Louis Alexandre, Count of Toulouse

Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse (1681), duc de Penthièvre (1697), d'Arc, de Châteauvillain and de Rambouillet (1711), (6 June 1678 – 1 December 1737), was the son of Louis XIV and of his mistress Madame de Montespan. At the age of five, he became Grand Amiral de France^[1] (Grand Admiral of France).

Biography

Born at the Château de Clagny in the town Versailles, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon was the third son and youngest child of Louis XIV and of his mistress, Madame de Montespan. At birth, he was put in the care of Mme de Monchevreuil along with his older sister Françoise-Marie de Bourbon.

Louis Alexandre was created Count of Toulouse in 1681 at the time of his legitimisation, and, in 1683, at the age of five, Grand Amiral de France. In February 1684, he became colonel of an infantry regiment named after him and in 1693 mestre de camp of a cavalry regiment. During the War of Spanish Succession, he was given the task of defending the island of Sicily.

In January 1689, he was named governor of Guyenne, a title which he exchanged for that of governor of Brittany six years later. On 3 January 1696, he was created a Marshal of France, becoming commander of the Royal Armies the following year. During the War of the Spanish Succession he commanded the French fleet at the Battle of Málaga in 1704.

In March 1714, he obtained the title of Grand Huntsman of France (Grand Veneur).

After the death of his father in 1715, he kept aloof from the intrigues of his sister-in-law Anne-Louise-Bénédicte, duchesse du Maine.

Though his father had legitimised him and his three surviving siblings, and even declared his two sons by Madame de Montespan fit to eventually succeed him to the throne of France, this was not to be, as immediately after Louis XIV's death the Parlement of Paris reversed the king's will.

Unlike his brother, Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine, who was barred from the Conseil de Régence, Toulouse was not kept from a political role, and soon after, he was named Ministre de la Marine (Minister of the Navy) (more or less equivalent to the United States Secretary of the Navy), inheriting a seasoned staff in the ministry headed up by Joseph Pellerin.

He remained in this capacity until being succeeded by Joseph Fleuriau d'Armenonville in 1722, the same Fleuriau d'Armenonville who had sold him the castle of Rambouillet in 1706.^[2]

In 1717, the ministry erected a fort on the eastern border of the Louisiana Colony in North America and named it Fort Toulouse in honor of the comte. (That fort has been partially reconstructed adjacent to its original site near the city of Wetumpka, Alabama, in the United States.)

The proposal of a marriage with Charlotte of Lorraine, Mademoiselle d'Armagnac, had met with the categorical refusal of Louis XIV.^[3]

Marriage

On 2 February 1723, the comte de Toulouse married Marie Victoire de Noailles, a daughter of the duc de Noailles, in a private ceremony in Paris.^[4] She was the widow of the marquis de Gondrin, his nephew, son of his half-brother Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin, whose mother was Madame de Montespan. The marriage was kept secret until the death of the Régent. The couple had one son:

• Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre (1725–1793).

The comte also had two illegitimate children born before his marriage to Marie Victoire de Noailles.

• Louis Alexandre de Sainte Foy (1720–1723),
• Philippe Auguste de Sainte Foy (1721–1795).

Court

In 1693, he became a Chevalier des Ordres du roi (Order of the King) and a decade later, in 1704, he became a Chevalier de la Toison d’or (Holder of the Golden fleece). He also later took full control of the French navy under his father.

After his mother's departure from court, the two often saw each other. His older sister Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, also made an attempt to become closer to their mother at the same time. Although Louise-Françoise and his younger sister, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, were bitter rivals, the comte was close to both. All three tried to avoid the court and the intrigues^[5] of their brother, the duc du Maine, and his wife Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon, the duchess, at the Château de Sceaux.

When his mother died in 1707, he and his sisters mourned in private as any public display at court was forbidden by his father and Mme de Maintenon, who had replaced their mother in the king's affections.

Shortly before his death in 1715, Louis XIV added a codicil to his will stating that if the line of his legitimate children died out, the throne of France could be inherited by the duc du Maine and the comte de Toulouse, his legitimised sons. This also meant that the two could assume the role of regent for the new five-year old king, Louis XV, if necessary .

The decision was reversed after the death of Louis XIV when Louis Alexandre's cousin, Philippe d'Orléans, had the Parlement de Paris void the will. The duc d'Orléans as a result became the sole regent of France.

The comte de Toulouse died at the Château de Rambouillet on 1 December 1737. He was buried in the village 12th century Saint-Lubin church.

On 30 September 1766, the comtesse died at the Hôtel de Toulouse, the Parisian mansion not far from the Louvre the comte had bought from Phélypeaux, marquis de La Vrillière, in 1712.^[6] She too was buried in the family crypt in the Rambouillet church.

On 25 November 1783, after having sold Rambouillet to his cousin Louis XVI, their son, the duc de Penthièvre, in a long procession, transferred the remains of his parents, his wife and their six children to the Collégiale Saint-Étienne de Dreux. In 1793, the duc de Penthièvre was also buried in the Collégiale Saint-Étienne family crypt, which was violated by a revolutionary mob the following November. Rebuilt in 1816 by his daughter, the duchesse d'Orléans, the new chapel was named Chapelle royale de Dreux after her son, Louis Philippe I became King of the French in 1830. It is now the necropolis for the royal Orléans family.

Upon the comte's death, the duc de Penthièvre, succeeded his father in his posts and titles. Because of the marriage of Mademoisellle de Penthièvre to the Duke of Chartres, the comte de Toulouse is an ancestor of the modern House of Orléans, which also descends from Toulouse's two surviving full sisters.

Ancestry

References

Notes

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Lenotre, G., Le Château de Rambouillet : six siècles d'histoire, Calmann-Lévy, collection « Châteaux : décors de l'histoire », Paris, 1930, 256 p. Réédition : Denoël, Paris, 1984, 215 p. (ISBN 2-207-23023-6).
• http://radiointensite.free.fr/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=863 - Scroll down to 41st paragraph to sentence beginning « Le mardi 25 novembre 1783, S.A.S. Mgr Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre, prince d’Anet et comte de Dreux, a fait transporter de l’église de Rambouillet dans la collégiale de Saint-Etienne de cette ville le cercueil de S.A.S. Mgr le comte de Toulouse, son père...»

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