'Anjou
Grandchildren
Louis, Dauphin
King Felipe V of Spain
Charles, duc de Berry
Great Grandchildren
Louis, Dauphin
Louis XV
Louis XV
Children
Louise-Elisabeth, duchesse de Parme
Madame Henriette
Louis, Dauphin
Madame Adélaïde
Madame Victoire
Madame Sophie
Madame Louise
Grandchildren
Marie Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia
Louis XVI
Louis XVIII
Charles X
Madame Élisabeth
Louis XVI
Children
Marie-Thérèse, duchesse d'Angouleme
Louis-Joseph, Dauphin
Louis XVII
Sophie-Beatrix
Louis XVII
Louis XVIII
Charles X
Children
Louis XIX
Charles, duc de Berry
Grandchildren
Henri V
Louise, duchesse de Parme
French monarchy, 843-1870
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Victoire by Jean-Marc Nattier as the water

Madame Adélaïde also by Jean-Marc Nattier as air

[edit] Revolution

The two sisters, now alone as were the only children of Louis XV still alive by 1787 took up residence at Château de Bellevue from 6 October 1789 after the infamous storming of their birthplace. 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, Queen of Sardinia, sister of Louis XVI, in Turin, and arrived in Rome on 16 April 1791.

[edit] Death

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 ended up in Trieste, where Victoire died of breast cancer. Adélaïde died one year later in Rome. The bodies of both princesses were later returned to France by their nephew, King Louis XVIII, and buried at the Abbey of Saint-Denis.

Her nephews included (among others) Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, Louis XVI of France, Louis XVIII of France, Charles X of France. Her nieces included Madame Élisabeth and Queen Maria Louisa of Spain. Her goddaughter was Angélique Victoire, comtesse de Chastellux.

It has also been suggested that it was her that said the phrase let them eat cake but it is not for certain
She is portrayed by Molly Shannon in the 2006 film Marie Antoinette.